Still in the Desert

Since I had been quite tired yesterday, recovery was especially important to me. So I slept in for quite a while, and fortunately I felt well rested when I woke up.

Before setting off at 10:17 a.m., I bought enough drinking water. The shopkeeper immediately wanted to take a photo with me. Another man—they seemed to be friends—also wanted a picture with the two-meter-tall Westerner and then invited me to have breakfast. However, I still had so much food left from yesterday that I was already full, so I politely declined. During the little photo session in front of his restaurant, I had to refuse another three or four times before I finally managed to set off. Thanks to the altitude of around 1,500 meters, it was "only" 26°C at that time.

Today the ride felt easy, and the reason quickly became obvious: a tailwind. What a contrast to yesterday. After two hours, I had already covered more than ten kilometers more than I had at the same point yesterday, despite having more elevation gain today.

After some rolling terrain at the beginning, the road climbed steadily until I reached the highest point of the day at just over 1,900 meters above sea level. From there, only a little more than 35 kilometers remained, mostly downhill to my hotel. “This should be an easy finish,” I thought.

Then, all of a sudden, the sun disappeared behind a cloud, and a very strong headwind made progress difficult once again. With 17 kilometers still to go, I stopped at a service station shop to take a break and have something to eat. Without that wind, I probably would have ridden straight through.

Fortunately, the headwind lasted for only another three or four kilometers. After that, riding became much easier again, and I arrived at my hotel at 5:15 p.m. feeling relaxed after all. And today, checking in worked perfectly on the very first attempt.