Day 0 and day 1

Yesterday was very strange. I dropped Andre off at Mike's house at 9am since they were all travelling together from his house. By 9am we'd already had a tight word, a tense moment, a clenched jaw and an exasperated sigh. Tension has a funny way of coming out....

But I waved Andre goodbye with a lump in my throat. And then I went shopping!



Andre called last night to say that they had arrived, had finished the lasagne and the speeches for the evening and were getting ready to go to bed. He was in good spirits and very happy to almost be on the starting line.



Day 1 was a very good day for Andre. He called a little after 6 sounding relaxed and confident. He arrived at support station 1 at around 3:30pm - similar time to last year - and had an awesome ride. He forgot to set his tracker until about half way through the day and they have had problems with some of them. Hopefully all of them will be working tomorrow and then we can track exactly where in the world Andre is.



Andre said that he was very happy with his "silly bike" since there was no pressure to climb any mountains at any particular speed. He just rode until he couldn't anymore and then walked. He said that walked quicker than most people anyway so is in really good spirits. 4 riders have pushed on through to the next stage but Andre is happy to be sitting around the fire, eating up a storm and waiting for his just-washed-in-the-bath clothes to dry on his makeshift line. It's still a long way to go.....

As with last year, there is no deodrant this time. Andre says that that Allendale is going to have a years supply of deodrant as the first timers decide what it is they actually need. Personally, I think that's ALL that I would carry, but then again I am a girl who just doesn't get it!



Tomorrow they will travel to another unpronounceable place in KZN but it is sure to be another blissful day in heaven for Andre.



Until next time,

Corrinne