Day 5. Safaga to Desert Camp

Day 5. Safaga to Desert Camp.  139kms

Today I rode out of Safaga with Luke and Lindsay to the base of the climb at a nice pace.  I was still getting over the flu and not 100% yet.  By about 10kms up the climb the racers came up behind and we just let them go.  It’s unfortunate they won’t get to see Africa like I will.  Am I the strange one, taking my time smelling the roses and having plenty of time for a coke or coffee stop and meet some of the local inhabitants.  

Our lunch stop was at the 70km mark and surprisingly I was feeling pretty good after the 40kms climb out of Safaga that seemed to go and go forever.  It’s the first time I climbed for 2 hours since Josh and I climbed a mountain in Kenya in 2004.  We met this bank manager in Kisii who said the hill out of town was only a small one, yeh right, 2 hours later we crested the hill absolutely stuffed.  This time I did it much easier as I had a bunch of cyclists to work with to get over the climb.  The landscape out of Safaga changed dramatically from the sandy roadside to now rock mountains that surrounded us in every direction.  The view was pretty neat all day.  Lunch was a nice pita bread, tomato, egg, mayonnaise sandwich washed down with water.

The guys I rode with like to take about 10minutes for lunch and a pee break and get straight back on the bike to ride the next 70ks into camp.  Today’s camp was at a military post, which meant we had the military looking over us all night.  I must say the security we have had during this trip so far has been impressive.  Men carrying machine guns just to guard our camps each night.  Also have a group of police that follow the riders each day ensuring their protection.

Arrived in camp around 1pm so now we have plenty of time to sit down and have one of those shitty wet ones bath, they’re not  getting the job done at all. When we arrive in camp each day we cleaned down get some dirty clothes on and have a nice cup of soup which is usually vegetable and tastes fabulous.  5pm is the rider meeting which describes what we will face the next day and because we have our first rest day tomorrow in Luxor, this will give riders the chance to go and stay at the local hotel in a nice bed, have a shower, have a shave, not dig a hole in the desert to take a crap, I’m sure you get the picture. Legs feel pretty good and now time for dinner.