It was still almost dark when we woke up at 5am, as we had moved into a new time zone yesterday. Not cold at all, since we had 105F yesterday afternoon. Because of my long struggle to get onto the internet last night, and lack of typing speed, bed time for me was only at 1am, and we had to be up at 5am! Woke up with a big headache and neck spasm, thinking of the 154km that lay ahead in the heat. Dwelling on aches won't do any good, so I got up as best I could, deciding that this is going to be a great day and that hurts are not going to change that. Dear friend Gayle fed me some pain tabs during our morning routines and off we went, mind over matter. Upon leaving I took a photo of the rising sun through some tree branches, and rejoiced in this beautiful day that God has given us to enjoy. The birds and crickets were chirping happily around me. The area towards Minden is intensively farmed, and green pastures and fields rich with produce of many kinds were gliding by my bike in the early hours. Sometimes it is a blessing to ride alone, as one has time to think and get perspective and a balanced calm outlook on all the busyness that happen all around one on a tour like this. The information fed to one's brain through constantly changing places and landscapes can easily become overwhelming. There has not been any day on this tour that I did not look forward to getting on my bike, even if I did not feel all that good. The first challenge in the morning is just to get to sit on the saddle, as it sometimes feels like sitting on barbed wire depending on the current grade of tenderness of ones foundation. Then to spin the stiff muscles easy at first and warm them up into submission, which takes the best part of 10 km to happen. If the first climb of the day happens to fall within that distance, just tough it out and suck it up!
The morning was pristine, just perfect and still cool. Sweet smelling air.... I settled into a sustainable 25 to 30km/h. The road had a wide shoulder, but it was full of cracks and wide openings that threatened to hammer one's spine into the base of the brain....te-dum..te-dum...te-dum! Road bikes don't have suspension! The road surface was smoother, so the lure to ride there is very strong, to the annoyance of passing traffic, especially trucks. The deep rumble strip lies in between, and one has to jump-cross that obstacle with the bike to escape into safety from an oncoming truck. If you don't, you get angrily honked at!
Gradually my head felt better. The sights and sounds of the morning drifted to my senses....cocks crowing and familiar cattle sounds from farm steads, some dogs barking.... the wholesome "farm-fresh air" that is hard to appreciate for the city slickers amongst us. Also the dozens of passing ...uh...less fragrant cattle trucks. Barb Mellema's group got splashed with something questionably wet from one such truck yesterday, she said. Good thing it got all of them, like eating garlic, it would only be noticable to the odd one out that didn't get it...(I guess)!
At the first SAG I met up with Jim Holwerda, a real kind and understanding person to ride with. So the day turned out great after all. There were a couple of big rollers soon after the start, then a long flat section, and all of the second 50km consisted of big rolling hills. Soon the sun bit into our skin, especially when going slower uphill. At Walter's SAG we each got treated with a piece of watermelon, and I took a 5 minute powernap on Walter's doormat since I started to fall asleep on my bike, with Jim patiently waiting. The last 40km was a real blast since finally we got a good tail wind, and Jim and I moved briskly at around 35km/h to be in camp at 2. We beat the gear truck! What a joy to be riding through beautiful agricultural landscapes, tall corn yellow in seed, green pastures with cattle, and lovely rivers and streams to complete the picture. At one point I saw a small herd standing belly deep in the river. I will never grow tired of experiencing the world around me close up from a bike.....those little sights and sounds that get engraved in ones mind.....the things great memories are made of! Long live the tour!!!
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