Sand, sand and more sand! - 24 June 2008
Stage number: 13
Stage date: 24/06/2008
Start and arrival city: HAMI to QUINGUAN
Special: Danahu to Liuyuan
Total distance (special): 727km (436km)
Result on stage: 22nd
Position overall: 18th
Hi. It's been another long, long stinking day! It's been hundreds of kilometres of huge dunes, which I'd normally do real well on but I've been chugging along just keeping an eye on the temperature of the bike. One of the truck drivers was saying that it was up to 50 degrees in the dunes today. The heat really doesn't affect me though, I don't know why but it must be some ancient Aussie genes in me. You do have to watch it though because it can catch you unawares, no matter how much water you drink. I stopped to help Colin Askey out this morning; he was suffering with the heat all day yesterday, and was a bit groggy this morning. He got stuck at the very first dune of the start so I stopped and helped him out. I saw him in the bivouac tonight and he's absolutely fine, riding 700km soon sorts you out.
The special stage riding was really good fun because it was quite technical. I do like the dunes, it is proper rallying. Where the sand has been blown on the flat it causes sand waves and you have to ride them like whoops on a supercross track. It's hard to keep the front wheel light and if you don't have that initial punch on the throttle the front can drop into a hole and dig in. I was taking it all nice and easy but I did end up over the bars once, it was a funny crash. I'd been riding the technical sand tracks and dunes for hundreds of klicks and came across this easy uphill rise but I just let the front get a little too heavy and it stuck in and pitched me over! It was all good though.
Probably the hardest part of the day was the 300km liaison after the special stage. The motorways in China are mint. They're lovely and smooth, which also means they are extremely boring. I was battling to stay awake after 400km in the sand and I was quite tired, so sitting on a lovely fresh tarmac can bore you to sleep. I resorted to spraying my camel pack down my chest to wake me up. Eventually I decided I'd have a bit of a break so I pulled up under a motorway bridge to get some shade and rest for 20 minutes. I was quite surprised to find a Lithuanian cyclist under the bridge doing the same thing. You might think we're mad, he's cycling from Lithuania to Beijing! Top bloke.
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