Day 30 Huanuco to Cerro de Pasco

We were all nervous about this day, especially after a rest day.  It was only scheduled as 120K but had a scheduled 2615 metres of climbing, and we were already at 1899 metres, so the climbing to distance ratio was high but more problematic was the altitude increase!
So on September 4th at 8am we set off in not very warm conditions and it was not long before we started to climb at a fairly steady rate.  At about 20K I came across a traffic jam and soon realised both our trucks were in it.  I was soon at the "lunch" truck where I was told that road works meant the road was to be closed until mid-day, it was now about 10am.  Susanna, our translator, was negotiating with the police to try and get us through in convoy because of the daylight problems the riders would face if they had to wait until mid-day.  It looked promising as the trucks were asked to move to the front by the barriers, but it failed and we were still waiting.
Eventually some of the riders decided that they could get through even if they had to walk when they reached the road works.  Stalemate was broken and after we had all walked or slowly cycled a police car came along and escorted us through, but the trucks had to wait until mid-day!  So we were on our way again having lost valuable time on this time critical day.
The trucks overtook us eventually and the lunch truck set up at around 70K where I had a quick lunch and got on my way because there was still a lot of climbing to go in the last 40K.  Shortly after there was a stretch of unmade road which was very bumpy and slowed the pace down as well as getting you covered in dust as all the heavy stuff overtook.  Then, the last thing to give problems on this hard day was a thunderstorm!  It was not actually overhead but close enough to give you a good soaking, make you cold and soak the roads for a few K.
Finally after the last hard kilometres with much steeper gradients I arrived at the hotel with 7 minutes to spare before it got dark.  The hotel was not the best we have stayed in but after my soup, a couple of rolls and a cup of tea I decided to go to bed and get warm.  It had been a long day, 9Hrs 45Mins for 118K with the final altitude we would be sleeping at a moderate 4417 metres.  I like most of the others was shattered!