DAY 19 – Abiquiu Pueblo to Pintado camp (133.4miles)

Matt wakes up feeling rough and with stomach cramps. I can hear he is in a bad way just from his voice. The route goes straight into a 4,000' climb out of Abiquiu over some rough roads over 10,000'. Matt still pushes on with Bruce and I into the hot day, but drops out of sight quickly. After a while I decide to turn around and head back to find him. I turn a bend to see him making slow progress but still pushing on. His slow actions and voice tell me he is really suffering. Aside the climbing its 80 miles to Cuba over some rough dirt roads in near 100 degree heat. This is a hard ride even in good health.

I feel I have no place to offer Matt sympathy or advice, and a goodbye would just be patronising. He can look after himself and will be better off making his own decisions and me not interfering. I know this is the last time I will see him in this race. After nearly three weeks on the trail together I head off up the hill ensuring no verbal sign or look of goodbye.

After a hard day riding through the high mountains the route turns onto a pavement road and drops down into Cuba. As the trees disappear a wall of heat and humidity coming off the road hits me like a hammer. Fortunately the descent is fast enough to offer some cooling and rolls all the way into Cuba. Cuba is just one main street and offers all GDR calorie services. I eat in a restaurant with Bruce and drink pints and pints of Coke to get hydrated again, then into the supermarket next door for supplies, then Subway for a takeaway snack.

In the parking lot of the supermarket Bruce and I wish each other good luck and he leaves to ride the official GDR dirt trail, while I’m taking the legal alternative pavement road section. The different routes are equal length, about 120 miles, but rain can make the official trail impassable. I think he's taking a high risk as the thunderstorms are forecast to arrive tomorrow. I watch Bruce ride off and sit down in the shade to hang around for an hour in case Matt arrives. I know he's gone back to Abiquiu, but have to do this anyway.

While waiting I clear my mind and hit the road out of Cuba full of energy and excited to be on my own for the rest of the race. I felt it was time for us to ride on our own for a while and have some personal experiences. I haven’t got much water, but manage to make a store just before it closes at 10pm and stock up. I press on into the night until around 11pm when I see some thick bushes to bivvie up behind for the night.