Paris Dakar Stage 14 to Zaragoza

Stage 14 of 60, Day 16 of 71: 155.7 km, 1306m, 6:08, 360 shifts, ave speed 25.4, max speed 60.1

With a 7am breakfast, my alarm was set for 6:20. It was noticeably darker than the last time we got up early, but the overnight rain and lightening storm had passed and the forecast was for warm with no rain for the next couple of days at least.

We headed out just after 8, me in the back of the pack. I kept moving up, and ended up leading the paceline for over 10 km, and passing everyone else. It was a smooth fast road, up and down and we went through a series of many tunnels. Wytze asked what I ate for breakfast, then took over for the next 18 km to our first town.

I had a bit of a disaster but it could’ve been worse. We came into town downhill, me leading, and the car I was following slowed down. I slowed down too but then just as I was negotiating a speed bump, it stopped dead in the road. I couldn’t quite stop in time and crashed into the back bumper, sending me up over the handlebars and down onto the road. Luckily nothing was broken for me or my bike but there was a small dent in the car where my brake lever hit. Somehow the driver called his body shop guy who arrived before the police. The guy was very cool and spoke calm, clear Spanish that I could understand all of. The gist was “Let’s calculate the damages to the car together, then not involve the police or insurance.” I liked this idea especially when the first item, one hour of labor to fix the dent, was only €35. It didn’t take long and the bill was way less than any insurance deductible, so I hit up my buddies for spare cash and everyone was happy. Thank you Andrew and Bart! The police had arrived by this time and seemed mostly concerned about how I was. Once I assured them I was good, they left, uninterested in paperwork I guess. We retired to a café down the street and the guys bought lots of pastries and drinks and all was well. I had a couple of scratches on a couple of fingers and one on my chin – it must’ve just touched the ground or something. It was bleeding a little but didn’t seem bad. So we took off and rode a bit over 60 km to lunch, me maybe not at full power, but doing ok.

After a nice lunch we had another bit over 60 km to camp. It was up and down, with some headwinds and I have to really thank Andrew, Bart, Daniel and Wytze. They let me draft the whole way and slowed down when I needed it. Together, we made it all the way to Zaragoza, a big city of 675,000 people. It was beautiful coming into town and we detoured a bit to the cathedral and sat at an heladeria where I bought us ice-creams. Then Wytze said “How about a beer?” I said sure but Daniel and Andrew weren’t in. Wytze went in and then the waitress came out with four beers (of course). We all really enjoyed it and agreed it was a great call.

Then we rode the last 8 km to camp and set things up. Our tents were soaked so we got them drying first. Then soup and snacks. I had a nice shower and consulted with Dr. Bill about my chin wound, still barely bleeding. He said pressure and pressure did it, no more bleeding. We relaxed until 7pm for dinner time. Steak (veggie burger/patty thing for me) and chips and salad and velvet cake for dessert. It was Curt’s birthday and Kees’s tomorrow, so we sang. I was feeling fine drug-free although Dr. Bill thinks I’ll be sore tomorrow. I’ll take that as it comes. And I promise to take it easy and be more careful around cars. Good night – here’s to a nice rest day tomorrow!