Today was very difficult. I traced my route back to the main highway early this morning and it was very pleasant. Off to a good start. Then things went belly up the rest of the day.
My handlebar bag mount (the cord) broke costing me an hour trying to fix it. I stopped at a little place that had a wall I could lean my bike against. There were a few houses, but nothing else. A group of children quickly materialized to watch everything I did. I ended up taking a cord from a stuff sack I had. My cord had a wire strand inside, but my stuff sack cord did not so it wanted to slip. Finally, a local man came home (dressed very nicely) and came out to help. I thought I had it fixed, but as soon as I left, it fell down again. One of the children (on his own) went to summon the man again which I was very thoughtful. The guy did speak English which was nice. He ended up providing twine to just hold the whole thing in place. My concern was it would slip down on my huge downhill later and the sudden shift in weight would cause me to crash. I never got a picture, but poor Glory looked like he was tied down to railroad tracks.
It worried me a bit with that delay, but still plenty of time to get to where I needed to be. Or so I thought. Everything was going find and then the two plus mile steep hill came. I rode a bit, then started walking. Then my legs cramped. It went downhill from there. I found a bit of shade by a little village and knew I had no choice, but to pull out my chair and take a break. I ate and drank some water, but I knew I wasn't drinking enough. A group of kids found seating across the way at a building and watched me. I waved a few times. I finally decided to get moving and then saw a local water pump just a bit ahead. I should have stopped and filtered some water, but again, thought I'd be okay after my break. I wasn't. I just couldn’t recover fully and more cramping kept happening. I found another village up ahead and after checking various shops because I was on a mission to find a cold drink, someone finally understood what I wanted and led me to the shop with cold drink. All the villagers laughed as he led me off. I just laughed with them. I was thrilled to find cold milk and water. Took another long break, but when I left again, I couldn't believe I was still having cramping issues. I just need to get to the top of the big downhill and I could actually see it in the distance. Finally made it, but not before one more bout of severe cramping. I actually asked a local to help me because it was so bad I I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold stand and hold my bike. I only wanted him to hold it for a minute, but because of the language barrier, he misunderstood and started pushing it. At that point, I figured it was better to take the help. There was a guardrail not too far ahead I could take it back lean it against, and tried to stretch and massage my muscles. I only had a very short distance to the top and the start of the downhill.
A steep downhill with lots of sharp curves so I had to ride the brakes for most of it. The road was perfectly smooth at times then went back to a bumpy road full of potholes. So yep, then my fingers started cramping. It was beautiful, but I was losing light quickly. It's tricky as I was trying not to brake so my rims wouldn't heat up because at this point, I don't have time for them to cool down. At the same time, I don't want to miss a turn on this descent or I'm going over the edge! I held out hoping to not need to dig out my headlamp, but in the end, about two miles from camp, I had to get it out. Rode the last few miles in the dark. Lots of locals out, but still not the thing I ever want to be doing. I think because of the headwind, I didn’t realize how much I was sweating and how dehydrated I was becoming.
I got to a couple of shops and stopped, but people quickly confirmed I was at the turnoff to camp where things looked up pretty quickly. A group of cyclists were here on an organized tour and I was promptly invited to dinner . They have dorm rooms at the camp, but because of the group, they were all taken. The one night I really don't want to be camping, I have no choice but to set up my tent. Word got out very quickly that solo cyclist had arrived and a couple of the guys came over and were so kind to help me with my tent. Both myself and them were not sure how much they actually helped, but when I was wiped out, I'll take whatever help anyone wants to offer. The hosts of the camp then offered to bring me a mattress. Suuuuuuure, I'll take a mattress. It took up my whole tent, but it was comfortable. And yes, I set it up on top of my cot so I had some height. I knew crawling in and out of my tent with cramping muscles was not going to be good so it gave me extra heigh which meant less crawling to minimize the odds of cramping.
Once I got set up and showered, I went over to their campfire and they had a chair for me and everything. They all wanted to hear about where I had cycled, how the journey had been, and were surprised I was cycling alone. I have to admit, I get sick of explaining that I hadn't planned to cycle alone, but my cycling partner and I ended up not being compatible at all so here I am. I had a delicious dinner with the group and it was really nice hanging out with people. A very nice ending to my day although I stayed up way past my bedtime!
Crossing back over the river. See anything wrong with this picture? For example, no guardrails. I wonder if anyone has driven off the bridge in the dark. Yikes!
You know, just a rest break in a little village. See the corn resting on that bench as well? Me thinking, be very careful, don't knock over their corn!
I'm losing daylight during my descent, but it's beautiful. I briefly thought about stealth camping, but quickly vetoed that idea. I assumed there would be way too many wild animals for any peaceful sleep.
