AFRICA!!!! Part II

Ok so the last blog ended quite abruptly, I'd like to say it was a cliff hanger but.............. it wasn't, it was my crap computing skills.

This blog contains content of an adult nature....... ish...... 

At the time of the last blog I was nursing a dicky stomach, a pass time that seems to be very popular amongst the europeans who race in this part of the world........ Of course many hours were spent on the toilet and this gave me time to reflect on my condition.............

yeah....... thats pretty much how it was......

I came to the conclusion it was a mixture of the heat, fatigue and completing a stage of 120km riding through sewage washed out of the drains in heavy rain, a lovely day for drinking from the bidon. Many others suspect the food but I'm not so sure, as others on the trip didn't ail anything.

Got shit faced in my homemade under jersey Gilet, fashioned from a coach seat cover...... snazzy eyyy.

Washing machines are hard come by in this part of the world, however brummies bribed with cups of tea....... aren't, and as luck would have it.......

Moving on from this short sharp bout of illness we went into a very hard mountainous 3 day. The Tour of Setif, Setif is a sizeable town which sites at the same altitude as the summit of mount Snowdan in wales.

The first stage was a 130km day with 2 main climbs and constant rolling roads all the way into the finish. After 3 days off the bike it's fair to say I didn't feel great and this was clarified when I attempted to get in the break in the opening kilometers and instead of putting others in the red I managed to go from leading to last man within about 500 metres

                                     and there I stayed for some considerable time, about 125km as I recall. 

About 1/2 way up the first climb I was shelled along with many others and from then on it was a case of recovering over the top and getting to the finish..... it was only 65 km...... The 2nd climb came in quick succession and I was distanced from my group, clearly I hadn't quite recovered from the Delhi Belly but I grovelled on and got over the climb, then came the suffering, the group i'd been with were literally 500 metres infront, but sods law was in abundance this day and me and them were doing exactly the same speed and so the gap stayed the same for 30 extremely frustrating kilometers. Eventually after a few descents, 3 gels, a banana and 2 bidons, I started to get closer and one big push got me up to them, I was relieved to finally sit in the wheels and for 20kms I sat on and died a thousand times...... theres a song in there ...... With 10 km to go I popped again and road in on my own,.....I took the coveted lantern rouge that day and picked up some serious man points. 

                                                                            Just a picture...... because I like it

Stage two was a similar set out to stage 1, an hour of gutter racing on a big open motorway road before we hit the KOMs of the day where the race would be split to shit and see the GC contenders do battle. We covered 53 km in the first hour and on the flat atleast I felt cracking, However as we hit the first climb, the efforts of the previous day began to show and I came to stand still on the steep accent and my day was done. As I made my way to the top of the climb the heavens opened and the descent was treacherous, I wasn't going to regain contact by this point and taking risks on the slippery downhill was silly and I decided to abandon and recover for the coming races. Which were only in the next few days. Crash your bike out here and your knackered, of course when your in the running risks are taken but in the situation it was silly and so the bus was the ride home. 

                                   Could'v done with him...... either for his horse or his sword to make it less painful

The next race was a criterium in the centre of Setif, a pretty dull circuit to be honest a point to point between 2 roundabouts making a distance total of 96km. For 28/30 laps I didn't feature at all in the race but with 2 laps to go the perfect opportunity arose to attack and I did, I got a good gap of around 10 seconds "according to the lads" but bridgestone Anchor weren't letting anything go and  by the lap bell they had shut me down, however there was a slight gap and we had maybe 10 of us, George Moore went over the top and gave the signal but I was bollocks and couldn't react. This was the final lap I got myself in a good position up the front for the gallop but a serge came on the right hand side and I was too pussy to forge a path through gaps and I was out of it, I rolled in at the back and was pretty pissed with the outcome. Bad Day.... 

                                                                             A lot of lurking tashes.....

So thats week 2 In AFRICA, not a great do but It could have been far worse....... I'll right a final blog about my rest day with a difference, the Tour of Constantine and our final Criterium before heading home to a meal that didn't contain  A- Chicken or B- Rice......

Hope you enjoy