Day 1: hot hot hotter

 

Day one completed. 117 kms in 5 hours 51 minutes of moving time. But 9 hours and 21 minutes in total. Today was a heat wave day in the region, and we faced temperatures up to 44 degrees Celsius. Crazy heat that one could feel radiating from the asphalt and gusts of hot air that felt like out of a furnace.

The heat was so strong that caused two of our group to abandon the ride and we had to stop and wait for the team Van come to pick them up. That took a lot of time just standing in shades alongside the road and dehydrating slowly. Really hard day. I feel really bad for for the guys but hope they can recover for the next days.

From mu side I felt OK during most of the ride and even during the steep climbs of the day I was feeling good. Keeping my own pace and controlling not to overheat. The last 15 kms were a struggle though. At the end I was completely empty and feeling a little nauseated. Completely cooked. But happy to have completed a very hard first day. Now after a nice shower and two litters of water down I’m starting to feel better. Ready for dinner.

Tomorrow we need to think of a strategy against the heat. 

Some metrics and pictures of the day below in order later to earlier in the morning