Chris wins Malawi Gin!!

Hi there to one and all,
You're probably wondering why the post is called 'Chris wins Malawi Gin'. I know you thought he was riding a bike in Africa and now you learn that he's winning bottles of alcohol? Is he gambling as well? Is he spending his spare moments learning how to play competition poker? (Well, actually he is as we have a new addition to the TDA family of riders called Tiffany who hails from the states and is a card shark and sharing her skills with all the boys. She's still winning but I tell ya, these boys don't give up no matter how much she fleeeces them!)

Anyway, Malawi Gin was the name of the section of stages from Iringa, Tanzania to Lilongwe, Malawi, all 1124kms. Chris won the section by 15 minutes after a superb effort over the hilly stage out of Chitimba Beach. We had a rest day in Chitimba Beach which is on the shores of Lake Malawi. Beautiful, white sandy beach, lake front camping, palm trees, little bungalows, a bit like Fiji...nothing to do. We didn't have internet connections and no shops so all we could do was sleep, eat and swim. It was an amazing rest day and everybody felt great for it. The stage started with a 15km easy ride along the shores of Lake Malawi and then at 14km there was a sharp right hand bend that went straight up this hill. We were told the night before that we would climb 1000 meters and then drop 2500 meters to a town called Mzuzu. The first climb was 25 km up! The Billy goat part of Chris's personality came out of it's wrappings and crucified the rest of the racers. He took a 15 minute chunk of time out of Adrie in the hill climb and as one of the other racer boys said..'Chris was on fire'. They did not catch him and so consequently he rode 120 kms by himself.

At the end of the stage he gratefully inhaled a home made fruit cake that Alice from Joberg's mother had made for him and sent via Patrick's brother Andre from Cape Town. Is that confusing? Basically we met Alice's parents Sue and Dave when they joined us in Nairobi and we got to know them as they also came on safari with us when we did Serengeti...AMAZING..saw the big five and Ngorongoro Crater Safari - also amazing..saw cheetahs again. While on safari Chris got talking with Sue and next thing you know he has negotiated a fruit cake..she is a babe of a woman and I love it as it means that I don't have to bake it!! She rocks. Patricks brother came to visit at Chitimba Beach and he had all sorts of goodies from fruit cakes to spare wheels to a conglomeration of bike bits!! He rode one stage with us and it was the hilly one. He did well to do that on his first day..it was tough!

Anyway, Chris is a happy boy to win a section and is looking forward to more hills in the Zambesi Zone section. We start off flat and long, 159km, 195km, and then on day three hills start again as we go trough one of the two gorges before we get to Lusaka.

As for me..I'll be happy with the flat roads as my wrist is still not quite right. I took the cast off after the three rest days in Arusha and then rehabbed it while the off road sections of Tanzania were taking place. There was lots of rain and mud and we decided that it would be crazy for me to ride those roads with a freshly healed wrist. I stayed in the truck and enjoyed the experieinces of seeing Doris truck getting stuck, digging it out, moving 200m in 5 hours and hanging out with the locals. Once we got to Iringa and we were back on tarseal/tarmac I raced the first stage and won it. It felt so good to be back on the bike I tell you it was heaven. I was so excited to be back on the bike after 5 weeks that there was no holding me back. The next day my wrist hurt like hell and I realised that I had better ease into the racing and so took it easy for the rest of the stages hence you not seeing my name in the stage wins after day one.I still have trouble holding on to the hoods and climbing as the wrist is stiff and feels like concrete. So the hilly sections are a problem but the flat sections are great as I have put my aerobars on...thanks to Richard in Encinitas who has been our saving grace and sending us things from out of our garage. Without his help I would not be riding as the aerobars make all the difference. Anyway, we ride for the Zambia border in the morning and hopefully I'll be able to race the section...fingers and toes crossed people.

We are off to clean bikes and get a load of food for the next section and so hopefully you are all well.
Love ya