Sossusvlei

 We crossed over 10,000 kms as we left Windhoek.  Time really went by fast in the last few sections.  We are resting at Sossusvlei in the Namib desert.  The landscape was spectacular in the last few days.  We cycled through the highlands, down through the Spreetshoogte Pass to the Namib desert.   Namibia is very developed.  In certain sense, we've left the real Africa. 

Stage 81 - This is the first ride of the last section.  The rest day in Windhoek was very relaxing.  I stayed in downtown, instead of the camp outside of the city.  Windhoek is a well organized city, after all, Namibia was a Germany colony.  

The section riders from Australia, UK, US and Ireland came by the camp to say goodbye to everyone.  We headed out to town and on to the dirt road.  After the long days of Botswana, the mountains provided a welcome change in scenery.  We climbed most of the morning to over 2000 meters, then a few long descends and rolling hills in the afternoon.  The headwind we battled last few days became tailwind as we headed south.  Namibia is experiencing the most rainfall in 100+ years.  Everything is still green.  This time of the year here is equivalent to late November, early December in the northern hemisphere.  I had a flat tire just coming of lunch.  Hope the tire God is with me rest of the trip!

Stage 82 - What an epic ride today!  After a storm last night, the sandy road was really soft in the morning.  Lunch was scheduled at 75 kms.  However, we were surprised to see the lunch truck at 63 km mark.  The lunch truck got stuck in the mud and could not go further.  After lunch, the ride combined nearly all challenges from previous rides: mud, sand, water, corrugation, heat, climbing, steep descends and long dirt road.  Due to the heavy rains this year, the roads have not yet been graded.  So there were a lot of rough spots.  We pushed through mud pools and streams.  Bike through streams where water is knee deep was really fun.  Then we climbed the beautiful Spreetshoogte Pass.  It was one of the most spectacular lookout point ever.  The Namibian desert dunes are not too far away.  We then descended 500 meters over 4 kms.  At some points, it felt like a 90 degree angle straight down.  The ride after was on corrugated roads that reminded us of Sudan and Northern Kenya.

Once I arrived at the camp, there was a bakery that had the best apple pies.  It was incredibly delicious.  

Stage 83 - We had a 30km time trial today.  We had a huge storm last night.  As we left the camp, the sun peeked through the clouds and added a reddish color to the mountains in the horizon.  Expecting the road to the sandy and soft after the rain, I left early to warm up.  However, the dirt road was in perfect condition.  I arrived at the time trial 30 minutes before the scheduled star and had to re-warm up again during the first few minutes of the time trail.  I was able to finish the 30km in 1:09:17.