Paris Dakar Stage 29 to Midelt

Stage 29 of 60, day 35 of 71: 101.6 km, 1289m, 4:16, 288 shifts, ave speed 23.8, max speed 71.1

I thought our campground was pretty nice until I tried to go to sleep. Turns out it was surrounded by mad dogs that barked almost all night long. Also donkeys. In the early morning when the dogs finally went to sleep, the roosters started. Then at 5:50 as usual, the call to prayer.

So I woke up tired and realized I was finally coming down with the cold that’s been going around. I felt like I could ride so packed up and ate breakfast.

We left at 8:45, with a pretty long hill climb to start the day. I just rode it and soon I’d made it over 10 km and 600m up. We passed monkeys and luckily all this time the weather was cool.

Wytze came by and I followed him another 20 km until we stopped at a little restaurant. It looked deserted at first, but a nice man came and served us sodas and mint tea and coffee with cookies.

We continued to lunch at 56 km, all into the wind, with Wytze and Dennis being superstars and me wheel sucking the whole time. Lunch was the usual and we had a French cyclist eating with us.

Then we just had to make it to camp. There was still a bit more climbing, then a long way downhill. The road surface was kind of crappy but some people are starting to put on wider or gravel tires these days to deal with it. It was fine for me.

I rode the whole way with Dennis and Wytze, which made it SO much easier. We had a water stop in a town then arrived at camp, a surprisingly lush campsite by a gas station out of town.

I set up my tent, ate soup and snacks, showered and went to sleep. It felt great, warm in the tent. I didn’t feel any better when it was dinner time but really enjoyed the delicious food; that must be a good sign. I’ll decide about riding tomorrow morning.

We heard that after a long delay, our injured rider Willi, made it to Casablanca. Suzanne and Richard who were with him made it to camp.