Tough but good..

Considering my stomach problems which have resulted in a weight and energy loss I decided to leave out on the riding again yesterday. 140 k's tough ride was announced from TDA - and even though it is always not quite as hard as they say I am happy that I gave myself a day to recover. Today is the first day since long where I feel pretty normal. Energy level and hunger is normal - I could eat the typical Indonesian breakfast (rice+a little bit of veggies+omelet) and had energy bars and cakes before lunch where I also had appetite to eat a good deal. That meant that I was prepared for another demanding ride. We did only 67,7 k's - but with an overall elevation of 2450 meters. I did fine - was the first girl of two to do the full ride - and felt well! For the first time since long I had the power to attack a bit - and actually enjoyed the challenge a lot. It was a very beautiful ride - going up from sea level though forest, rice paddies and tea plantations. Especially the last is just mindblowingly beautiful - the juicy green colour of the young leaves on the tea plants just lighten the whole scenery up - and the way the fields cover the whole landscape is wonderful to see. Going up to 1800 meters the temperature of course also went down - which was pleasant - and after sweating going up steep it actually felt cold at the top so we had our light rain jackets on in the beginning going down. Came to the town of Ciwedey shortly before two pm - and was installed in a nice little suite together with Rosi, my roommate. Had french fries and fresh fruit juice before the quite elegant Indonesian dinner with beef Rendang, saté and other good classical dishes from here.. Am optimistic about tomorrow where a 114 k's ride with an elevation of 2130 m is on the agenda.. TDA recommends that we take our most wide and rough tires - i only have one set so my plan is to be careful on the loose gravel roads..