Yesterday marked the first riding day. After some desperate and forceful squeezing and pushing, I manage to pack my red box and complete and prepare my bike and gear for the start. We move in a slow convoy out of Gizah. Some superficial picture-taking followed at the pyramids, which were idyllically concealed behing Cairo smog. The Egyptian ministry of tourism shined through its absence, and so did the promised tea-and-snack-session on their behalf. Riding out of Cairo was fast and easy. My intentions were starting with a low intensity and building up during the week, similar to my training sessions. As so many good plans, this one went straight out of the window in the heat of action. The stage was set to be 129km under the anticipation of some moderate climbing and no wind/tailwind. After 40km we started facing a most ferocious headwind, which gulped virtually all of my pedalling power and left me moving forward at a measly 12-17km/h. At times I felt like screaming into the wind, at other times like giving up. My muscles were filled with lactic acid and I knew my body would have to pay the price in terms of fatigue in the days to come. 2 ½ h before sunset the remaining distance was still over 50km. I quickly did the maths and realized that my current pace would not allow me to reach camp before dark. The thought of loosing my EFI on the first day...the horror! Somehow I managed. Many others didn’t.
The evenings rider meeting, which was to brief us on tomorrow’s stage, announced a distance of 170km. Everyone paled…with similar conditions that would be an extremely taxing day.
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