Paris Dakar Stage 22 to Humilladero

Stage 22 of 60, day 27 of 71: 141 km, 2064m, 5:45, 466 shifts, ave speed 24.5, max speed 72.1

I slept pretty badly, not sure why. Breakfast was a repeat of yesterday’s about 8am. We packed up and Rob explained how our baggage truck driver Lex had had enough and that Rob would drive the truck to Fez where a replacement driver would join us.

We headed out, navigating through city traffic. After a while I was out in front which felt good. I tried not to go too fast but to keep a good pace. After a while Wytze took over and we cruised up some climbs, down some descents, temperature always rising.

At about 40 km we found a great bar and had lots of refrescos plus tostadas (in this case giant toast with olive oil and tomato sauce and optional ham).

Ype finally passed us and it’s great to have him ahead when you’re getting close to halfway. He texted and said to wait until 1:30 and luckily there was a nice bar at 69 km where we killed time. More Fanta Limon and snacks.

Lunch was in a good spot with shade; we ate heartily. Then it was time for the second half. There were a number of multi-km quite hot climbs, but with lots of fast, fun downhill too. If it had been a little cooler it would’ve been a really great stage. Eventually we came to the town of Archidona and our new idea is that arriving early in camp had no value and we should take lots of long breaks so we looked around and found a nice bar right on the famous Octagon Plaza. We had another pile of sodas and snacks.

Then just 30 km remained. Wytze took the lead and we all sweated mightily following. Finally we stopped for beer about 4 km from the campground, best stop ever. Jan started bringing icy big beer mugs to our table and the first sip was out of this world. Then snacks, salty potato chips for the win. Plus a few liters of water.

The last 4 km was ok, then it was time for more drinks and snacks. The municipal water in this town is not drinkable due to a recent big flood. Wijnand gave me another cold Fanta, I think it was #7 for the day. Plus delicious soup and snacks. It was after 6 pm, our latest arrival yet.

After showers, laundry and setting up the tent, it was dinner time. Yummy all veggie fare, with excellent conversations and ice cream and fruit for dessert, what a life!

After that, blog writing and sleep. Wow, all I wrote about was riding, eating and drinking. It is a pretty simple life I guess. Tomorrow is another 2000m climb day; we’re used to these now.