Paris Dakar Stage 32 to Gorge de Todra

Stage 32 of 60, day 38 of 71: 83.7 km, 621m, 3:04, 95 shifts, ave speed 27.2, max speed 55.8

Finally a night of good sleep! That makes all the difference. My congestion is down and while I’m still coughing a bit, I feel almost full strength. It was another relaxed late breakfast due to the stage being short. After cheese omelets with bread and cheese for breakfast and packing up, we headed out in the cool air, in a pretty big pack, two lines, and had no trouble with traffic.

We stopped at a café at 24 km for mint tea and soda, then more of the same to lunch, Wytze and I in the lead the whole way. I noticed we did the day’s first 40 km in 1:20, averaging 30 kph.

Ype had a spot with some shade and right across the street was another little café where we had cold drinks after lunch. The owner was so friendly; he brought over a platter of chilled dates that were delicious.

We only had about 30 km to go and the last part was more scenic and interesting. There was some climbing and chances to talk to the locals who were selling many things. A meteorite salesman was very interested in my bike and wanted to know the cost of each part. I was not playing that game though.

Camp was up in a gorge, in kind of a date palm oasis. It has a pool, shade, cool drinks, and cheap rooms for anyone who wanted to upgrade. The air temperature is just about perfect sitting on the soft benches with soft pillows. The only thing I didn’t do was the optional ride to go up and see the rest of the gorge. I had had enough riding and also wanted to save up for tomorrow’s full stage, 140 km.

I really love these short stages. This one allowed a super relaxing long afternoon of napping and reading. We had a call with Andrew in the hospital who is feeling even better and enjoying the nurse’s company. Then it was dinner time, delicious as usual. We retired to the pool with a chilled bottle of the wine Andrew had managed to get into the country. We toasted him and told stories with Ype.