Day 3 casualties

The race briefing prior to day 3 indicated that we would be encountering sand in the first leg of the day's route. Nobody thought that it could get worse than day 2's final leg. And the route profile in our manuals showed quite clearly that it was downhill all the way. The 31.4km to the first tea break was however no stroll in the park - in fact push, heave, swear and push again was the mantra - as the sand persisted, and not even the downhills were ridable (by us). After leaving camp at 08h00, I eventually got to the compulsory beer stop at 13h30 for TEA - with BRUNCH still 17.5kms further down the track.

 

Quite a few cyclists decided to hop on their respective gravy trains, with the Land Rovers doing decidedly sterling work in picking up the crumbs. The last couple of us go to the compulsory beer quite some time after stocks had run dry, and even water was in short supply. along with tempers and irreverent chatter.