May 26,  Location:  Luoyang  34° 40’N 112° 27’ E elevation 204 metres, riding day #8 (6th of 6 in a row). 62km today, 1224 total to date

An easy short day, good thing as I need a break and my right knee is bothering me.  A lovely day that started off cool, but getting really hot this afternoon some 38° C.  And a bonus of a rest day tomorrow.  Really nice to ride in clean air with no dust, yesterday was just awful.

May 25,   Location:  Dengfeng  34° 31’N 112° 57’ E elevation 562 metres, riding day #8 (5^th of 6 in a row). 152km

Hard day, strong wind against, tired from yesterday, very dusty.  Absolutely filthy at end of day.   See picture.  Our accommodation is very modest to say the least, probably quite good by 3rd world standards.  Had two flats today one front, one rear.  I’ve never had a front flat before!  It was a rock pinch.  The rear flat was due to glass.

For the first time we did some climbing about 500 meters for the day, should have been easy, but with heavy wind against and at the end of the day, it was hard.