Paris Dakar Stage 10

Stage 10 of 60, Day 12 of 71: 107.9 km, 1932m, 5:09, 211 shifts, ave speed 20.9, max speed 70.

The day started out pretty early. We had our alarms set for 5:45 since Beau had to get to an early bus. He packed up and left about 6:15 – it was so great spending time with him in Carcassonne but I wish it had been longer. Still, I’m super lucky.

I called Katie then headed over to the campsite. It was only 2 km away and it was already a little light just after 7am. We were lucky that breakfast was later again, 7:30. I got quickly back into the “Bike Dreams Bubble” and was soon eating a hearty breakfast. Sadly a number of riders had come down with gastro-intestinal sickness and were feeling bad. Still, this is a tough bunch and most were still riding, even when sick. Ype ended up giving four people a ride to camp.

We left after 8:30, and rolled away on gentle roads. The info for today said 106 km with 2004m climbing, not exactly easy, but at least not too long. The usual suspects had a lovely pastry & drinks stop after about 28 km. Even the Iron man Wytze was affected by the sickness and could only stomach orangina.

We carried on and I have to say, it was really nice riding a little slower, relaxed and easier than usual. The climbs started and we got to lunch at 56 km after having climbed quite a bit. Ype had the full lunch set out – he is such a fantastic and integral part of the staff – he goes the extra mile to make everyone happy.

After lunch, we climbed a lot more, then had a pee stop on top of a climb. Kris rode by laughing, “What are you guys doing?” Andrew answered immediately, “Five shakes is a wank.”

Then we continued and finally stopped for afternoon refreshments at a café at 90 km, before the final climb. We did the tried-and-true “quatre eau minérale et quatre orangina” which worked perfectly as usual.

Then the final climb up to a new high point over 1400m. We stopped on top for summit photos, then blazed down.

Rob had warned us about lots of tight, steep switchbacks that require much care and he was right, but after some of this the road straightened and the surface was smooth and new, silky. I was riding by myself and kept telling myself to go slow and didn’t look at the speedo. But it turned out I went over 70 and couldn’t help passing a dump truck – on the inside, fast and fun. We rode through Ax-les-Thermes and just out of town found the campground and rode around a while to find the site.

First up for me was food. Lots of salty Japanese crackers, chips, then a big bowl of Greek salad, and some water. Perfect. Then I set up camp and had a nice warm shower and did laundry. Then I wrote this post. I guess it’s just a normal day in this life.

I reported for dinner duty at 6:30 and set up tables and benches, opened eight bottles of wine, set things out, then served dinner and dessert. Dinner was delicious rice noodles with shrimp curry on top, as well as spinach. There was a nice salad and lemon pie for dessert. Unfortunately some people were absent, and others not eating. Rob gave a briefing and Dr. Bill gave a talk about what might be causing all the sickness we are experiencing. Bottom line he doesn’t think it’s our kitchen or that it’s communicable and the #1 thing we can do to reduce it is wash our hands. The crew washed a million dishes, were treated with peanut M&Ms, then it was about 9 and I got ready for bed, for the last time in France on this trip.