Steve's Cycling Blog

I’ve been having a tough run over the last six days and have got well behind with updating things here – to be honest I don’t know if I’m ever going to be able to catch up, so here’s a very quick run down on the last stage – I’ll try and fill in the gaps with daily posts but it’s time-consuming, and as you’ll read later I’m now missing all my photos from this period.

The second rest day in Freetown I was sick with a headache and upset stomach and general rebellion from my body against everything I was trying to have it do! I slept much of the rest day and did very little else.

The day out of Freetown looked relatively simple on paper, with a 22km gravel stage in the middle of the morning – unfortunately that really shook my stomach up again and left me feeling worse than I had been the previous day. It was also extremely hot and humid!

By lunch I was pretty tired but a good break there and I was feeling somewhat better but by the time I got to camp I was wiped out – a number of people commented that I was whiter than my LGCC shirt (which these days is more a light grey).

The unfortunate consequence of not feeling well and the extreme heat and humidity was that I ended the day seriously dehydrated. Despite lots of water and rehydration salts that night within the 15km of setting off the next morning I was starting to get cramp, first in my calves, then my quads, and finally pretty much all over my lower body.

By just before 38km when the dinner truck came past I knew I wasn’t going to be able to make it through the day, so flagged them down and climbed aboard. That evening I took a mega-dose of antibiotics.

The following morning I was feeling better but resolved to ride only half the day – from lunch was the more interesting ride, and also quite a bit shorter, so I rode the truck to the lunch stop, then set off riding fro there. I actually enjoyed the ride through to the camp opposite Tiwai Island, the walk on the Island, and by dinner time I was actually hungry for the first time in four days!

Unfortunately the feeling of ‘well’ didn’t last and following morning I was feeling rough again. The truck to lunch was already full, so it was either the dinner truck all the way, or ride to lunch and consider the truck from there which what I elected to do.

That proved to be a mistake – a low-speed fall in which I did no damage to my bike, and limited damage to myself (two minor scrapes on my shins) resulted in my bike and worst of all my phone ending up in a puddle! Because I’ve not been well this week I’ve not been syncing my photos from my phone to my laptop, so right now all of the photos from the past five days are stuck on my phone, in a bag of rice, in my room – fingers crossed it’ll dry out and come back to life, but I’m not overly hopeful!

I was also pretty exhausted by the time I got in yesterday and was grateful to the Kevins who pulled me in once we hit the pavement yesterday.

I’m not the only one who’s been suffering this week – it’s been a long time since any of the full-tour riders got on a truck for the first time but within two days three of has done so, with both Dominic and Trixie also having to ride the truck for the first time because of ill health.

There have also been lots of spills on the gravel and there are many people sporting grazes and scrapes, and Mateo had to be taken to hospital for an x-ray of his shoulder yesterday after a nasty tumble.

This rest day is most welcome and I’m feeling more human this morning than I have in a week which makes a nice change I must say.

There are many people concerned about the coming week which is seven riding days with every indication that the heat and humidity are going to continue and potentially worsen as we hit Cote d’Ivoire! I think the crew are also becoming increasingly concerned with the number of sick and injured riders which places an increased load on them, and makes the general logistics of keeping the show on the road harder still – not to mention that they work incredibly hard from before dawn till long after dark every day and consequently are getting pretty tired themselves!

So that’s the summary of where things are – stay tuned for updates to the missing days but no promises that they will come soon, in order, or ever!