Day 3

Well, what was supposed to be a short day turned into quite the adventure!

Another big climb to shake the cold first thing this morning. We went through a big mining operation - basically they seem hell bent on taking down an entire mountain in order to get the coal under it.

After turning off the 'main' road, were on a sweet dirt road. Vincent and I were off the front a ways - we got to check out a little fox, and saw lots of birds of prey. We were really enjoying blasting that section as it was mostly a gentle downhill slope. Until we go to the river. At which point there was no road. None. A 30 foot drop to the water on the left, and a 100 foot high washout on the right.

We chose to climb and keep our feet dry. Probably not the wisest choice.

After a fair bit of mountaineering and some scary moments, we made it across and back down to the road on the other side. By this time, the rest of the group had caught us and were standing there trying to decide what to do. We yelled back across that the smart (and safe) way to go was down, across the river twice, and back up. They weren't convinced.

After waiting a while, I decided to prove it - I went down our side, crossed the river twice, and met them. We got their bikes down to the river, and I carried one of their bikes across the 2 fords and up we went on the other side. I felt like Moses leading his people to the promised land.

This took about an hour, and off we went again. Easy ride to camp from there. Rob, Vincent, Riem and I ran a peloton across the valley floor for about 10 miles and averaged 22mph which sure helped. 

OK - off to bed. Bigass day tomorrow - 134km! Giddyup. Butt cream is ready.