J199 – 7/4/2006

Yesterday evening two decisions were taken:

• Leave at dawn as long as this heat lasts

• Set Serge’s arrival date in Shanghai

Well established in Eastern China, Mizuno wishes to welcome Serge in Shanghai, his last stop, by organizing an event on July 12, before our takeoff to Japan.  July 13, Serge will start his race again in Fukuoka.  There, Mizuno will organize a ceremony to mark Serge’s departure on Japanese soil.  So Serge has decided to slow down a bit and the next few stages will not exceed 60 kilometers per day.

For my part, I’m very satisfied that Serge is finally letting up.  I can’t think how many times, when things weren’t going well, I suggested  that he run fewer kilometers, since the most important thing was to arrive safely and in good condition. It seems that the Excel spread sheet had stronger arguments than I.

4H00 AM was breakfast time.  4H45 departure with grumbling: “It’s hard to get up at an hour when my body is used to sleeping soundly.”

But Serge wouldn’t regret this choice: At dawn in China, the cities are not asleep and already people were doing their gymnastics and going to market.  At 6H30 stores start opening.  Don’t the Chinese ever sleep?  

Serge arrived at the outskirts of the city of Hefei, followed by the city of Dafong for 27 kilometers.  Then he found a small road (in the Anhui Province the roads are in very bad condition and repairs have been made in any old way, far from what we have been used to).  Route 312 is really Route 331 on the map, a detail which mystified Serge.  Occasionally the signs and kilometer markers give contradictory or illogical information. But yes, we are indeed on the right road to Xianhe, where we are due to arrive tomorrow before reaching Nanjing on Thursday.