19/04/03, stage 54, Chipata to Petauke

A 176k ride today. Longest distance on the tour so far. Days are going to get even longer though… We reached the point of the tour at which we are going to ride longer distances. Over the past 54 stages we rode an average of 121k per day. Over the next 30 stages we’ll ride an average of 138k per day. Yesterday’s ride combined with today’s and tomorrow’s ride brings us over 500k closer to Cape Town. Most I did so far within three days (as far as I’m aware) was 432k, riding around the Zuiderzee, back home in the Netherlands. The longer days are justified though. I notice that I’ve grown quite a bit stronger in the legs. It’s mainly about remaining comfortable on the bike and preventing that my bum, hands, arms, legs or whatever start hurting while sitting on the bike.

Anywayzzz, I’m taking it day by day. And today was a good day. With these distances, cutting up the day works well for me. I stopped at 40, lunch at 80, next stop at 120, another one with some other riders at 130 and after that I just killed the day and made my way to camp, despite the fact that I needed to pee quite badly 🙂

We’re riding a pretty good road and we’re heading west to cross all the way over to Namibia, meaning that the wind is more or less in our favour. Temperatures are good and there is no rain, which actually worries the locals as they are quite dependent on it. For us riders it’s great that we seem to be making it through the rainy season without any significant rain. According to Tallis, last year it started raining in Ethiopia and it only stopped in Botswana. I’m not sure who I should thank for that…

Not much more to say actually 🙂 let’s hope my legs are up for it tomorrow!

Gerry overtaking me on the uphill. I always take my revenge on the downhill…