J198 – 7/3/2006

Finding the courage to start again.

For days, Serge has dragged his feet at departure time and it’s that way today.  The day will be difficult and he knows it.  I would love to have nothing to report and have to rack my brain to feed this website, like I do on days when Serge is doing well, but it’s not the case and the Paris – Tokyo is not a long tranquil road.  Ever since he clocked 6,000 kilometers there have been highs and lows.

At the 40th kilometer, we passed Serge: “I’m suffocating, I can’t breathe.”  At kilometer 42, Serge got into the four-wheel drive, thinking he would find some coolness thanks to the air conditioning; however, from the start it hasn’t worked so there was no coolness.  Five minutes later, he got out of the 4X4 because he felt like vomiting but couldn’t. He lay down: “I need air, I need air”.  It was a request we couldn’t satisfy.  He took off his shoes and his soaking T-shirt.

His torso itched because of the small heat pimples and heat rash.  Sweat was abrasive and it scratched a lot.  His head and body were burning and his respiratory rate abnormally fast: “Relax and breath slowly and deeply.”  We had to get his body temperature down.  To do that, I sprinkled his stomach and torso with cold water (which we stock in the 12 V refrigerator of the 4×4 because up to now we have never been able to find ice cubes) to relieve the itching with brief bathing.  It took several minutes of rest for him to get back to breathing normally.

Serge sat up and ate with appetite, which was a good sign.  “I felt like I had a plastic bag on my head but now I’m better.”  For the past few days we have wanted to change the departure time to daybreak, now it’s decided.  We will have to do it even if I know it will upset Serge, for whom sleep, which is when he recuperates, is very important, especially now.

Serge is always ready to joke and it was the case during a feeding by Maxime: “Little brother,  Tokyo is far!”

Serge did a short stage and luckily we found a hotel just 200 meters from route 312, at the entrance to the city of Hefei.  He went there on foot.  During that time, Liu left to reconnoiter how we would cross the city and Stephanie and Tom left to do some shopping in the center of town.

Hefei is the capital of the Anhui province and has more than 4 million inhabitants.  Leaving at dawn will be best: less heat, less traffic, fewer people, less noise, less pollution…. more comfort for running.