groups of people hanging around, replaced by larger towns with nice houses and a proper infrastructure.The first part of the morning was a brilliant blast through a forest, weaving through the trees on a muddy and sometimes rocky car-wide track. Emerging from the forest, the terrain now looks like the Peak District, all rolling hills and peaks with very few trees and views for miles with no sign of any inhabitants. A lunch stop at Thomas River saw Malik decide that he could not contine with the yellow team as he was suffering with the stomach bug.
The afternoon sees more forest tracks attacked, but the overnight rain had made the rutted tracks extremely difficult and slippery. Half way through the afternoon, Owain is feeling so unwell he has to stop and be sick! Unfortunately he is 8 Km from the nearest road and assistance and so has to come down a steep, muddy track on the back of the doctors bike. We meet up with the ambulance and he is whisked away. At this point we picked up several waifs and strays from other teams tht were not feeling so well and it slowed us down considerably. To make matters worse, I picked up a puncture, but luckily our Sweep had some tyreweld and I was soon on my way again. Five Kms down the road and my tyre had gone flat again! I had to ride sat on the tank as far forward as possible to get as much weight off the
back as possible for around 10 Km. Not very comfortable or easy. By luck, at the next road junction, a Honda sales rep just happened to be passing, so my bike was quickly put on the back of his pickup. The rider feeling most under the weather went with the rep and I rode his bike. We set off again, but by now it was getting dark, so Dave suggested another of his infamous shortcuts. We ended up riding off road for around an hour in the pitch black. It was certainly an experience. A few nerves and tempers were frayed, but a few beers later in the bar and all was well.
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