I was as keen as mustard to start the day. We had come from the eastern states with a two hour time difference. This meant that 5:00AM was really my body clock's 7:00AM. I was happy for this because I knew that an early start meant I could travel during the coolest part of the day. It also allowed me to have a break at the hottest part of the day, right after we'd eaten, and when I'd be the most tired. I wasn't worried that we'd only come 60.1km the previous day because I knew my fitness and speed would improve and we'd not had a full day travelling. But that was to be ameloriated by a progressivly rougher and sandier track. And we'd eventually see some sand ridges, and then sand hills. I couldn't wait!
I was up before sunrise and found that our rushed camsite position, in a small claypan 25m from the track, was surrounded by small dung-pats from either camels or cows. We had not packed up our camp too many times, so we were still working out the easiest and fastest sequence. I was also aware that I needed to keep up my calorie intake, and this was always the first task of the day. I had a large bowl of museli and powered milk, semi-cooked in boiling water heated on our LPG/butane two burner stove. I'd brought a small aluminium single-cup espresso jug - coffee is an essential food for any serious cyclist!
In the past I'd always found using stakes to hold down a tent was problematic. Over the previous week I'd trialled the use of long guy lines tied to tough looking shrubbery - this was fast to set up and turned out to be quite effective. It also meant you could walk around the camp without worrying you'd hit your head, or trip over, the guy ropes.
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