Today was the toughest yet. Heat, dust, mud, sand, ruts and water, all combined to test us. Zeman, the tour leader, uses an expression to encourage us when we start flagging or complaining: M.T.F.U. So we manned up and got on with it. Technically, what we encountered was essentially no more difficult than what we have already covered. But it was the duration of the offroad sections that tested us.
When doing these intense offroads sections one gets into a rythmn; you find your pace and push on happily. Too fast and things get messy, too slow and it can be more difficult and energy sapping. You also find you end up in small groups with riders who know each other's pace and ride well together. Other times you find yourself virtually chasing someone as a red mist takes over. You need to recognise these moments because they are dangerous and should be avoided. Stopping, as we do for fluids, interrupts the flow and it can sometimes be difficult to find the groove again when we move off.
One of our party, Brett, has a nasty tumble into a hole seen at the last minute. The bike lands on his leg and the medic thinks it may be broken. We're in the middle of the forest and the only way out is by bike. Leng and Mr Teng take it in turns to carry him as pillion. It's bad enough for us to get through the jungle on our own, so these guys do an amazing job to carry Brett. We regroup at the river crossing before lunch by which time we were pretty much frazzled. Lunch was very welcome: TWO packets of instant noodles, what a piggy.
After lunch we start out on a road that's pretending to be a road. Cars and lorries use it, but it has potholes that could swallow a bike wheel. The red dust makes seeing the holes tough so we have to keep our distance and string out along the path. Danny has an off when a very deep horizontal rut forces him to jump it; but he lands badly, fishtails and dumps the bike. A broken sub-frame results, which makes for a wobbly ride. But luckily he's OK. He's already got a couple of big bruises from earlier in the trip and he doesn't need anymore physiological trophies. The bike will need to be welded.
I also had my first proper off after a few "strategic dismounts" into the bushes when the sand threw me off course - but those are not real offs. No, a proper off is when you are thrown off. That happened at relatively slow speed to me today, when the front wheel slipped from under me just after a dip. No damage to bike or rider - it's all in the way you fall ;-) ! Anyway, I've had worse offs in Brussels on my bicycle.
Brett was loaded into our team ambulance (been there, done that, didn't enjoy it) after lunch and met us at the hotel. It's likely from there he will go by road back to Phnom Penh and then home. Game over. Sorry Brett, it's been great riding with you and your sand advice got me through some sticky moments.
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