This is the first time I've been able to connect to the 'net. No mobile signal at all. And NO PHONES in bedrooms in these cowboy hotels!

I am fine. It is an arduous trek. 56 miles today for most (some, myself included due to tandem limitations, took refuge in a support vehicle for some time, though never for long and one at least was carrying injuries from a fall) in very high temps. Reached mid-80s mid-afternoon, and no shade. None anywhere. It is phenomenal country. But all is beauty through geography. Little or no bird life - some saw an eagle today. I missed it. It is barren, forbidding land, and several suffered mild sunstroke today. Tom, my pilot, is good and I can cope well through my own brand of insouciance. It is hard, this one. Hard even for some very fit men. The 7 women cyclists are formidable. All have finished the course so far, with great courage, determination and dignity - rather as wise men have come to expect of women really.

No mistake, this is tough. But so are women. We're not halfway through, but I can be sure this will live long in the mind.

SH