We brought our luggage to the bus at 7:30am, had breakfast, then set off in the bus to visit Al Capone's house which was a couple of miles down the road from our hotel. We all got out and took a few photographs for 10 minutes, before getting back onto the bus and going back to where we finished last night to be reunited with the truck and our bikes. 
I felt nervous this morning as today's ride is to be 90km's and yesterday was much harder than I had imagined. However, I actually really enjoyed today. The route was reasonably flat, but there was a strong headwind with open fields either side of the road, making the going quite tough.
We passed lots of fields of sugar cane, bananas and coconuts. We cycled past the small electric train tracks which go through a large part of Cuba to transport sugar cane.
A few km's before the snack break I managed to fall off my bike in rather spectacular fashion by falling off the road! Managed to knock Chris off his bike as he was right behind me. There were a few of us cycling close together so it's lucky that only one other person fell off. Chris didn't hurt himself luckily. Everyone was laughing at how 'British' I was because as I was falling, I kept shouting, 'Sorry, Sorry!' (I was worried that I was going to cause a huge pile-up). I hit my elbow quite hard on the road and had scrapes and bruises on my knees and left arm. My elbow swelled up quite quickly and I had pain in my neck and shoulder so I was worried that it might stop me cycling later if it seized up. Luckily Dr. Pete was at hand and quickly adminstered creams and potions. I sat down for a few minutes as I was a bit shaken up. Alex and Ariel waited with us and then we cycled the last few km's to the snack break at Union de Reyes. I had some pineapple and bananas and Clare gave my neck and shoulder a massage on the bus with some ibuprofen gel. This made me feel much better.
We all went to use the toilet in the clinic over the road (which wasn't much better than the other lovely toilets we had the fortune to frequent). Unfortunately my chain guard got damaged when I fell off so Ariel had to find another bike for me whilst we were having our snack. When we set off, I discovered that my new bike wasn't working properly as the chain kept falling between the cogs. Pete and Clare waited with me while Alex and Ariel tried to fix the bike. Unfortunately it wasn't possible so I had to get a 3rd bike (Dr. George's) which was a heavy raleigh with no suspension. By this time the rest of the group had been gone for about 15-20 minutes and Chris arrived back shortly as he'd been positioned at the next corner waiting to tell us where to turn off. It was great that Pete, Clare and Chris had waited with me. This summed up the whole team spirit which was present on the whole trip. Everyone really looked out for each other.
The four of us set off and cycled the next 20km's or so as fast as we could in order to try to make up some ground to catch up with the rest of the group. We cycled through Bolondron, Guira de Macurijes and then stopped for lunch in Pedro Betancourt, a small village where we ate in a small, shaded square. Ros was desperate for the loo and went down the side of a building as we couldn't find a hedge. This was also the town with the worst toilet yet, which poor Nikki had no choice but to use. I decided to hang on, so after lunch I cycled quickly at the front of the group for about 10 minutes, then went for a wee in a field (by far the best place to go). I then caught up with the guys at the front and enjoyed the rest of the afternoon's cycling tremendously.
We stopped in Jaguey Grande, the first of us arriving at around 5pm, the last few people coming in at about 5:40pm. We put all of our bikes on the back of the truck and had a 2 hour truck transfer to our next hotel, Hotel Rancho Luna in Cienfuegos. This was on the south coast, so it was our first taste of the Caribbean sea. We were to spend two nights in this all-inclusive hotel. 
Ros and I discovered a huge cockroach in our shower, so did the only honourable thing and went next door in true girly style and got one of the men to remove it for us! Thanks Andy. 
We all met for dinner and then Alex gave us a briefing in the lobby over the noise of the Butlins-style entertainment. Had a couple of mojito's then went to bed feeling very tired.
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