Earlier in the tour I was cycling up a long climb and suddenly felt the sweat and warm breath of someone drafting me all the way up. On top of the climb the fellow rider – one of the fastest in the tour, if not the fastest, and whom I usually see only 3 times a day
1. at breakfast 2. briefly on the road when passing me and speeding away 3. at dinner
closed up, stayed next to me and said:
“You have got sexy legs, I wanted to pass you for a long time, but my eyes became so addicted to your legs, that my nerve system failed to instruct my legs to go faster”
Another short, but hot day in central Timor. Perfect roads through rural areas. Ups and downs, some as steep as 11%. Even with many stops I made it to town before noon.
The last stage in Indonesia. Tomorrow is border crossing into Timor-Leste.
The route was last minute modified from the original route, to have more rest before the last stage to Timor-Leste, which is said to be mostly on very bad roads and we could get stuck at the border, too. The original route would have taken us along the north shore, but was 30km longer and more ups. Now we went straight inland through the hills to Atambua. The ride was comparable to the past 2 days. Changing vegetation and through clean villages with thatched huts and beautiful garden arrangements. Again too beautiful to just rush through.
I’ll definitely miss the people and the ‘Hellos’ once we are in the Outback.
