Tired

Today is my fourth day of riding the freedom trail, and I feel completely beaten by it. I would have posted a blog entry before now, but i have either been cycling, eating, sleeping, or else too shattered to contemplate writing anything. The first 2 days on the trail led me through some dramatic scenery, although i was constantly competing for space with the unforgiving south african motorists. Yesterday was the first day of off road riding,and it was tough.
Everyday so far i have at some point stopped and thought that i have bitten off more than i can chew by undertaking this ride. Today, day 4, i had 2 such moments.

This ride has become a full time job. I rise at 7,am on my way by 9 and cycle through til around 5, stopping for lunch, punctures and breaks. So far the riding has been hard work-my legs are out of practice after such a long break from training. Having said all that, i am having fun. I generally thoroughly enjoy the first 50 km each day. Climbing for an hour is made worth while by the 10 minutes of grin inducing downhill. I've seen a few birds of prey. I can't identify any of them, but they are most impressive. One of the highlights so far came yesterday morning. I strayed into the back of a farm and was trying to find the dirt road into the next town. The farm workers' children were playing a game of cricket, but they all stopped and walked me to the road. It felt really friendly. None of the cries of 'give me 2 rand please' which i hear when passing through villages.

Everybody here waves. I think it must be an unwritten rule that if you make eye contact with someone then you wave. This code breaks down when you enter more urban areas, but elsewhere is adhered to rigidly. So much so that when I'm climbing a particularly steep hill, i make a point of keeping my head down to avoid making eye contact and hence having to wave, as it breaks my rhythm.

Being in the bush makes me feel a little like one of my heroes, Ray Mears. With about 6 hours each day on the bike, my mind has had ample time to concoct improvements to make life easier in some small way, and just like Ray, I've been trying to realise these dreams using only what i have available. My toolkit contains, amongst other things, zip ties, rubber rings (fancy elastic bands) and velcro. From these basic ingredients, using only a leatherman (how did i survive 26 years without one of these?), i have so far managed to make:
> Helmet mount for my head torch
> Handle bar mount for GPS
> Map pouch fastening for my backpack
> backpack hydration system adaptor

And so now on with day 5. I have a rest day on saturday, so hopefully will write more then. Lastly, thank you very much to all those who have emailed their support - definitely pulled me back from the brink last night when i arrived at my accommodation too tired to eat - and also to those that supported me directly in muzenburg (thanks paymon, dion)