Beeep, beeep beeep,beeeeeeep.........
My watch was telling me it was 2am and to wake up but again I had beaten it to the punch. I was already looking up at the stars, sweating my arse off in my bivy. I was not sure if it was my sleeping bag rating, the warm night or the “night sweats” that one tends to get when doing these bikepacking races. I turned the bag and my bivy inside out and hung them from my handlebars for a quick dry while I got dressed and ate another burrito. I was always slow to get going but I always look after my gear which I think pays dividends in the long run.
It was very dark and quite cold and windy as I began pedalling toward Kelvin, a mere 89km away. The trail was quite tight and tricky this morning with lots of steep pinches that had me off, pushing. Add to this a 25-30 knot wind and any time I turned into wind I was crawling again. I was on the lookout for water as I went along but even though tanks were marked on the gps I couldn’t see anything in the dark of night.
Just when the trail seemed to get a bit of flow to it, a gate would loom out on the darkness and cause a dismount. At least most were of the modern, easily operated variety.
Just when the trail seemed to get a bit of flow to it, a gate would loom out on the darkness and cause a dismount. At least most were of the modern, easily operated variety.
