April 6

Last night was an experience.  Mother Nature's errant son, the Rainy Season, put on one helluva a show again.  I was lying in my tent while the wind was whirling, rain deluge afalling, and thunder and lightening erupting.  I kept thinking ... what in the hell am I doing out here in the middle of nowhere with just a thin piece of nylon material seperating me from potential annihilation!  

It rained so much and so hard that the water had nowhere to go.  So the morning ride today started out in a thick blanket of fog.  Although I don't think it was fog.  I think the ground was saying...  I don't have any place to put this water so I'm giving it back to the sky.  Hence it really wasn't fog, it was simply the clouds forming on the ground.  :)

Today's ride was 117 miles with 860 meters of climb.  That set my personal record as the longest ride.  That record will only stand until next week when we will be doing a 129 mile ride in Botswana.   Ooooh boy can't wait for that!  

The ride wasn't too bad, just long.  I had my now almost daily flat at about 10 miles.  I broke out my last new inner tube and changed the flat and remounted the tire.  Then I discovered that the new Kenda brand tube had a hole in it.  (that is the second one for that brand).  So I has to change the tire again.  Gotta love fixing a flat twice!!!  :(

Once the flat was fixed off I went on the rest of the day.  At about mile 80 I looked and got excited that I only had 36 or so miles left.  Then I started to put that in perspective.  36 miles is a good long ride for me normally, let alone the 80 I already put in.  So I began to think about how far it was left to go.  A bit farther after that the skies opened up and let us have it.  A soaking we will go, a soaking we will go...  

It is becoming a common place occurrence.  :(

Then at 100 miles I thought... only 17 left to go!  But the legs were spent, the mind was bent and the energy had come and went.  So with all this noise level going on in my head it was time for the cyclists saying...  Shut Up and Keep Pedaling.

I do believe I have used that quite a bit on this trip.  As a matter of fact, as the mileage increases so does the need for the saying.  I think there is an exponentially incremental component to the calculation.  This is an example of the weakness of the spirit that needs to be overcome by the mind.  So right now I should shut up and keep pedaling.

Oh well, tomorrow is another day.  And it is a shorter one.  It is only 94 miles long.  Thank goodness for a short day!