échafaudage en bambous – Photo Thomas Crabot
la chine et ses grands travaux – Photo Thomas Crabot
construction de 3 viaducs à la fois – Photo Thomas Crabot
construction d’un pont – Photo Thomas Crabot
ouvrier sur un chantier – Photo Thomas Crabot
sur la 4 voies – Photo Thomas Crabot
58° sur le sol ! – Photo Thomas Crabot
insupportable – Photo Thomas Crabot
trop insurportable – Photo Thomas Crabot
D197 – 60.8Km
SUNDAY, JULY 2
N31 49.623 E116 00.432 (75m) – N31 45.807 E116 36.111 (53m – 10km after Luan)
60.8 km – 10H28′
Temperature on the asphalt 58° Celsius
Is this reasonable?
The 312 has become a very unpleasant double 2-lane road, especially since there isn’t a bit of shade. The asphalt is burning and it’s easy to imagine being able to fry an egg on it. This is the same suffocating heat Serge found in Senegal and Mali. The only difference is that he has now run several thousand kilometers and his extreme fatigue makes these conditions difficult to bear. Some of our readers ask why Serge doesn’t run at night, which is what he did in West Africa.
The first reason is just that it’s just a question of rhythm, because Serge can’t see himself running a normal day, arriving at 19H00 and then leaving again at 3H00 AM. He would have to change the schedule and do a short stage, sleep all afternoon and then it would be possible but Serge doesn’t want to make a short stage which would alter his average, especially since in Shanghai and Fukuoka he would then have to run two even shorter stages.
The second reason is that it’s very dangerous to run at night because of the traffic. You have probably understood that in China the rules of the road are almost nonexistent and even during the day we have to be very vigilant. In Africa, there was hardly any traffic
The only solution would be to leave at daybreak, at 4H30 AM but Serge still wouldn’t escape the heat, which reaches it’s peak at 16H00. It has been some time since we have had a day of less than 11 hours.
Tonight, Serge stopped of his own accord, he was cooked. All day long he marinated in his own juice, all his clothes bore the sign of salt and Nok. His body is covered with heat pimples and tonight his hands are swollen. You can’t even see the folds of skin at his knuckles and on top of all that, the pain in the Achilles tendon worries Serge. He knows that from now on it will be very tough every day.
I often ask him: “Did you get any pleasure out of today’s run?” because Serge likes to say that no matter what the day is like, even the most difficult, there is always a good moment, an instant of pleasure that pushes him to continue, to pursue his goal. Tonight this question didn’t get an answer!