The title refers to a saying a local Namibian told me. I was explaining what it was like on the tour, with the days being so long, but the weeks flying by so quickly. She said "An elephant is eaten in small pieces". I figured that would be the most fitting way to describe this tour. So, here I sit in Felix Unite, Namibia. It's right on the border with South Africa. There are 6 riding days remaining in the tour. What can I say? I'm speachless. This tour has changed me as a person. I'm actually at a loss for words. This whole experience is something so great, it's going to be impossible for me to describe, but I'll try anyway.
This trip is something I would never wish on my worst enemy, but would highly recommend to my best friend. It is a vacation only because I paid for it. If I didn't, it would be a labour camp. This tour has challenged me in new ways, both physically and mentally. I have been happy, sad, frustrated, angry, tired, wired, scared, passive, excited, breathless and speachless, sick, healthy and everything in between. I have loved every single second of it, bar none. Well, maybe a few seconds when I was getting shot at. But no doubt, this trip has changed me. I have had a lot of time to think and unwind. I feel I've grown up a bit, even though I don't want to admit it to myself. It has shown me how lucky I am to be in the position I am in, and how much I have, but it's also shown me how little I need. I've met people I would never have met before and will leave Africa with some wonderful, lifelong friends. When I left Canada, I figured I would leave bodybuilding behind for a few months and try something new. But then it happened: I found myself researching road bikes instead of proteins and chamois instead of gym shoes. I've become a cyclist.
The things I've seen here many people would be envious of as well. I've seen the pyramids, the Sudanese desert, swam in the Nile, climbed the Blue Nile Gorge, drank Malawi Gin on the edge of Lake Malawi, walked through Victoria Falls, climbed the dunes in Namibia and cycled nearly 12000km! It's a funny thought about what has actually taken place over the past 4 months. You spend all your time with the same people, doing the same things are you are that you lose all perspective of what is actually going on. Your days just seem normal, like you're going to work. But you fail to realize what you've just accomplished, whether it be 207km into storms or 172km on dirt road. Over time, you achieve a larger goal: to get to Capetown. An elephant is eaten in small pieces, as they say.
So, with the finish line in sight and one more week of (hopefully) easy cycling, I am awaiting the end. I will leave the TDA bubble and slowly reintegrate myself into normal life again (lame, I have to get a job). I'll be home to party with old, lifelong friends and family and recount some of my stories to those who will listen. Thanks to all my followers and friends for your never-ending support. I couldn't have done it without you guys. And, as per usual, I leave you with some random stats.
Animals I have decimated: Beef, chicken, lamb, pork, tuna, trout, salmon, Nile perch, goat, sole, hake fish, springbok, blesbok, gemsbok, kudu, oryx, donkey, camel, ox, ostrich, zebra, blue wildebeest, eland, crocodile, random livers, ostrich egg, regular egg, and pigeon. Eat that vegetarians!
Falls: 6
Punctures to date: 34
Parts changed to date: Tires x2, chain x1, cassette x1, jockey wheels x3, rear wheel bearings x4, front wheel bearings x1, brake cables x2, shifter cables x2, brake rotors x2, brake pads x3 sets, brake calipers x2, crankset x1
Consumables: Toothpaste tubes x3, deodorant sticks x2, toilet paper rolls x3, baby wipes x200, 1L rubbing alcohol, socks x6 pairs, underwear x2, soap x2 bars
Showers to date: 15
Rides on the truck: 1 (damn!)
See you all in a week!
Danimal
Sunday, May 8, 2011
Thursday, April 28, 2011
The 207.
And, no, not the car. A few days ago, just before I crossed the border in Namibia, I was beaten up by 3 guys. It was my old nemesis, Headwind, and his two friends, Cold and Rain. And they beat me up with 207km of hard riding. What can I say? Even I have limits. I am pleased to report, though, that my limits are way farther than 207. I did the whole day, including 130km by myself into some of the worst storms I have seen. We had hail, rain, lightning and some ridiculous wind. I had to bike with my head down because the rain was flying horizontally. At maximum leg output, I was going 22km/h, which is a little slower than my normal 33km/h. Anyway, I made it and I am now safely in Namibia! The rain, unfortunately has decided not to stop. They have been having unseasonal rains here that are incredible. I was eating in a cafe after a race one day and it was raining so hard, the water in the streets was over the curb. Apparently, Windhoek (German for "windy corner"), the capital receives 600mm of rain annually. This year, they are already at 1000mm. Hurray. :( So, now it's not only going to be cold, but also rainy. Good thing I just lost my sweater.
On a happier note, my racing career was short and sweet. I finished this section 4th, I believe and I actually came first in a stage! I'm not sure if the web page has been updated, but I won stage 76, a 157km race. I think I did it in about 4.5 hours. So, I am rather pleased with myself. However, now that we are entering the desert again, there will be some stuff to see, so I handed in my racing chip. A short and sweet career indeed.
Tonight, I will be eating at Joe's Beer House, where they serve game meat. I am going to have a platter called the bushman's platter, which is basically a sampler of different meats. I have been eating as many animals as I possibly can, so I can already add these to my list: Gemsbok, kudu, oryx. Tonight I can hopefully add zebra to that list.
So, I'm not sure if I am going to be able to post again before I'm done. We are heading into the Namibian desert, where I imagine internet to be scarce. I only have two more rest days anyway. Plus, the places we're staying are going to be in the middle of nowhere, apparently. So, in case of no more posts, I would just like to thank everyone for their continuing support of me on this tour. I've said it before, but there is no way I could have finished this tour without knowing I have an awesome team behind me at home. So, thank you everyone for all your kind messages and words of support. Also, I apologize for getting too drunk at the finish line. Please excuse any pictures you might see of me on the net. And if you want to see my beard, do so ASAP, cause I hate it and it's coming off as soon as I get home.
Danimal
On a happier note, my racing career was short and sweet. I finished this section 4th, I believe and I actually came first in a stage! I'm not sure if the web page has been updated, but I won stage 76, a 157km race. I think I did it in about 4.5 hours. So, I am rather pleased with myself. However, now that we are entering the desert again, there will be some stuff to see, so I handed in my racing chip. A short and sweet career indeed.
Tonight, I will be eating at Joe's Beer House, where they serve game meat. I am going to have a platter called the bushman's platter, which is basically a sampler of different meats. I have been eating as many animals as I possibly can, so I can already add these to my list: Gemsbok, kudu, oryx. Tonight I can hopefully add zebra to that list.
So, I'm not sure if I am going to be able to post again before I'm done. We are heading into the Namibian desert, where I imagine internet to be scarce. I only have two more rest days anyway. Plus, the places we're staying are going to be in the middle of nowhere, apparently. So, in case of no more posts, I would just like to thank everyone for their continuing support of me on this tour. I've said it before, but there is no way I could have finished this tour without knowing I have an awesome team behind me at home. So, thank you everyone for all your kind messages and words of support. Also, I apologize for getting too drunk at the finish line. Please excuse any pictures you might see of me on the net. And if you want to see my beard, do so ASAP, cause I hate it and it's coming off as soon as I get home.
Danimal
Friday, April 22, 2011
Post-blog edit**
I'm currently in 4th place for the Elephant Highway stage. Check the results again in a few days for a more accurate placing.
http://www.tourdafrique.com/tours/tourdafrique/race-results/2011/elephant-highway#t
http://www.tourdafrique.com/tours/tourdafrique/race-results/2011/elephant-highway#t
And now for my second death-defying feat... Outrunning a pissed off elephant!
Ok, so I make it sound better than it actually was. He mock charged me. But I didn't stay around long enough to determine if he was really going to keep running at me. So, after Livingstone, Zambia (which I'll get to in a second), the tour started a new section called "The Elephant Highway". Funny name, right? Well, 11km into this section, myself and a fellow rider named Adam came upon a rider named Len. Len had warned us that there was an angry elephant ahead and that he was charging people. Now, Len is in his 60s and is a stereotypical American, so I didn't pay much attention. Adam and I rode on only to find... guess what... an angry elephant about 10m off the road. And guess what he did? He charged us! Surprise, surprise. At the time, I was sure he was actually charging us, as he came out of the bush trumpeting, stomping his feet and flapping his ears. Now, let me tell you that if you want to test a 0 to 50km/h sprint, have an elephant chase you. Anyway, we actually had turned around to head back toward camp/Len, so I realized it was a mock charge, but not before someone peed in my pants. So, in response, Adam and I waited with Len for more riders and went as a large group after the elephant had retreated into the bush (I'm pretty my giant cyclist build scared him off). So, the rest of the day was without incident as we entered Botswana. Strangely enough, we had a wildlife specialist come to our camp and give us a brief on what to do around elephants. Namely, do not cycle within 100m of them, under any circumstance, even if they are happy. Well, I like to live dangerously, as some Kenyans can attest to.
Ok, well, before that, I was in Zambia. At first, Zambia was very similar to Malawi, only a lot more expensive. There were vast fields of corn and maize-like crops, called sorghum. Also, there was corn. And I noticed some corn. Really, I was unimpressed with Zambia. So far, Malawi and Zambia have been my least favourite countries. Very expensive with not a whole lot to offer. What I can praise Zambia about is Livingstone. Named after the famous explorer, David Livingstone, it is home to the beautiful Victoria Falls. The tour stayed at a hotel called "The Waterfront" which was about 5km away from the falls and right along the Zambezi river. At night, the camp was quiet enough to hear the falls. Anyway, I had two days rest at this hotel, which was well needed. The first night I got good and drunk, as people were buying rounds left, right and centre. I woke up the next day to an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast and then headed off to the Falls with Ryan. We took our bikes (believe it or not, they are a handy mode of transport) down and cycled right in the main gate without being stopped, saving us $20USD. We walked all around the back of, and then across a bridge right in the middle of the falls, called the "Boiling Point". Here we proceeded to get soaked. The spray from the falls is insane. It's way heavier than any rain you will ever experience, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. All of the tourists were wearing rain jackets (wusses), but Ryan and I just wore our clothes. We would end up drying off as we cycled home anyway. The second day in Livingstone, I did nothing. I relaxed. I ate some food, slept, did some laundry and relaxed some more. It was well deserved.
So, after we left Livingstone, we crossed the border to Botswana. In doing so, we actually crossed into Zimbabwe and Namibia as we took a (very, very unsafe-feeling) ferry across the Zambezi. All 4 countries intersect in the middle of the river. There is no bridge because the countries are having a hissy fit over tariffs and payment to build a bridge. So, there is a lineup of trucks that can take up to 2 weeks to cross from country to country via this two-truck ferry. African efficiency at it's best. So, yes, we ended up in Botswana, prime wildlife area. Our first night camping, I heard a very angry elephant and awoke the next day to find some trees torn apart and a light standard folded in half just outside out camp. He must have been one pissed off pachyderm. Also, the same morning, as I cycled off, I saw two buffalo (which are WAY bigger than you imagine), three impala, and a bunch of huge birds called ground hornbills that could eat a turkey vulture for breakfast. In general, I have been very pleased with Botswana. It is up there with Tanzania and Sudan as my favourite countries. It's really cool seeing wildlife as you bike past.
I would like to issue an appology to all my readers. I have been pretty slack with my blogging. There will probably be no more pictures because the internet here is just so unreliable and slow that it becomes a huge chore to try and upload without your own laptop. Also, as the tour draws to a close, I keep getting a sadness that it will all be over soon. Instead of blogging, I usually go and spend as much time with friends/riders as I can. I know it will probably be a long time before I see them again, so I'm jamming as much time in as possible. Plus, it will be a lot better to hear stories from me in person when I'm home, than over "teh interwebs". I never feel I am quite conveying my full personality through the blog anyway. Speaking of personality, this next and final month of the tour will really challenge me. Many people are starting to ride the truck instead of cycle, and opt for hotel rooms instead of camping. It seems that the three month mark is the limit for most people. Not me. I am tackling this last month with fervor. As the tour wears on and I get more tired, I will try even harder. This is the time of the tour when you find out what you're made of. You don't start taking breaks. I came on this tour as a way of challenging myself, and I will do so to the full extent. When it gets hard, I usually ask myself: would JTF2 stop for this? Long distance, rain, cold, sun, heat, charging elephants, gun-wielding bandits, broken kit, or exhaustion, nothing will stop me. I will drag myself into Cape Town if I have to and I guarantee I will have a smile on my face for doing it.
As a last note, I have decided to race this next section (The Elephant Highway). My cycling has improved greatly and I want to see how I do compared to the real racers of the tour. I don't expect to win at all, but see how I fare when I push myself. One of the days I raced so far, I was 3.5 hours faster than a day of similar conditions and distance from the beginning of the tour. So, we'll see if I can actually place on the board as the section draws to a close in the next 6 days. Anyway, I'm in Maun, Botswana now, and the wild animals of the Okavango Delta are calling my name. So, as usual, I leave you with some random stats.
Trip distance: about 9100km
Average trip speed: 22.52km/h
Time on saddle: 390hrs
Longest ride: 182kms
Elephants seen: 3
Camps moved due to lions and a giant python: 1
Highest race placing: 3rd
Tires left: 3
Countries dominated: 8
Ok, well, before that, I was in Zambia. At first, Zambia was very similar to Malawi, only a lot more expensive. There were vast fields of corn and maize-like crops, called sorghum. Also, there was corn. And I noticed some corn. Really, I was unimpressed with Zambia. So far, Malawi and Zambia have been my least favourite countries. Very expensive with not a whole lot to offer. What I can praise Zambia about is Livingstone. Named after the famous explorer, David Livingstone, it is home to the beautiful Victoria Falls. The tour stayed at a hotel called "The Waterfront" which was about 5km away from the falls and right along the Zambezi river. At night, the camp was quiet enough to hear the falls. Anyway, I had two days rest at this hotel, which was well needed. The first night I got good and drunk, as people were buying rounds left, right and centre. I woke up the next day to an all-you-can-eat buffet breakfast and then headed off to the Falls with Ryan. We took our bikes (believe it or not, they are a handy mode of transport) down and cycled right in the main gate without being stopped, saving us $20USD. We walked all around the back of, and then across a bridge right in the middle of the falls, called the "Boiling Point". Here we proceeded to get soaked. The spray from the falls is insane. It's way heavier than any rain you will ever experience, but it's a hell of a lot of fun. All of the tourists were wearing rain jackets (wusses), but Ryan and I just wore our clothes. We would end up drying off as we cycled home anyway. The second day in Livingstone, I did nothing. I relaxed. I ate some food, slept, did some laundry and relaxed some more. It was well deserved.
So, after we left Livingstone, we crossed the border to Botswana. In doing so, we actually crossed into Zimbabwe and Namibia as we took a (very, very unsafe-feeling) ferry across the Zambezi. All 4 countries intersect in the middle of the river. There is no bridge because the countries are having a hissy fit over tariffs and payment to build a bridge. So, there is a lineup of trucks that can take up to 2 weeks to cross from country to country via this two-truck ferry. African efficiency at it's best. So, yes, we ended up in Botswana, prime wildlife area. Our first night camping, I heard a very angry elephant and awoke the next day to find some trees torn apart and a light standard folded in half just outside out camp. He must have been one pissed off pachyderm. Also, the same morning, as I cycled off, I saw two buffalo (which are WAY bigger than you imagine), three impala, and a bunch of huge birds called ground hornbills that could eat a turkey vulture for breakfast. In general, I have been very pleased with Botswana. It is up there with Tanzania and Sudan as my favourite countries. It's really cool seeing wildlife as you bike past.
I would like to issue an appology to all my readers. I have been pretty slack with my blogging. There will probably be no more pictures because the internet here is just so unreliable and slow that it becomes a huge chore to try and upload without your own laptop. Also, as the tour draws to a close, I keep getting a sadness that it will all be over soon. Instead of blogging, I usually go and spend as much time with friends/riders as I can. I know it will probably be a long time before I see them again, so I'm jamming as much time in as possible. Plus, it will be a lot better to hear stories from me in person when I'm home, than over "teh interwebs". I never feel I am quite conveying my full personality through the blog anyway. Speaking of personality, this next and final month of the tour will really challenge me. Many people are starting to ride the truck instead of cycle, and opt for hotel rooms instead of camping. It seems that the three month mark is the limit for most people. Not me. I am tackling this last month with fervor. As the tour wears on and I get more tired, I will try even harder. This is the time of the tour when you find out what you're made of. You don't start taking breaks. I came on this tour as a way of challenging myself, and I will do so to the full extent. When it gets hard, I usually ask myself: would JTF2 stop for this? Long distance, rain, cold, sun, heat, charging elephants, gun-wielding bandits, broken kit, or exhaustion, nothing will stop me. I will drag myself into Cape Town if I have to and I guarantee I will have a smile on my face for doing it.
As a last note, I have decided to race this next section (The Elephant Highway). My cycling has improved greatly and I want to see how I do compared to the real racers of the tour. I don't expect to win at all, but see how I fare when I push myself. One of the days I raced so far, I was 3.5 hours faster than a day of similar conditions and distance from the beginning of the tour. So, we'll see if I can actually place on the board as the section draws to a close in the next 6 days. Anyway, I'm in Maun, Botswana now, and the wild animals of the Okavango Delta are calling my name. So, as usual, I leave you with some random stats.
Trip distance: about 9100km
Average trip speed: 22.52km/h
Time on saddle: 390hrs
Longest ride: 182kms
Elephants seen: 3
Camps moved due to lions and a giant python: 1
Highest race placing: 3rd
Tires left: 3
Countries dominated: 8
Monday, April 11, 2011
The tough life in Malawi.
Well, I have one day left in Malawi. I wish I had something spectacular to say about it, but I don't. After I left Mbyea, I cycled for 4 days. The rides were very nice, albeit a little hilly. The scenery was beautiful but not breath-taking. I think Tanzania was by far the most beautiful place, so it's going to be hard to fill those shoes. There are some high points, though, for sure.
1) Lake Malawi. What an awesome lake. It's huge. And there are always thunderstorms on the other side that you can watch at night. Plus, there are some huge mountains all around you that are extremely lush and almost glow green. Also, it's Lake Malawi. Who doesn't want to say that they jammed there? No, I did not go swimming for there was a huge risk of parasites/bacterial infections. Shame, I know. This is all in a place called Chitimba. It was small, but I didn't leave the campsite anyway.
2) The riding. Well, some of it. I rode really well and had many complements from the racers as to how I was turning into a rocket on my bike. However, I did have a bad day. Nothing in particular happened, I just didn't feel strong and the ground was hilly. But, I had 3 great days, so it kind of makes up for it.
3) Lilongwe. Finally, some civilization. It's nice to be able to get groceries for the post-ride meal. The city is pretty nice, even if the drivers are atrocious. There is an awesome wood market pretty close to the campsite where I picked up some local souvenirs. Also, the service where we're staying (Mubaya Campsite) is awesome. They are the first place to actually have real staff and get your food within 2 hours of you ordering it.
Other than that, there is not a whole heck of a lot to say about Malawi. Most of the country is farm fields with either corn or tobacco growing. It reminds me a lot of Fallowfield road back in Ottawa. Just some plain fields. There have been some pretty cool insects, though. I have encountered more than one golden orb spider. They are really big, but harmless. They're a neat bug because they weave golden webs instead of clear ones. Also, the stars are pretty great at night (when it's not raining, of course.)
Well, I'm sad to say that's all I have to say. Malawi has not inspired me much. What I am glad to report, however, is that I am still as stoked to be doing this as before. A lot of people are leaving the tour for a while to get out of the routine. They're getting tired of the routine and the cycling. But, really, what do you expect? You signed up for a 4 month tour of Africa on a bike, and that's what you get. But, I digress... So, I am rolling along as awesomely as before. Anyway, when I get to Zambia, I will post a more inspired post, I hope. Lastly, I leave you with these random stats.
Hours on bike: 311
Estimated rotation of legs (assuming 75rpm): 1,400,000
Showers: 10
Parts changed since last post: Rear wheel bearing x1, front wheel bearing x1.
1) Lake Malawi. What an awesome lake. It's huge. And there are always thunderstorms on the other side that you can watch at night. Plus, there are some huge mountains all around you that are extremely lush and almost glow green. Also, it's Lake Malawi. Who doesn't want to say that they jammed there? No, I did not go swimming for there was a huge risk of parasites/bacterial infections. Shame, I know. This is all in a place called Chitimba. It was small, but I didn't leave the campsite anyway.
2) The riding. Well, some of it. I rode really well and had many complements from the racers as to how I was turning into a rocket on my bike. However, I did have a bad day. Nothing in particular happened, I just didn't feel strong and the ground was hilly. But, I had 3 great days, so it kind of makes up for it.
3) Lilongwe. Finally, some civilization. It's nice to be able to get groceries for the post-ride meal. The city is pretty nice, even if the drivers are atrocious. There is an awesome wood market pretty close to the campsite where I picked up some local souvenirs. Also, the service where we're staying (Mubaya Campsite) is awesome. They are the first place to actually have real staff and get your food within 2 hours of you ordering it.
Other than that, there is not a whole heck of a lot to say about Malawi. Most of the country is farm fields with either corn or tobacco growing. It reminds me a lot of Fallowfield road back in Ottawa. Just some plain fields. There have been some pretty cool insects, though. I have encountered more than one golden orb spider. They are really big, but harmless. They're a neat bug because they weave golden webs instead of clear ones. Also, the stars are pretty great at night (when it's not raining, of course.)
Well, I'm sad to say that's all I have to say. Malawi has not inspired me much. What I am glad to report, however, is that I am still as stoked to be doing this as before. A lot of people are leaving the tour for a while to get out of the routine. They're getting tired of the routine and the cycling. But, really, what do you expect? You signed up for a 4 month tour of Africa on a bike, and that's what you get. But, I digress... So, I am rolling along as awesomely as before. Anyway, when I get to Zambia, I will post a more inspired post, I hope. Lastly, I leave you with these random stats.
Hours on bike: 311
Estimated rotation of legs (assuming 75rpm): 1,400,000
Showers: 10
Parts changed since last post: Rear wheel bearing x1, front wheel bearing x1.
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Continental tires!
"Are you tired of always having air in your tires? Tired of going for a care-free bike ride? Never fear! Continental Cyclocross tires are here! New and improved, they are guaranteed to hemorrhage air as fast as you can pump it in! Built on a weak and flimsy rubber casing with no puncture resistance whatsoever, Cyclocross tires will leave you stranded in the rain and mud every time you ride your bike! Listen to this real life testimonial!
Daniel Emerson, Ottawa, Canada: "I never used to leak air out of my tires. I would just get on my bike and ride. Thankfully I discovered Cyclocross tires and I've been collecting thorns and patching tubes ever since! Thanks Continental!"
Ok, so on a different note, here I am almost finished riding Tanzania! I'm in Mbyea, a town of about 200,000 people which lies (of course) in a mountain range. We've just finished riding an 8 day section of dirt roads from Arusha to here. They were hard, for sure. But not hard enough for me. So, what did I do? I rode the whole section in two gears. And climbed a mountain in one gear. Just to see if I could. And I did. But guess what? My legs hurt. A lot. The whole section was probably my favourite section so far. All of the colours here are so vivid! There is green everywhere and animals a-plenty. Well, insects a plenty. I have really only seen one warthog while cycling. I have seen a ton of cool bugs, mind you. There are a ton of ants that streak across the road like black veins, numerous large caterpillars, a ton of butterflies and moths, lots of praying mantises (manti?), some snakes (which I've only ever seen squashed on the road) and just generally a lot of cool stuff. Oh, did I mention how green it is? Ya, it's green. When I cycle by the long grass, it actually looks illuminated a-la-Avatar. The flowers as well. It's just so green! Along our route, there is also a ton of farming (green). There are corn fields and tobacco fields everywhere. It seems to be a great source of income for the country. The people are very nice along the road as well. They all pass by and yell "Poa, poa" (Good, good in swahili) and give you a thumbs up, or stop to help you fix the 26 punctures you've had.
The weather is the only bad part of this section. It's the rainy season here, so it rains every day. Now, the rain during the ride is actually a lot of fun. It just teams rain down on you. I mean it absolutely pours. And it's nice. It cools you down and cleans your bike a bit. The downside is that the roads become mud and I mean deep mud. The kind of mud you step in and lose your shoes. And that mud gets thrown upon you and your bike and in your eyes, nose, mouth and whatever else is exposed. Somehow it even gets under your clothes. Still, not too bad. It's fun to feel so dirty after a hard day of riding. What sucks is not having a shower for the next 8 days. Then waking up to a soaking wet tent and putting on soaking wet cycling kit and shoes. Then you pack up your wet tent and eat breakfast in the rain. Then when you start cycling, your bike weighs 20 pounds more than normal because you're collecting mud like it's rare. Then you climb uphill (always) and your back tire spins and it takes you twice as long to get up said hill. That is unless you've stopped and fallen over because your tires can't turn in the mud. Now, again, I sound like I'm bitching, but I love it. I don't mind being dirty and my sleeping bag is not wet (thank you army and Goretex) so I just ride it out like any other day. Overall, I have really loved Tanzania.
On another different note, thanks to all for the encouraging comments after my last post. I never expected such a response. The post wasn't meant to be a grab for compliments, just a view into my headspace at the time. However, I have renewed confidence in my journey after such a flood of positive words. I really could not do this without the help from you guys. It's very encouraging to check e-mail after 8 days and find a slew of people offering a helping hand or a thoughtful word. Also, I have received a few compliments from some riders on how strong I've become on the bike. Even Horst (#2 racer) said he is proud to see me ride now. So, thank you all again for all you've done for me. It has really made a difference. Anyway, I have to head off an eat. Must fuel the furnace. So, I leave you all with a thank you and some more random stats.
Punctures to date: 26
Total mileage: 6400km
Number of showers to date: 8
Parts worn out on bike: chain x1, cassette x1, crankset x1, brakeset x1, tires x1, front wheel bearing x1, rear wheel bearing x2, derailleur jockey wheel x1
Daniel Emerson, Ottawa, Canada: "I never used to leak air out of my tires. I would just get on my bike and ride. Thankfully I discovered Cyclocross tires and I've been collecting thorns and patching tubes ever since! Thanks Continental!"
Ok, so on a different note, here I am almost finished riding Tanzania! I'm in Mbyea, a town of about 200,000 people which lies (of course) in a mountain range. We've just finished riding an 8 day section of dirt roads from Arusha to here. They were hard, for sure. But not hard enough for me. So, what did I do? I rode the whole section in two gears. And climbed a mountain in one gear. Just to see if I could. And I did. But guess what? My legs hurt. A lot. The whole section was probably my favourite section so far. All of the colours here are so vivid! There is green everywhere and animals a-plenty. Well, insects a plenty. I have really only seen one warthog while cycling. I have seen a ton of cool bugs, mind you. There are a ton of ants that streak across the road like black veins, numerous large caterpillars, a ton of butterflies and moths, lots of praying mantises (manti?), some snakes (which I've only ever seen squashed on the road) and just generally a lot of cool stuff. Oh, did I mention how green it is? Ya, it's green. When I cycle by the long grass, it actually looks illuminated a-la-Avatar. The flowers as well. It's just so green! Along our route, there is also a ton of farming (green). There are corn fields and tobacco fields everywhere. It seems to be a great source of income for the country. The people are very nice along the road as well. They all pass by and yell "Poa, poa" (Good, good in swahili) and give you a thumbs up, or stop to help you fix the 26 punctures you've had.
The weather is the only bad part of this section. It's the rainy season here, so it rains every day. Now, the rain during the ride is actually a lot of fun. It just teams rain down on you. I mean it absolutely pours. And it's nice. It cools you down and cleans your bike a bit. The downside is that the roads become mud and I mean deep mud. The kind of mud you step in and lose your shoes. And that mud gets thrown upon you and your bike and in your eyes, nose, mouth and whatever else is exposed. Somehow it even gets under your clothes. Still, not too bad. It's fun to feel so dirty after a hard day of riding. What sucks is not having a shower for the next 8 days. Then waking up to a soaking wet tent and putting on soaking wet cycling kit and shoes. Then you pack up your wet tent and eat breakfast in the rain. Then when you start cycling, your bike weighs 20 pounds more than normal because you're collecting mud like it's rare. Then you climb uphill (always) and your back tire spins and it takes you twice as long to get up said hill. That is unless you've stopped and fallen over because your tires can't turn in the mud. Now, again, I sound like I'm bitching, but I love it. I don't mind being dirty and my sleeping bag is not wet (thank you army and Goretex) so I just ride it out like any other day. Overall, I have really loved Tanzania.
On another different note, thanks to all for the encouraging comments after my last post. I never expected such a response. The post wasn't meant to be a grab for compliments, just a view into my headspace at the time. However, I have renewed confidence in my journey after such a flood of positive words. I really could not do this without the help from you guys. It's very encouraging to check e-mail after 8 days and find a slew of people offering a helping hand or a thoughtful word. Also, I have received a few compliments from some riders on how strong I've become on the bike. Even Horst (#2 racer) said he is proud to see me ride now. So, thank you all again for all you've done for me. It has really made a difference. Anyway, I have to head off an eat. Must fuel the furnace. So, I leave you all with a thank you and some more random stats.
Punctures to date: 26
Total mileage: 6400km
Number of showers to date: 8
Parts worn out on bike: chain x1, cassette x1, crankset x1, brakeset x1, tires x1, front wheel bearing x1, rear wheel bearing x2, derailleur jockey wheel x1
Friday, March 18, 2011
50%
I made it. Well, I made it halfway. That's a good start for me considering my longest ride was 60km prior to this tour. 5530km of pure awesome. This trip has been incredible. I have seen so many things I never thought I'd see and done things I thought impossible. However, this trip does leave me a little... well, worried.
I came on this tour with the goal of discovering myself. So far, that has been an abysmal failure. I know nothing more than I did two months ago. All I've done is exercise. Lots of exercise, mind you, but still just exercise. It seems everyone on this tour is experiencing the same phenomenon. Many people decided to do this tour with the same intention as myself. They have left their jobs in search of new meaning or a new start. But as I've found, you just get wrapped up in this little TDA bubble, where everyone thinks like you. You spend more time with these people than your family, usually, and you feel like it's never going to end. Unfortunately, in another 50%, the bubble will burst and it will end. And then what? I will come back to a world where I have no job, no money and a little bit of debt to settle. Now, the debt doesn't scare me, the lack of job does. I have a few opportunities, but as far as career goes, I am at a total loss. I don't really want to do the mechanic thing, so the army is feasible. However, the army is still just another facet of the government and I really hate all the bureaucracy. So, really I find myself stuck in the same place as I was two months ago. Now, don't read into this as a failure. I think this trip will be one of the best things I've ever done. I've loved every day of it and will probably love every day to come. My attitude has just sort of shifted into this bubble that I forget has to end sometime. Anyway, I've come full circle in this point. I'm stuck in the same mental place that I was before, only now I'm there with 60 others. Also, after such a long time cycling, I still have no calves. That was another goal, but I didn't see that being accomplished anyway. Thanks, genetics.
So, I have really been thinking whilst I cycle along: What am I going to make of myself? Only time will tell. I have two months left to sort myself out and figure out what is going to happen. I do know this: I am capable, durable, stubborn, efficient and really good at spinning my legs in a circle. If anyone has any ideas for a good job, please let me know.
On a much less serious note, I went on safari here in Arusha, Tanzania. It was awesome. I went to the Ngorongoro crater, which is home to about 20,000 animals within a 265 square kilometer area. It's like a zoo, only it's not because it's their natural habitat. I saw lions, cheetah, zebra, rhino, elephants, pumba (warthog), buffalo, wildebeest, hyena, hippo, gazelle, kudu and all sorts of crazy birds. I actually ate lunch right near some hippo. They are huge! And my first elephant sighting was right out of Marsabit, a few weeks ago. I didn't mention it, as I had other things on my mind, but it was awesome! I came cycling up a hill and there was a huge bull elephant on a hill about 20m to my right. I just stared in awe. It was only about 5km out of town and I never expected it to be there! I've also seen giraffe in the past few days, but only from a car. It was getting to the point where everyone had seen a giraffe on their bikes except me, so I was ready to see a dinosaur before I saw a giraffe. But, good news: They're not extinct. They're just surprisingly hard to see. The vegetation can get incredibly dense here, now that is actually rains. In fact, I experienced rain for the first time in two months only two days ago. It was a weird feeling seeing clouds again.
Anyway, I have to head off. I have a bike to fix and more eating to do. I will post again in 8 days, after a long section of dirt. Hopefully I will make it unscathed. So, until next time everyone!
Danimal
I came on this tour with the goal of discovering myself. So far, that has been an abysmal failure. I know nothing more than I did two months ago. All I've done is exercise. Lots of exercise, mind you, but still just exercise. It seems everyone on this tour is experiencing the same phenomenon. Many people decided to do this tour with the same intention as myself. They have left their jobs in search of new meaning or a new start. But as I've found, you just get wrapped up in this little TDA bubble, where everyone thinks like you. You spend more time with these people than your family, usually, and you feel like it's never going to end. Unfortunately, in another 50%, the bubble will burst and it will end. And then what? I will come back to a world where I have no job, no money and a little bit of debt to settle. Now, the debt doesn't scare me, the lack of job does. I have a few opportunities, but as far as career goes, I am at a total loss. I don't really want to do the mechanic thing, so the army is feasible. However, the army is still just another facet of the government and I really hate all the bureaucracy. So, really I find myself stuck in the same place as I was two months ago. Now, don't read into this as a failure. I think this trip will be one of the best things I've ever done. I've loved every day of it and will probably love every day to come. My attitude has just sort of shifted into this bubble that I forget has to end sometime. Anyway, I've come full circle in this point. I'm stuck in the same mental place that I was before, only now I'm there with 60 others. Also, after such a long time cycling, I still have no calves. That was another goal, but I didn't see that being accomplished anyway. Thanks, genetics.
So, I have really been thinking whilst I cycle along: What am I going to make of myself? Only time will tell. I have two months left to sort myself out and figure out what is going to happen. I do know this: I am capable, durable, stubborn, efficient and really good at spinning my legs in a circle. If anyone has any ideas for a good job, please let me know.
On a much less serious note, I went on safari here in Arusha, Tanzania. It was awesome. I went to the Ngorongoro crater, which is home to about 20,000 animals within a 265 square kilometer area. It's like a zoo, only it's not because it's their natural habitat. I saw lions, cheetah, zebra, rhino, elephants, pumba (warthog), buffalo, wildebeest, hyena, hippo, gazelle, kudu and all sorts of crazy birds. I actually ate lunch right near some hippo. They are huge! And my first elephant sighting was right out of Marsabit, a few weeks ago. I didn't mention it, as I had other things on my mind, but it was awesome! I came cycling up a hill and there was a huge bull elephant on a hill about 20m to my right. I just stared in awe. It was only about 5km out of town and I never expected it to be there! I've also seen giraffe in the past few days, but only from a car. It was getting to the point where everyone had seen a giraffe on their bikes except me, so I was ready to see a dinosaur before I saw a giraffe. But, good news: They're not extinct. They're just surprisingly hard to see. The vegetation can get incredibly dense here, now that is actually rains. In fact, I experienced rain for the first time in two months only two days ago. It was a weird feeling seeing clouds again.
Anyway, I have to head off. I have a bike to fix and more eating to do. I will post again in 8 days, after a long section of dirt. Hopefully I will make it unscathed. So, until next time everyone!
Danimal
Carnivore
So, I have safely arrived in Nairobbery. The city is pretty large with not a whole lot to see. People call it Nairobbery for a multitude of reasons:
1. It's very violent. You can't really go out at night. At all.
2. You pay a massive tourist tax. Everything is hugely expensive. It feels like robbery without the excitement.
Anyway, it was nice to be in a real city again. The people seem reasonably friendly. I didn't venture far from the campsite because I was exhausted from the previous week's events. I went to supermarket nearby to purchase some dairy products. I have been missing dairy a lot recently. There is really no milk to speak of farther north than Nairobi, and what is there is not pasturized. So, my meals consisted of yogurt, ice cream and coffee with a lot of milk. In fact, I ate 1L of chocolate yogurt with chocolate frosted flakes in it for lunch and a snack. I had a real craving. However, I have a main point of this post: Carnivore.
So, Carnivore restaurant. My dream come true. I was ready to stop the tour and just live at this place. It's heaven. It is a restaurant with a flat fee for dinner (about $30USD), and worth every penny. It's all-you-can-eat meat. And all sorts of different kinds of meat. A lot of people went to this place that night. I would guess 20 of us. I just don't think the staff knew what was coming. We had all just come off a 7 day stretch of riding in some hard dirt and were looking forward to a huge meal and some beers. I bet I turned them non-profit for the night. I ate more than 2kg of meat, and probably closer to 3kg. Easily. I ate all different kinds of meat that night. The list is as follows:
1. Ox testicle (very good, actually)
2. Ostrich meatballs
3. Camel steak
4. Lamb roast
5. Turkey
6. Chicken breast
7. Chicken liver
8. Beef steak
9. Pork spare ribs
10. Pork sausages
11. Crocodile
12. Lamb sausages
It was awesome. The waiters just come around with huge skewers of different meats and ask you if you want some. Of course I did. You know what's a bad idea on their part? Letting me loose into an all-you-can-eat spot after a week of riding and no real steak to speak of for two months. So, I did what any red-blooded bodybuilder would do. I got into an eating competition with somebody else (come on, what did you expect?) Myself and a guy named Scott ate ourselves stupid. The staff actually made an attempt at cutting us off the meat, which we would have none of. We did end up stopping the eating after almost 3 hours because the other 18 people were waiting to order desert. However, you guys will be proud, I maintain my "I can eat the most of anyone on the tour" status. If the Danimal was born with tear ducts, I would have cried tears of joy. When people speak of disaster as "a bull in a china shop", they have clearly not seen a Danimal in a buffet. I'm pretty sure kids were crying at the devastation I left behind. And I take pride in helping do some animal control in this country.
On a different note, my brakes arrived in Nairobi. I have to give a huge shout-out to Bushtukah for getting me these parts. The brakes are Avid BB5 mechanical disc brakes, which is an upgrade from my previous set-up. They came with rotors, calipers, pads, mounting brackets, and even spare pads! I can not thank these guys enough for the parts sent over seas. It would be hard to finish a tour with no brakes, although sometimes I'm not going fast enough to need them. However, thanks again Bushtukah for hooking me up with these parts.
So, I keep promising pictures, which will most certainly be delivered, just not right now. I will post again later today, but I just wanted to write about Carnivore. To be honest, that's as far as my trip planning went and now I'm lost. However, apparently there are more animals to eat the farther south I go, so I will keep you all updated. Until then, here are some random stats.
Total distance: 5210km (5530 for the tour, due to my sick day and robbery convoy)
Total punctures: 16
Top speed to date: 76km/h
Types of animal eaten on tour: 10 (I had pigeon in Egypt)
Hours in the saddle: 240
Until next time,
Danimal
1. It's very violent. You can't really go out at night. At all.
2. You pay a massive tourist tax. Everything is hugely expensive. It feels like robbery without the excitement.
Anyway, it was nice to be in a real city again. The people seem reasonably friendly. I didn't venture far from the campsite because I was exhausted from the previous week's events. I went to supermarket nearby to purchase some dairy products. I have been missing dairy a lot recently. There is really no milk to speak of farther north than Nairobi, and what is there is not pasturized. So, my meals consisted of yogurt, ice cream and coffee with a lot of milk. In fact, I ate 1L of chocolate yogurt with chocolate frosted flakes in it for lunch and a snack. I had a real craving. However, I have a main point of this post: Carnivore.
So, Carnivore restaurant. My dream come true. I was ready to stop the tour and just live at this place. It's heaven. It is a restaurant with a flat fee for dinner (about $30USD), and worth every penny. It's all-you-can-eat meat. And all sorts of different kinds of meat. A lot of people went to this place that night. I would guess 20 of us. I just don't think the staff knew what was coming. We had all just come off a 7 day stretch of riding in some hard dirt and were looking forward to a huge meal and some beers. I bet I turned them non-profit for the night. I ate more than 2kg of meat, and probably closer to 3kg. Easily. I ate all different kinds of meat that night. The list is as follows:
1. Ox testicle (very good, actually)
2. Ostrich meatballs
3. Camel steak
4. Lamb roast
5. Turkey
6. Chicken breast
7. Chicken liver
8. Beef steak
9. Pork spare ribs
10. Pork sausages
11. Crocodile
12. Lamb sausages
It was awesome. The waiters just come around with huge skewers of different meats and ask you if you want some. Of course I did. You know what's a bad idea on their part? Letting me loose into an all-you-can-eat spot after a week of riding and no real steak to speak of for two months. So, I did what any red-blooded bodybuilder would do. I got into an eating competition with somebody else (come on, what did you expect?) Myself and a guy named Scott ate ourselves stupid. The staff actually made an attempt at cutting us off the meat, which we would have none of. We did end up stopping the eating after almost 3 hours because the other 18 people were waiting to order desert. However, you guys will be proud, I maintain my "I can eat the most of anyone on the tour" status. If the Danimal was born with tear ducts, I would have cried tears of joy. When people speak of disaster as "a bull in a china shop", they have clearly not seen a Danimal in a buffet. I'm pretty sure kids were crying at the devastation I left behind. And I take pride in helping do some animal control in this country.
On a different note, my brakes arrived in Nairobi. I have to give a huge shout-out to Bushtukah for getting me these parts. The brakes are Avid BB5 mechanical disc brakes, which is an upgrade from my previous set-up. They came with rotors, calipers, pads, mounting brackets, and even spare pads! I can not thank these guys enough for the parts sent over seas. It would be hard to finish a tour with no brakes, although sometimes I'm not going fast enough to need them. However, thanks again Bushtukah for hooking me up with these parts.
So, I keep promising pictures, which will most certainly be delivered, just not right now. I will post again later today, but I just wanted to write about Carnivore. To be honest, that's as far as my trip planning went and now I'm lost. However, apparently there are more animals to eat the farther south I go, so I will keep you all updated. Until then, here are some random stats.
Total distance: 5210km (5530 for the tour, due to my sick day and robbery convoy)
Total punctures: 16
Top speed to date: 76km/h
Types of animal eaten on tour: 10 (I had pigeon in Egypt)
Hours in the saddle: 240
Until next time,
Danimal
Sunday, March 13, 2011
In light of the heavy previous post...
So, I know that was heavy for some people to read. But before that whole incident transpired, I decided to write a letter due to the difficulty of the ride that day. Here it is:
Dear Headwind,
I get it.
Sincerely,
Daniel
Dear Headwind,
I get it.
Sincerely,
Daniel
Daniel the Bullet Dodger.
So, this will be a long post, but worth reading.
9 March, 2011: Today started the same as any other day. I woke up early to get some coffee into me because yesterday had been 115km on some very tough dirt. I was a little groggy and tired, so I figured I would take the ride pretty easy. It was going to be a long ride anyway, somewhere around 160km. Anyway, after breakfast, I set off with Ruth (UK) to start the ride. It was slow going as there was a wicked headwind, but I knew it was going to be a long ride anyway. About 40km into the day, Ruth and I rolled up on 3 other riders, Peter, Christine and Kim. They stopped us in the road and said that they had seen a very aggressive man hurl a rock at Kendra, another rider. We figured we'd wait for a few more riders and cycle past as a group to avoid confrontation. Seemed like a good idea. So, as Pierre, a fellow Canadian rider rolled up on us, we explained the situation. He seemed to agree that riding in a group would be a good idea. So, we decided to pee in the woods first and then roll on. And then it hit the fan. In a big way. As the women strolled farther in the woods than the men (I was basically peeing on the road), there was a loud bang. My heart sank. I had heard that noise before. That was a gunshot. Unmistakeably a 7.62mm round. I looked back into the woods to see two men with rifles running out towards the road. Two more bangs. This was no accident. These rounds were directed at us. Thank god not aimed directly as us, but certainly in our direction. I looked into the woods to see Christine standing, with an AK47 pointed right in her face. Thankfully, she pushed the barrel aside as two more shots were fired. Then two more men appeared. So, we have a total of 4 men now, two with AK47s, two with HK G3s. The ladies then came running out of the woods followed by two of the men. More shots fired. As the confusion finally cleared into fearful understanding, I actually thought I was going to die. From where I was standing on the road, it looked to me like Christine had been shot in the face (thankfully she hadn't been).
So, this was now a clear robbery. More cyclists had heard the shots and turned around to go and notify the staff behind us about 600m. We could actually see them standing on the top of a hill, watching at a safe distance. Many of them had heard the 12 or so shots fired and wisely stayed away. Anyway, our attackers were yelling in Swahili, which I clearly do not understand. I was trying to communicate with them, my hands held over my head. They were having none of it. The ladies were sitting on the side of the highway, which was clearly not what they wanted, so they hit Christine in temple with the barrel of one of the AKs. She fell over, now bleeding out of her head. They hit Ruth as well, who was still wearing her helmet, so no damage. I was yelling to see if everyone was ok. Then I was motioned over my the main robber, who was wearing a traditional orange skirt and headdress, but no shirt. We shall refer to him as attacker 1 (original, I know). Anyway, he wanted my Camelbak, which I gladly gave him. He motioned for the other riders to hand over their bags as well. The attackers were clearly not pros as they were incredibly shaky and waving their weapons all over the place. I was worried about a slippery finger and someone taking a stray round. I continuously motioned that we did not understand and for them to calm down and point their weapons down. So, I collected a saddle bag from Pierre and my Camelbak and handed it to attacker 1. He started sorting it on the side of the road and then ran into the woods to meet two other attackers. The two guys in the woods sorted out everyone's bags while attacker 1 came back and started searching people. I had my camera in one of my jersey pockets, which I was NOT losing (it's not mine). So, I lay down on the road on top of my camera. I figured they weren't going to do a proper search of people anyway. I kept the others calm, instructing them to lay down and just cooperate. I yelled and checked to sure Christine was ok, despite her head wound. She was fine. They took a few energy bars from Peter and gave him a sharp barrel-prod despite being cooperative. The attackers continued to yell orders in Swahili, which I tried to understand, to no avail. Anyway, they kept us on the highway for about 30 minutes. In this time, not a single car passed. No other person came near, thankfully. Attacker 1 came back and gave Christine a sharp kick in the side as she was lying face down. She must have been in shock, because she doesn't remember it, nor does she remember how many of the robbers there were. So, attacker 1 and another guy kept sorting out our gear. Anyway, they made everyone lay down and then ran off in the bushes. I told everyone to sit tight for a minute and make sure they were gone. They were. Finally. I stood up and began to tend to Christine's head wound (Ian, you would be proud). Once her head was clean, I wandered into the woods to see what I could salvage of what they took.
Now this is where I get confused. They didn't take a lot. They took my wallet with about $40US worth of local currency, my old crappy MP3 player (sorry Simon, you can't have that), my BIQ knife (lots of sentimental value), my sunscreen, my pens and my hand sanitizer (which I hope they drink). However, they left my headlamp, medical kit, Camelbak bladder (although they took the water) and backpack. So, once I collected everyone's stuff with the help of Peter, I headed back to the road to check on Christine. She was ok, but very shaken up. Then Megan came cycling back from ahead of us, in tears. She told us Kendra had been shot. My heart sank again. That was totally plausible now, as we had just had been fired upon wildly. So, I hoped on my bike with everyone and we headed off to see Kendra. I had heard she had kept cycling, which gave me comfort that she had not been shot. You don't get hit with a 7.62 and keep cycling. You drop dead. Anyway, we headed to see her. I had begun to give directions as to what to do when we came upon Kendra, because I wasn't sure people would be able to deal with it. However, when we came to where she was supposed to be, she was gone. Apparently a car had picked her up and taken her to the local health centre. So, we headed off to the town about 8km away to see what was up. In the end, she had not been shot. The rock that had been hurled at her had connected, cut her back so she was bleeding and broken a rib.
So, in the end, everyone was fine. Christine has a cut on her head and Ruth is pretty shaken up, but we're all ok. Nobody got shot. And I made it out with my camera :). So, now I have to thank some people. First off: TDA staff. Their response to this incident was incredible. Our tour director got the military involved, drove all the cyclists to camp, arranged medical treatment and arranged armed escorts for everyone. It was great. We were allowed to use a satellite phone to call our families. I cannot commend them enough for what they did. It was incredibly helpful. I would also like to thank Daniel Pilliard for cycling back and telling the staff what was happening. Patrick Peeters for his relaying of information on Kendra's state.
Now, I hate to do this, but I was pressured into it. Matt Paradine insisted I mention myself. I know I'm a cocky ass and I love myself, but this is not normally what I do. He wanted me to mention that my actions saved lives that day. Boys, mom, dad, you would have been proud of me. He said I kept the whole situation calm, cool and collected. I was somewhat helpful in treating Christine's wound, and very helpful in keeping people from getting shot. Ruth has also said that if she is ever in a crisis, she wants me to be there. So, I'm sorry for mentioning myself, but Matt is insisting. I'll add that my military training was worth every miserable second of basic training. It was very helpful in keeping my panicked ass from breaking down.
So, in the end, everyone got out ok. Nobody lost anything really important and we carried on the next day with business as usual. Now I have an awesome story to tell everyone. Also, for anyone that ever worries about me, remember what I say: the Danimal can't die.
Until forever,
Danimal
9 March, 2011: Today started the same as any other day. I woke up early to get some coffee into me because yesterday had been 115km on some very tough dirt. I was a little groggy and tired, so I figured I would take the ride pretty easy. It was going to be a long ride anyway, somewhere around 160km. Anyway, after breakfast, I set off with Ruth (UK) to start the ride. It was slow going as there was a wicked headwind, but I knew it was going to be a long ride anyway. About 40km into the day, Ruth and I rolled up on 3 other riders, Peter, Christine and Kim. They stopped us in the road and said that they had seen a very aggressive man hurl a rock at Kendra, another rider. We figured we'd wait for a few more riders and cycle past as a group to avoid confrontation. Seemed like a good idea. So, as Pierre, a fellow Canadian rider rolled up on us, we explained the situation. He seemed to agree that riding in a group would be a good idea. So, we decided to pee in the woods first and then roll on. And then it hit the fan. In a big way. As the women strolled farther in the woods than the men (I was basically peeing on the road), there was a loud bang. My heart sank. I had heard that noise before. That was a gunshot. Unmistakeably a 7.62mm round. I looked back into the woods to see two men with rifles running out towards the road. Two more bangs. This was no accident. These rounds were directed at us. Thank god not aimed directly as us, but certainly in our direction. I looked into the woods to see Christine standing, with an AK47 pointed right in her face. Thankfully, she pushed the barrel aside as two more shots were fired. Then two more men appeared. So, we have a total of 4 men now, two with AK47s, two with HK G3s. The ladies then came running out of the woods followed by two of the men. More shots fired. As the confusion finally cleared into fearful understanding, I actually thought I was going to die. From where I was standing on the road, it looked to me like Christine had been shot in the face (thankfully she hadn't been).
So, this was now a clear robbery. More cyclists had heard the shots and turned around to go and notify the staff behind us about 600m. We could actually see them standing on the top of a hill, watching at a safe distance. Many of them had heard the 12 or so shots fired and wisely stayed away. Anyway, our attackers were yelling in Swahili, which I clearly do not understand. I was trying to communicate with them, my hands held over my head. They were having none of it. The ladies were sitting on the side of the highway, which was clearly not what they wanted, so they hit Christine in temple with the barrel of one of the AKs. She fell over, now bleeding out of her head. They hit Ruth as well, who was still wearing her helmet, so no damage. I was yelling to see if everyone was ok. Then I was motioned over my the main robber, who was wearing a traditional orange skirt and headdress, but no shirt. We shall refer to him as attacker 1 (original, I know). Anyway, he wanted my Camelbak, which I gladly gave him. He motioned for the other riders to hand over their bags as well. The attackers were clearly not pros as they were incredibly shaky and waving their weapons all over the place. I was worried about a slippery finger and someone taking a stray round. I continuously motioned that we did not understand and for them to calm down and point their weapons down. So, I collected a saddle bag from Pierre and my Camelbak and handed it to attacker 1. He started sorting it on the side of the road and then ran into the woods to meet two other attackers. The two guys in the woods sorted out everyone's bags while attacker 1 came back and started searching people. I had my camera in one of my jersey pockets, which I was NOT losing (it's not mine). So, I lay down on the road on top of my camera. I figured they weren't going to do a proper search of people anyway. I kept the others calm, instructing them to lay down and just cooperate. I yelled and checked to sure Christine was ok, despite her head wound. She was fine. They took a few energy bars from Peter and gave him a sharp barrel-prod despite being cooperative. The attackers continued to yell orders in Swahili, which I tried to understand, to no avail. Anyway, they kept us on the highway for about 30 minutes. In this time, not a single car passed. No other person came near, thankfully. Attacker 1 came back and gave Christine a sharp kick in the side as she was lying face down. She must have been in shock, because she doesn't remember it, nor does she remember how many of the robbers there were. So, attacker 1 and another guy kept sorting out our gear. Anyway, they made everyone lay down and then ran off in the bushes. I told everyone to sit tight for a minute and make sure they were gone. They were. Finally. I stood up and began to tend to Christine's head wound (Ian, you would be proud). Once her head was clean, I wandered into the woods to see what I could salvage of what they took.
Now this is where I get confused. They didn't take a lot. They took my wallet with about $40US worth of local currency, my old crappy MP3 player (sorry Simon, you can't have that), my BIQ knife (lots of sentimental value), my sunscreen, my pens and my hand sanitizer (which I hope they drink). However, they left my headlamp, medical kit, Camelbak bladder (although they took the water) and backpack. So, once I collected everyone's stuff with the help of Peter, I headed back to the road to check on Christine. She was ok, but very shaken up. Then Megan came cycling back from ahead of us, in tears. She told us Kendra had been shot. My heart sank again. That was totally plausible now, as we had just had been fired upon wildly. So, I hoped on my bike with everyone and we headed off to see Kendra. I had heard she had kept cycling, which gave me comfort that she had not been shot. You don't get hit with a 7.62 and keep cycling. You drop dead. Anyway, we headed to see her. I had begun to give directions as to what to do when we came upon Kendra, because I wasn't sure people would be able to deal with it. However, when we came to where she was supposed to be, she was gone. Apparently a car had picked her up and taken her to the local health centre. So, we headed off to the town about 8km away to see what was up. In the end, she had not been shot. The rock that had been hurled at her had connected, cut her back so she was bleeding and broken a rib.
So, in the end, everyone was fine. Christine has a cut on her head and Ruth is pretty shaken up, but we're all ok. Nobody got shot. And I made it out with my camera :). So, now I have to thank some people. First off: TDA staff. Their response to this incident was incredible. Our tour director got the military involved, drove all the cyclists to camp, arranged medical treatment and arranged armed escorts for everyone. It was great. We were allowed to use a satellite phone to call our families. I cannot commend them enough for what they did. It was incredibly helpful. I would also like to thank Daniel Pilliard for cycling back and telling the staff what was happening. Patrick Peeters for his relaying of information on Kendra's state.
Now, I hate to do this, but I was pressured into it. Matt Paradine insisted I mention myself. I know I'm a cocky ass and I love myself, but this is not normally what I do. He wanted me to mention that my actions saved lives that day. Boys, mom, dad, you would have been proud of me. He said I kept the whole situation calm, cool and collected. I was somewhat helpful in treating Christine's wound, and very helpful in keeping people from getting shot. Ruth has also said that if she is ever in a crisis, she wants me to be there. So, I'm sorry for mentioning myself, but Matt is insisting. I'll add that my military training was worth every miserable second of basic training. It was very helpful in keeping my panicked ass from breaking down.
So, in the end, everyone got out ok. Nobody lost anything really important and we carried on the next day with business as usual. Now I have an awesome story to tell everyone. Also, for anyone that ever worries about me, remember what I say: the Danimal can't die.
Until forever,
Danimal
Monday, March 7, 2011
Goodbye, Ethiopia!
Hello again everybody!
So, here I am in Marsabit, Kenya (read: nowhere). The group has just completed the most difficult section of the whole tour. And it was hard. Harder than I imagined. There were sections of road that you can't really call road. It was actually easier to ride off the road than on. There were lava rocks everywhere. The place looks like Mars. Black volcanic rocks sitting on top of red sand. It was really neat. After 9 hours on a bike, though, it gets a little tedious. Especially 3 days in a row. I have completed it, though. And I made it look good :P More on that in a bit.
So, my final rest day in Ethiopia was in a town called Arba Minch. Where there was nothing to do. There was a lot of wildlife, though. We camped at the edge of a cliff where baboons lived and they tromped though our camp every now and again. There were also these huge storks called Maribou storks, aka undertaker storks. Ther are huge! They stand about 1m tall and look like they're vultures wearing a suit, hence the undertaker storks. Anyway, this town was awful. The hotel had no water or electricity, despite being right beside two giant lakes and another hotel which had both. The service was terrible and the staff was very rude.
So, Ethiopia, what can I say? I will never, ever come back. The countryside is beautiful. Every piece of land is awesome. Just anything that speaks is very... well, annoying. Every service I had received was poor. Every interaction with anyone was miserable and mean-spirited (with the exception of 11... That's right, you can actually count the good times). And every single person you passed on the road either threw rocks at you or tried to push a stick through your spokes or push you off your bike. In fact, in the last days, we actually had a rider pushed off his bike by a passer-by. I'm sorry to say, the people here are very unfriendly. And as I said before, I hate to generalize. I give everyone a fair chance. But when it comes down to changing a flat on the side of the road and people are trying to steal things out of your bag, I draw the line. In fact, the last week of riding in Ethiopia, we had all had enough. Once the rocks were thrown, we dismounted and gave chase (exactly the opposite of our tour directions). The people scatter when they realize you are a person and not just a vehicle. Usually, the locals would run so fast, they would literally run out of their shoes. So, what to do? Take the shoes and give them to someone down the road. I know some people are reading this thinking "That's so terrible, I would never do that!" Guess what? You would. I thought that when I started cycling in the country. Then you receive 2 weeks of rocks and other projectiles (ranging from sugar cane to cow dung) and your opinion changes. I'm living proof. Anyway, I'm glad to be gone, never to return. You, you, you, you, you, money, money, money, money!!! Good riddance.
So, finally I crossed into Kenya. The border crossing on the Ethiopian side was tedious. The border is closed from 1300-1500. Well, in Ethiopian time, that's actually 1145-1515. So, I sat around waiting to be cleared out. Finally I was, and into Kenya. The in-processing for Kenya took 10 minutes. It was wonderful. The whole atmosphere changed just as quickly as when I entered the country. Everyone was happy again. So, we camped our first night and then set off on the hardest section of the tour. The terrain was miserable. 3 days of dirt, deep sand, large rocks, uphills, everything you could imagine, combined into one road. But it was a blast. It was thrilling to know that I had just conquered the demon. The 9 hours or so per day on a bike was tedious, but it builds character (right dad)? You spend most of the time off your saddle anyway, trying to control your bike. I am ready to try bull riding after these roads! You bounce around these giant lava rocks in the sweltering heat trying to ignore the pain in your hands, arms, head, bum and teeth. At least you can rest when you get to camp after most of the day going 8 or 9 km/h. You can't really understand until you see pictures, which I will not post now because it takes years. Anyway, I did pretty well. I came in all 3 days in the front of the pack (after the racers of course).
So, now I start a 5 day stretch into Nairobi. It will be easier than the dirt "roads" of previous days, but my body is hurting anyway. Nairobi is supposed to be a town where you can buy most things you get in the West. My list includes protein bars, tire tubes and levers, steak and a laundrymat. My sleeping bag is beginning to smell really, really bad, even after spraying it with alcohol. Bushtukah has been kind enough to donate a full wheelset and brakes for my bike, which is good, because this distance is not easy on the parts. This is greatly appreciated by myself, as all of these parts are failing as we speak. The parts are being shipped to Nairobi, where I can finally replace my worn bearings. Thanks again, Bushtukah. But no thank you DHL. My brakes alone are costing $400 to ship over.
Anyway, I have a broken bike to clean and a sore bum to pad. So, thanks everyone. I hope this installment was slightly more humourous than prior entries. "Are you not entertained?!?!" (Voiced from Gladiator) So, I leave you all with some stats.
Total distance: 4700km
Total climbing in Ethiopia: 20,380m
Showers to date: 5
Falls off my bike: 3 (No injuries. It doesn't hurt when you fall going 5-10km/h)
Time spent on saddle to date: 210 hrs.
Time spent being awesome: 211 hrs.
Until next time,
Danimal
So, here I am in Marsabit, Kenya (read: nowhere). The group has just completed the most difficult section of the whole tour. And it was hard. Harder than I imagined. There were sections of road that you can't really call road. It was actually easier to ride off the road than on. There were lava rocks everywhere. The place looks like Mars. Black volcanic rocks sitting on top of red sand. It was really neat. After 9 hours on a bike, though, it gets a little tedious. Especially 3 days in a row. I have completed it, though. And I made it look good :P More on that in a bit.
So, my final rest day in Ethiopia was in a town called Arba Minch. Where there was nothing to do. There was a lot of wildlife, though. We camped at the edge of a cliff where baboons lived and they tromped though our camp every now and again. There were also these huge storks called Maribou storks, aka undertaker storks. Ther are huge! They stand about 1m tall and look like they're vultures wearing a suit, hence the undertaker storks. Anyway, this town was awful. The hotel had no water or electricity, despite being right beside two giant lakes and another hotel which had both. The service was terrible and the staff was very rude.
So, Ethiopia, what can I say? I will never, ever come back. The countryside is beautiful. Every piece of land is awesome. Just anything that speaks is very... well, annoying. Every service I had received was poor. Every interaction with anyone was miserable and mean-spirited (with the exception of 11... That's right, you can actually count the good times). And every single person you passed on the road either threw rocks at you or tried to push a stick through your spokes or push you off your bike. In fact, in the last days, we actually had a rider pushed off his bike by a passer-by. I'm sorry to say, the people here are very unfriendly. And as I said before, I hate to generalize. I give everyone a fair chance. But when it comes down to changing a flat on the side of the road and people are trying to steal things out of your bag, I draw the line. In fact, the last week of riding in Ethiopia, we had all had enough. Once the rocks were thrown, we dismounted and gave chase (exactly the opposite of our tour directions). The people scatter when they realize you are a person and not just a vehicle. Usually, the locals would run so fast, they would literally run out of their shoes. So, what to do? Take the shoes and give them to someone down the road. I know some people are reading this thinking "That's so terrible, I would never do that!" Guess what? You would. I thought that when I started cycling in the country. Then you receive 2 weeks of rocks and other projectiles (ranging from sugar cane to cow dung) and your opinion changes. I'm living proof. Anyway, I'm glad to be gone, never to return. You, you, you, you, you, money, money, money, money!!! Good riddance.
So, finally I crossed into Kenya. The border crossing on the Ethiopian side was tedious. The border is closed from 1300-1500. Well, in Ethiopian time, that's actually 1145-1515. So, I sat around waiting to be cleared out. Finally I was, and into Kenya. The in-processing for Kenya took 10 minutes. It was wonderful. The whole atmosphere changed just as quickly as when I entered the country. Everyone was happy again. So, we camped our first night and then set off on the hardest section of the tour. The terrain was miserable. 3 days of dirt, deep sand, large rocks, uphills, everything you could imagine, combined into one road. But it was a blast. It was thrilling to know that I had just conquered the demon. The 9 hours or so per day on a bike was tedious, but it builds character (right dad)? You spend most of the time off your saddle anyway, trying to control your bike. I am ready to try bull riding after these roads! You bounce around these giant lava rocks in the sweltering heat trying to ignore the pain in your hands, arms, head, bum and teeth. At least you can rest when you get to camp after most of the day going 8 or 9 km/h. You can't really understand until you see pictures, which I will not post now because it takes years. Anyway, I did pretty well. I came in all 3 days in the front of the pack (after the racers of course).
So, now I start a 5 day stretch into Nairobi. It will be easier than the dirt "roads" of previous days, but my body is hurting anyway. Nairobi is supposed to be a town where you can buy most things you get in the West. My list includes protein bars, tire tubes and levers, steak and a laundrymat. My sleeping bag is beginning to smell really, really bad, even after spraying it with alcohol. Bushtukah has been kind enough to donate a full wheelset and brakes for my bike, which is good, because this distance is not easy on the parts. This is greatly appreciated by myself, as all of these parts are failing as we speak. The parts are being shipped to Nairobi, where I can finally replace my worn bearings. Thanks again, Bushtukah. But no thank you DHL. My brakes alone are costing $400 to ship over.
Anyway, I have a broken bike to clean and a sore bum to pad. So, thanks everyone. I hope this installment was slightly more humourous than prior entries. "Are you not entertained?!?!" (Voiced from Gladiator) So, I leave you all with some stats.
Total distance: 4700km
Total climbing in Ethiopia: 20,380m
Showers to date: 5
Falls off my bike: 3 (No injuries. It doesn't hurt when you fall going 5-10km/h)
Time spent on saddle to date: 210 hrs.
Time spent being awesome: 211 hrs.
Until next time,
Danimal
Tuesday, February 22, 2011
Some more pictures from Sudan/Ethiopia
A delicious juice mix (orange, pineapple, avocado, raspberry, guava).
Me on one of the hills in Ethiopia (Mark, notice the shirt. It is the most comfy piece of clothing I have. It breathes so nicely. Thank you very much, I wear it all the time.)
Myself and Ryan on the edge of the Blue Nile Gorge
Some mechanics putting bearings on a piston on the side of the road.
A house with a small child in a village we stayed in.
The edge of the Gorge.
Me doing what I do best at the edge of the Gorge. I have lost a lot of weight (as you might be able to tell). I sort of expected this to happen, and it is. Everyone is slimming down. The cardio is excessive to say the least. I'm still eating the most of anyone on the tour, but it's not maintaining my muscle mass. For the best, actually, cause I hate carrying that up the hills. For example of what I ate today on my day off:
4 slices toast
1 beef/egg omelet
2 large bread rolls
1.5 double patty, triple bun burgers (think larger than an Extreme burger at Summerhays)
1 plate french fries
1 whole, large pizza with chicken, beef, eggs, cheese and veggies.
1 energy bar
5 scoops chocolate ice cream (finally!!!)
Can't remember the rest, but again, I'll repost as soon as I get a chance and can label these photos properly.
The Blue Nile Gorge (of death)
Hello everyone! I've reached Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia. I'm glad to say that my perception of Ethiopia has been changing, the closer I got to the city. The people have been much friendlier and more welcoming. The stone throwing has continued, but all the riders have learned to deal with it. We have also developed some techniques for avoiding any sort of projectile, ranging from stones to cow dung. I'm still dealing with constant requests for money and "You you you" yelling from the kids, but it's all in good fun.
My odometer reads over 3600km now! It blows my mind how fast we're covering ground here. But there are a few large obstacles that constantly sit in my way... The hills. Always uphill. You wake up, you go uphill. You eat lunch, then go uphill. There are these things called false flats, where it looks like you're going down, but really it's up. So, even the downhills are uphills! I can say that I am becoming a decent climber, though. I have not walked up any hills since before Gonder. Even the Blue Nile Gorge I climbed all on my bike. That was a hard day. It started with a 50km cycle through rolling hills to lunch. After lunch, we had a beautiful 1300m downhill. My brakes got a lot of use because you basically have to keep them on, or you lose control and go off the cliff. The Gorge is beautiful, though. It's like the Grand Canyon, only way more awesome because it's in Africa. I stopped to take a few pictures, but it's hard to capture the magnitude of this thing with photos. Anyway, as you're going down, you're thinking "Crap, I have to go back up this thing". Once you're at the bottom, you stop and take some pictures and prepare for the climb to come. Now, the climb is tough. Really, really tough. Imagine cycling out of the Grand Canyon. It's a 1500m climb within 20km of switch backs. I unofficially timed myself, and did ok. I climbed in about 2hrs, 10 mins. That's 50 minutes behind the first place racer, but actually way ahead of many of the other cyclists. Not too bad for a first climb! And I didn't die! Although, for about 2 hours, I felt like I was going to. My big goal for the climb was to not walk up any section, which I achieved. I averaged less than 10km/h for most of the climb, which is silly, cause I can walk up it at about 6. It can get a little discouraging as you finally struggle to climb a section, only to turn a corner and see another, steeper switchback. And that process repeats itself, about 30 times. I am pretty used to climbing, now, though. We've been climbing up and down every day for a total of about 11,950m. That's higher than Everest! It's sure made the flats of Egypt look easy.
Now, there is not a whole lot of good story to tell since Bahir Dar. It's really been a beautiful ride through the hills, with a lot of scenery. Two days ago, we camped on the edge of the Gorge. It was breath-taking. You are cleaning your bike or eating (or both, if you're me) and you just look up and see this massive scar running through the earth! It's so incredible. The bugs haven't been bad, although we haven't really seen much wildlife. We did have a rider run into a cow, though. And I have seen some monkeys hanging around in a tree. One of the craziest things I saw were some mechanics changing bearings on their pistons right on the side of the road. They just stopped their truck and started working! It's crazy! Also, there are people who carry such huge loads of straw or wood on their backs. It hurts me just to watch them walk!
My experience here just keeps getting better. I love looking around and seeing nothing that is familiar to me. The trees are neat, the birds are neat, the whole countryside is awesome! Also, when it comes to the riders, the bike is a great equalizer. It doesn't matter what job you have or how much money you have. You are now the same as every other rider, and everyone is leveled. Only skill on the bike matters. Everyone seems to be getting along pretty well, although there is a big gap left by Adrian. Ryan and I are constantly making jokes with reference to him to try and relive the memories. Mad Dog, if you read this, you are missed, buddy.
Anyway, I'll post some pics. I'm sorry I couldn't have put some more humour in for you guys, but climbing is really not that funny. It's like a stair master for 6 hours a day. Only you can't turn the power down. And there are no water fountains. Or women on the treadmill in front of you to gawk at. However, there will be some good stuff on the next dirt section and when I do a safari, which I have signed up for. (1.5 days of camping).
Thanks everyone for your support and encouragement! I hope I keep you entertained!
Danimal
My odometer reads over 3600km now! It blows my mind how fast we're covering ground here. But there are a few large obstacles that constantly sit in my way... The hills. Always uphill. You wake up, you go uphill. You eat lunch, then go uphill. There are these things called false flats, where it looks like you're going down, but really it's up. So, even the downhills are uphills! I can say that I am becoming a decent climber, though. I have not walked up any hills since before Gonder. Even the Blue Nile Gorge I climbed all on my bike. That was a hard day. It started with a 50km cycle through rolling hills to lunch. After lunch, we had a beautiful 1300m downhill. My brakes got a lot of use because you basically have to keep them on, or you lose control and go off the cliff. The Gorge is beautiful, though. It's like the Grand Canyon, only way more awesome because it's in Africa. I stopped to take a few pictures, but it's hard to capture the magnitude of this thing with photos. Anyway, as you're going down, you're thinking "Crap, I have to go back up this thing". Once you're at the bottom, you stop and take some pictures and prepare for the climb to come. Now, the climb is tough. Really, really tough. Imagine cycling out of the Grand Canyon. It's a 1500m climb within 20km of switch backs. I unofficially timed myself, and did ok. I climbed in about 2hrs, 10 mins. That's 50 minutes behind the first place racer, but actually way ahead of many of the other cyclists. Not too bad for a first climb! And I didn't die! Although, for about 2 hours, I felt like I was going to. My big goal for the climb was to not walk up any section, which I achieved. I averaged less than 10km/h for most of the climb, which is silly, cause I can walk up it at about 6. It can get a little discouraging as you finally struggle to climb a section, only to turn a corner and see another, steeper switchback. And that process repeats itself, about 30 times. I am pretty used to climbing, now, though. We've been climbing up and down every day for a total of about 11,950m. That's higher than Everest! It's sure made the flats of Egypt look easy.
Now, there is not a whole lot of good story to tell since Bahir Dar. It's really been a beautiful ride through the hills, with a lot of scenery. Two days ago, we camped on the edge of the Gorge. It was breath-taking. You are cleaning your bike or eating (or both, if you're me) and you just look up and see this massive scar running through the earth! It's so incredible. The bugs haven't been bad, although we haven't really seen much wildlife. We did have a rider run into a cow, though. And I have seen some monkeys hanging around in a tree. One of the craziest things I saw were some mechanics changing bearings on their pistons right on the side of the road. They just stopped their truck and started working! It's crazy! Also, there are people who carry such huge loads of straw or wood on their backs. It hurts me just to watch them walk!
My experience here just keeps getting better. I love looking around and seeing nothing that is familiar to me. The trees are neat, the birds are neat, the whole countryside is awesome! Also, when it comes to the riders, the bike is a great equalizer. It doesn't matter what job you have or how much money you have. You are now the same as every other rider, and everyone is leveled. Only skill on the bike matters. Everyone seems to be getting along pretty well, although there is a big gap left by Adrian. Ryan and I are constantly making jokes with reference to him to try and relive the memories. Mad Dog, if you read this, you are missed, buddy.
Anyway, I'll post some pics. I'm sorry I couldn't have put some more humour in for you guys, but climbing is really not that funny. It's like a stair master for 6 hours a day. Only you can't turn the power down. And there are no water fountains. Or women on the treadmill in front of you to gawk at. However, there will be some good stuff on the next dirt section and when I do a safari, which I have signed up for. (1.5 days of camping).
Thanks everyone for your support and encouragement! I hope I keep you entertained!
Danimal
Tuesday, February 15, 2011
Welcome to Eth op a (Oh, sorry, I blinked and someone stole the keys off the keyboard)
So, the title here is pretty self-explanatory. It's a funny thing. The minute we crossed from Sharia law-enforced Sudan into Christian Ethiopia, the thefts began. Literally. The tour was waiting at immigration at the border, not even 100m from Sudan, and a kid climbed into our truck and tried to steal all the rider's spare tires. Thankfully, one of the staff caught him and saved the tires. Life has changed now, let me tell you.
Generally, my first impressions are mixed. Let me start with the negative. Thefts... Thieves are everywhere. Any age, and gender, just anybody really. As soon as you stop cycling there is a crowd that gathers around you and you have to keep a very close eye on your stuff. People have had tools stolen, watches and even an IPod from a riders arm while he was riding! As for myself, I have my kit sorted out. I had a close call, though. I was climbing a hill (you'll hear about those next) very slowly and getting followed by some kids. When I turned around, they were going through my saddle bag and Camelbak looking for steal-able things. Thankfully, I'm pretty good with my kit and nothing was taken. The tour staff has taken to putting up a rope perimeter around camp to keep locals out when we arrive. It works for the most part, but again, a crowd gathers and people are looking for crimes of opportunity. It sounds like I am generalizing, and I wish I was, but this is the case. When I go to bed, I have to strip my bike of anything not bolted down. Pump, light, water bottle, computer, fender, helmet and gloves all come in the tent with me. The locals here are really not friendly. Everywhere you go, in any city or town, you get sneered at or stared down. It's a very unfriendly feeling. And while you're cycling along, people seem to know a few words of English. For example:
Local child: "You you you you you you you!"
Me: "Salam"
Local: "Where are you go?"
Me: "Addis Ababa"
Local: "Where are you go?"
Me: "Addis"
Local: "Give me money."
Me: "If I had money, I would be driving a car."
Local: *Throws rocks or sticks as I bike away*
That is generally how an interaction goes. Only with a lot more "You you you" and a lot more "Give me money". The rock throwing is not as bad as I expected. Their aim is terrible. We have had one girl get hit by a horse whip, which thankfully did no damage. And it's every age from about 3 years old to teenagers. Some people have actually been hit by rocks and stopped to talk to the parents, which then throw rocks at the kids. You can see the vicious circle here. However, the closer we get to Addis Ababa, the more docile the people get. So, on to the terrain.
Now onto the positive part of the country. The terrain is tough. As soon as we crossed the border, we started climbing. And not small climbs either. We climb a total of about 1000m per day, with the highest being 2500m in one day just before we got to Gondor. And these hills are steep! Some are as sharp as 30 degrees. I have actually had to get off and walk a few sections for about 50m because I just couldn't pedal any faster. It is incredibly tough. The flipside is that the higher we go, the cooler is gets. This is a nice change from the 50 degrees in Sudan. It's usually about 25 at an altitude of 2000m, so it's pleasant. Also, the scenery is beautiful. I have never seen anything like this. The mountains are huge and there are cool trees and shrubs everywhere. The countryside is stunning. I have taken a ton of pictures here, but none of them do the place justice. It makes the tough climbs actually a lot of fun. Well, "fun".
So, we arrived in Gondor on the 11th, a rest stop where we actually had two consecutive rest days. This was nice after 8 days of hard riding. Everyone celebrated with a beer (or 5, depending on who you are) and some local food. I celebrated by getting food poisoning on the 12th and vomiting/shitting for the next day and a half. It was a blast. I slept for another 16 hours and was back to almost full form. My appetite still had not returned, but what can you do? It was a good thing too. There is not a whole lot to do in Gondor. There is an old church from the 17th century to see. But that's about it. I toured the market, but it was Sunday, so nothing was open. The hotel we stayed at was awesome, though. It's called the Goha Hotel Gondor and it sits in the middle of the city, perched high on a hill. You can see the whole city from the hotel, it's really beautiful. It's a little pricey as there is a 25% tax on everything for some reason. That includes a 10% service charge which was not deserved at all. The staff are super forgetful and you usually have to give your order 3 times for anyone to take notice. Then you get bills for 3 meals before you have even gotten your food. But you laugh it off anyway. I haven't slept in a hotel room yet, because I am far too cheap. Plus, you don't get what you pay for. The amenities are awful and I'm used to the tent anyway.
After Gondor, we had two days riding and ended up in a city called Bahir Dar. Now this is a cool town. The people here are very nice and there is a lot to do. I'm going to go and see some old monasteries and the Blue Nile falls today. Plus there is a huge market to browse and practice haggling. We're staying at a hotel again, but I am tenting. Again due to cheapness (what have you done to me dad?). The town is pretty crazy right now as I guess Ethiopia won some soccer match in the Africa Cup yesterday and the streets were packed. Also, we had a costume party at the hotel last night with the theme "Where are you go?" . I dressed normally with a roll of toilet paper and my shovel, cause I usually go to the bathroom, given my string of sickness. After Bahir Dar, we head off the the capital, Addis Ababa. It will take us 5 days to get there including the Blue Nile gorge. That is gonna be hard. There is a 1300m decent and 1500m climb all in the span of 25km. But I'm getting better at climbing, so it should be managable. The decents aren't bad. You get going pretty fast, but have to be on the brakes the whole time so you don't hit random kids or donkeys. I did get up to 70 on one hill, which is a huge thrill.
What else... Oh, the coffee is great here. Not nearly big enough, but very good. People say Ethiopia is the home of coffee. Also, dad, the total for the tour is 11, 995km. So, we are more than 25% done! So, as I sit here, chewing on my bag of locally grown and purchased khat, my spirits are still not downed. Despite the thefts, sickness and mechanical issues, I am loving this. This experience is a funny one. The days are long and gruelling, but the weeks fly by too fast. Unfortunately, the photos will have to wait until Addis Ababa. The computer here does not seem to register my SD card, so I can't upload. Anyway, I miss everyone and hopefully will talk to you all soon!
Some last statistics:
Mother nature: 2 (sickness), Danimal: 1
Total showers taken: 3Distance on odometer: Over 3000km
Things stolen from me: 0 (eat that, clever kids)
Top speed: 70km/h
Thrown objects that have connected: 3 (one rock in the dick, that was painful)
Average speed up hills: 9km/h
Average speed walking up hills: 6km/h
Average speed down hills: 50km/h
*edit* If you want some pro-style pictures from the tour, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/pletten He is a Norwegian guy who takes awesome photos.
Generally, my first impressions are mixed. Let me start with the negative. Thefts... Thieves are everywhere. Any age, and gender, just anybody really. As soon as you stop cycling there is a crowd that gathers around you and you have to keep a very close eye on your stuff. People have had tools stolen, watches and even an IPod from a riders arm while he was riding! As for myself, I have my kit sorted out. I had a close call, though. I was climbing a hill (you'll hear about those next) very slowly and getting followed by some kids. When I turned around, they were going through my saddle bag and Camelbak looking for steal-able things. Thankfully, I'm pretty good with my kit and nothing was taken. The tour staff has taken to putting up a rope perimeter around camp to keep locals out when we arrive. It works for the most part, but again, a crowd gathers and people are looking for crimes of opportunity. It sounds like I am generalizing, and I wish I was, but this is the case. When I go to bed, I have to strip my bike of anything not bolted down. Pump, light, water bottle, computer, fender, helmet and gloves all come in the tent with me. The locals here are really not friendly. Everywhere you go, in any city or town, you get sneered at or stared down. It's a very unfriendly feeling. And while you're cycling along, people seem to know a few words of English. For example:
Local child: "You you you you you you you!"
Me: "Salam"
Local: "Where are you go?"
Me: "Addis Ababa"
Local: "Where are you go?"
Me: "Addis"
Local: "Give me money."
Me: "If I had money, I would be driving a car."
Local: *Throws rocks or sticks as I bike away*
That is generally how an interaction goes. Only with a lot more "You you you" and a lot more "Give me money". The rock throwing is not as bad as I expected. Their aim is terrible. We have had one girl get hit by a horse whip, which thankfully did no damage. And it's every age from about 3 years old to teenagers. Some people have actually been hit by rocks and stopped to talk to the parents, which then throw rocks at the kids. You can see the vicious circle here. However, the closer we get to Addis Ababa, the more docile the people get. So, on to the terrain.
Now onto the positive part of the country. The terrain is tough. As soon as we crossed the border, we started climbing. And not small climbs either. We climb a total of about 1000m per day, with the highest being 2500m in one day just before we got to Gondor. And these hills are steep! Some are as sharp as 30 degrees. I have actually had to get off and walk a few sections for about 50m because I just couldn't pedal any faster. It is incredibly tough. The flipside is that the higher we go, the cooler is gets. This is a nice change from the 50 degrees in Sudan. It's usually about 25 at an altitude of 2000m, so it's pleasant. Also, the scenery is beautiful. I have never seen anything like this. The mountains are huge and there are cool trees and shrubs everywhere. The countryside is stunning. I have taken a ton of pictures here, but none of them do the place justice. It makes the tough climbs actually a lot of fun. Well, "fun".
So, we arrived in Gondor on the 11th, a rest stop where we actually had two consecutive rest days. This was nice after 8 days of hard riding. Everyone celebrated with a beer (or 5, depending on who you are) and some local food. I celebrated by getting food poisoning on the 12th and vomiting/shitting for the next day and a half. It was a blast. I slept for another 16 hours and was back to almost full form. My appetite still had not returned, but what can you do? It was a good thing too. There is not a whole lot to do in Gondor. There is an old church from the 17th century to see. But that's about it. I toured the market, but it was Sunday, so nothing was open. The hotel we stayed at was awesome, though. It's called the Goha Hotel Gondor and it sits in the middle of the city, perched high on a hill. You can see the whole city from the hotel, it's really beautiful. It's a little pricey as there is a 25% tax on everything for some reason. That includes a 10% service charge which was not deserved at all. The staff are super forgetful and you usually have to give your order 3 times for anyone to take notice. Then you get bills for 3 meals before you have even gotten your food. But you laugh it off anyway. I haven't slept in a hotel room yet, because I am far too cheap. Plus, you don't get what you pay for. The amenities are awful and I'm used to the tent anyway.
After Gondor, we had two days riding and ended up in a city called Bahir Dar. Now this is a cool town. The people here are very nice and there is a lot to do. I'm going to go and see some old monasteries and the Blue Nile falls today. Plus there is a huge market to browse and practice haggling. We're staying at a hotel again, but I am tenting. Again due to cheapness (what have you done to me dad?). The town is pretty crazy right now as I guess Ethiopia won some soccer match in the Africa Cup yesterday and the streets were packed. Also, we had a costume party at the hotel last night with the theme "Where are you go?" . I dressed normally with a roll of toilet paper and my shovel, cause I usually go to the bathroom, given my string of sickness. After Bahir Dar, we head off the the capital, Addis Ababa. It will take us 5 days to get there including the Blue Nile gorge. That is gonna be hard. There is a 1300m decent and 1500m climb all in the span of 25km. But I'm getting better at climbing, so it should be managable. The decents aren't bad. You get going pretty fast, but have to be on the brakes the whole time so you don't hit random kids or donkeys. I did get up to 70 on one hill, which is a huge thrill.
What else... Oh, the coffee is great here. Not nearly big enough, but very good. People say Ethiopia is the home of coffee. Also, dad, the total for the tour is 11, 995km. So, we are more than 25% done! So, as I sit here, chewing on my bag of locally grown and purchased khat, my spirits are still not downed. Despite the thefts, sickness and mechanical issues, I am loving this. This experience is a funny one. The days are long and gruelling, but the weeks fly by too fast. Unfortunately, the photos will have to wait until Addis Ababa. The computer here does not seem to register my SD card, so I can't upload. Anyway, I miss everyone and hopefully will talk to you all soon!
Some last statistics:
Mother nature: 2 (sickness), Danimal: 1
Total showers taken: 3Distance on odometer: Over 3000km
Things stolen from me: 0 (eat that, clever kids)
Top speed: 70km/h
Thrown objects that have connected: 3 (one rock in the dick, that was painful)
Average speed up hills: 9km/h
Average speed walking up hills: 6km/h
Average speed down hills: 50km/h
*edit* If you want some pro-style pictures from the tour, visit http://www.flickr.com/photos/pletten He is a Norwegian guy who takes awesome photos.
Post-Khartoum Sudan, I am your bitch.
So, it has been a while since I blogged. I am in Bahir Dahr, Ethiopia, right now, so I will have to update with a few blog posts. So, let's start with Sudan since my last post.
Well, Sudan got hard. Very hard. And I lost my EFI. I tried my best, but two days after leaving Khartoum, I came down with a terrible stomach virus. I had started my 145km day of tarmac (30km easy dirt) and made it about 35km. Actually, let me start with a time line:
Feb 5th, 1800: Eat a huge spaghetti dinner. Feel awesome, go to bed.
2200: Wake up with a stomach ache. Maybe I over-ate. Try and go back to bed. Feel like I want to puke.
2300: Wake up, want to puke.
Feb 6th, 0000, 0100, 0200, 0300: Wake up, want to puke. Only comfortable position is on my stomach, which means I can't sleep.
0430: Wake up, finally puke. Feels way better. Immediately go back to bed.
0530: Get up, pack up gear. Feel ok, have some appetite.
0645: Eat a small breakfast. Feels ok. It will probably stay down, so I'll ride today.
0715: Start riding, feel decent. Not too good, not too bad. Then it starts.
35km into the ride, after the support trucks have gone by of course, I stop and vomit up breakfast. Try riding again. Have some water. Throw up said water. Have some Gatorade and throw it up too. So, I cycle for another 10 km, stopping at least once per kilometer to throw up any liquid, or solid for that matter that I have eaten. I feel terrible. I have to stop on the side of the road so I don't pass out riding my bike and kill myself on the now-dirt road. Spend a little bit of time dry heaving beside the one such there is for shade. Realize I'm going to lose my EFI. Makes me feel worse. So, I wait for the staff sweep (last rider of the pack). Thankfully, he is medic. Bad news. No truck coming to get me, so I'll have to try and make it the 80km to lunch. Fat chance. I can barely keep my eyes open at this point. So, I cycle until kilometer 51, just over the Nile, where our chef is buying groceries and picks me up. Thank God. We head for camp, 90km away. I fall asleep instanly, hunched over in the back seat of a pickup truck that is clunking like the ball joints are falling off. When I wake up, we are at camp. I am pretty depressed now, having lost my EFI on an easy day. So, lacking the energy to talk, eat or move, I lay in the dirt and sleep until dinner. Once dinner comes, I wake up, have a small dinner (and I mean uncharacteristically small). I actually manage to hold this dinner down. So, I set up my tent and fall alseep again. Until the next day. I slept for about 16.5 hours. I felt ok the next day, so I had a normal person-sized breakfast and started off riding . Bad idea. Today was a full dirt day where we followed some old, busted railroad tracks. Then my condition started (sort of) again. No vomiting, but I came close. I was dry heaving and could taste breakfast every bump I went over. So, pretty uneventful, but I made it problem-free to lunch. I took the truck at lunch. I figured I may as well relax and not kill myself. EFI gone anyway, right? When I got to camp, I felt alright. No puking, but still no appetite. So, I took my bike down off the truck to clean it. However, the staff member who tied the bikes on the truck was not careful. He is some impatient South African with clearly no regard for other people's stuff. Anyway, I take my bike down. It's f-ed up. Two bent rims, twisted front derailleur, kinked derailleur cable, scratched chainstay and rear derailleur and a frayed rear derailleur cable. Crap. Long story short, it was all fixable. Thankfully, one of the staff bikes received about the same damage, so he had a chat with the tour director and the transport of bikes has changed. So, all in all, I missed 140km of riding due to this stupid sickness. And lost my EFI, which I will discuss in a second.
My EFI loss. Yes, it's lame. I am very frustrated about it. Now, I know what some of you will say: "There is no shame in riding the truck". Yes, I know there is no shame. And, upon review of my situation at the time, I would have made the same decision if I had the chance again. I would never even have made it the 80km to lunch the first day. Not in a longshot. But, that doesn't make it any better. I still think about it a lot, and it still frustrates me because I was doing really well. It was a goal of mine to EFI and I failed. Even though I couldn't do anything about it. I'm sure you guys will understand where I'm coing from on this. But, my frustration is getting less and less each day, so I will be alright. I came to see Africa anyway, and I will. And hopefully I'll only miss EFI by 140km.
Ok, so on to Sudan. Sudan is hot. Really, really, really f**king hot. Even on the dirt. The days I rode the dirt, the temperatures were 47, 49 and 51. It would have been cooler in the shade if there was any. (sarcasm)At least on the tarmac there is a wind to cool you down(end sarcasm). Man, on the tarmac, it was 57 one day. Celsius. I like the heat, but this was ridiculous. I was drinking 10L of water during the rides. Imagine going into a sauna, cycling and blowing some hairdryers in your face. That is Sudan. And there is no shade. None. No trees, no grass, no roofs. It becomes a toss-up whether you want to cycle fast and get in early to the shade of the trucks, or cycle slowly, conserve energy and be cooler. As far as I was concerned, I just wanted to finish the day. Which I did, everyday, save the aformentioned 140kms. Actually, one of the tougher days, I came in to camp 6th out of everybody, which is good cause I'm usually about 25th and this was on dirt.
(vulgarity warning) Now, there is a humourous side to this. The water you get actually gets hot enough to make coffee with. It becomes too hot to drink by itself. And the sweating... Man, the sweating. In 8 days, I only wore 3 sets of clothes. No point changing, because you sweat packing up your tent in the morning. Then, when you get into camp after the ride, you can stand your clothes up in your tent there is just so much salt in them. Plus, there are all the stoamch bugs going around. So, while you're cycling, your crotch feels wet. Now, you're not sure if you've shit your pants or if you're sweating. But really, who cares? You just want to get out of the heat, so you ride on anyway. Then, you stop to check your pants and pee. But pee is not really the right word. You kind of just drip molasses out of your dick for the one and only time during the day, despite drinking all day. And the dirt is unbearable. Well, for the ladies it probably is wonderful. It's not really dirt, but more of a corregated hardpack. The entire day is corregated. It's like riding over rumble strips so hard that your teeth chatter. And you vibrate all day long. It wears you down to the point you are yelling at the road. But, sometimes the dirt stops and you are relieved with some very deep sand. Now you're riding through butter and you can't slow down cause you sink or fall over. So, you pedal on giving it all you've got while your tummy burbles and you're not sure if you want to fart, crap, burp or puke. It all feels the same at the end of the day. Then you probably do them all, sometimes simultaneously, anyway. The desert is just awesome.
So, sorry for the long post, but here are some closing thoughts: My spirits are not dampened one bit. I love this tour. The good, the bad, the sickness, the health, the dirt, the sweating, the 57 degree heat, the long days. Everything is just awesome. Really, really awesome. It really feels like Africa with all these challenges. The scenery has changed, the plants are different and things are going well. But I do miss some things. In no particular order:
1. A glass of milk. Real milk, not chunky powdered milk.
2. Falling asleep on the couch.
3. A pillow.
4. BBQs.
5. Toilets you sit on.
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll post pictures tomorrow and post about my time in Ethiopia so far. But I can say this: I will miss Sudan. I will miss it a lot.
Well, Sudan got hard. Very hard. And I lost my EFI. I tried my best, but two days after leaving Khartoum, I came down with a terrible stomach virus. I had started my 145km day of tarmac (30km easy dirt) and made it about 35km. Actually, let me start with a time line:
Feb 5th, 1800: Eat a huge spaghetti dinner. Feel awesome, go to bed.
2200: Wake up with a stomach ache. Maybe I over-ate. Try and go back to bed. Feel like I want to puke.
2300: Wake up, want to puke.
Feb 6th, 0000, 0100, 0200, 0300: Wake up, want to puke. Only comfortable position is on my stomach, which means I can't sleep.
0430: Wake up, finally puke. Feels way better. Immediately go back to bed.
0530: Get up, pack up gear. Feel ok, have some appetite.
0645: Eat a small breakfast. Feels ok. It will probably stay down, so I'll ride today.
0715: Start riding, feel decent. Not too good, not too bad. Then it starts.
35km into the ride, after the support trucks have gone by of course, I stop and vomit up breakfast. Try riding again. Have some water. Throw up said water. Have some Gatorade and throw it up too. So, I cycle for another 10 km, stopping at least once per kilometer to throw up any liquid, or solid for that matter that I have eaten. I feel terrible. I have to stop on the side of the road so I don't pass out riding my bike and kill myself on the now-dirt road. Spend a little bit of time dry heaving beside the one such there is for shade. Realize I'm going to lose my EFI. Makes me feel worse. So, I wait for the staff sweep (last rider of the pack). Thankfully, he is medic. Bad news. No truck coming to get me, so I'll have to try and make it the 80km to lunch. Fat chance. I can barely keep my eyes open at this point. So, I cycle until kilometer 51, just over the Nile, where our chef is buying groceries and picks me up. Thank God. We head for camp, 90km away. I fall asleep instanly, hunched over in the back seat of a pickup truck that is clunking like the ball joints are falling off. When I wake up, we are at camp. I am pretty depressed now, having lost my EFI on an easy day. So, lacking the energy to talk, eat or move, I lay in the dirt and sleep until dinner. Once dinner comes, I wake up, have a small dinner (and I mean uncharacteristically small). I actually manage to hold this dinner down. So, I set up my tent and fall alseep again. Until the next day. I slept for about 16.5 hours. I felt ok the next day, so I had a normal person-sized breakfast and started off riding . Bad idea. Today was a full dirt day where we followed some old, busted railroad tracks. Then my condition started (sort of) again. No vomiting, but I came close. I was dry heaving and could taste breakfast every bump I went over. So, pretty uneventful, but I made it problem-free to lunch. I took the truck at lunch. I figured I may as well relax and not kill myself. EFI gone anyway, right? When I got to camp, I felt alright. No puking, but still no appetite. So, I took my bike down off the truck to clean it. However, the staff member who tied the bikes on the truck was not careful. He is some impatient South African with clearly no regard for other people's stuff. Anyway, I take my bike down. It's f-ed up. Two bent rims, twisted front derailleur, kinked derailleur cable, scratched chainstay and rear derailleur and a frayed rear derailleur cable. Crap. Long story short, it was all fixable. Thankfully, one of the staff bikes received about the same damage, so he had a chat with the tour director and the transport of bikes has changed. So, all in all, I missed 140km of riding due to this stupid sickness. And lost my EFI, which I will discuss in a second.
My EFI loss. Yes, it's lame. I am very frustrated about it. Now, I know what some of you will say: "There is no shame in riding the truck". Yes, I know there is no shame. And, upon review of my situation at the time, I would have made the same decision if I had the chance again. I would never even have made it the 80km to lunch the first day. Not in a longshot. But, that doesn't make it any better. I still think about it a lot, and it still frustrates me because I was doing really well. It was a goal of mine to EFI and I failed. Even though I couldn't do anything about it. I'm sure you guys will understand where I'm coing from on this. But, my frustration is getting less and less each day, so I will be alright. I came to see Africa anyway, and I will. And hopefully I'll only miss EFI by 140km.
Ok, so on to Sudan. Sudan is hot. Really, really, really f**king hot. Even on the dirt. The days I rode the dirt, the temperatures were 47, 49 and 51. It would have been cooler in the shade if there was any. (sarcasm)At least on the tarmac there is a wind to cool you down(end sarcasm). Man, on the tarmac, it was 57 one day. Celsius. I like the heat, but this was ridiculous. I was drinking 10L of water during the rides. Imagine going into a sauna, cycling and blowing some hairdryers in your face. That is Sudan. And there is no shade. None. No trees, no grass, no roofs. It becomes a toss-up whether you want to cycle fast and get in early to the shade of the trucks, or cycle slowly, conserve energy and be cooler. As far as I was concerned, I just wanted to finish the day. Which I did, everyday, save the aformentioned 140kms. Actually, one of the tougher days, I came in to camp 6th out of everybody, which is good cause I'm usually about 25th and this was on dirt.
(vulgarity warning) Now, there is a humourous side to this. The water you get actually gets hot enough to make coffee with. It becomes too hot to drink by itself. And the sweating... Man, the sweating. In 8 days, I only wore 3 sets of clothes. No point changing, because you sweat packing up your tent in the morning. Then, when you get into camp after the ride, you can stand your clothes up in your tent there is just so much salt in them. Plus, there are all the stoamch bugs going around. So, while you're cycling, your crotch feels wet. Now, you're not sure if you've shit your pants or if you're sweating. But really, who cares? You just want to get out of the heat, so you ride on anyway. Then, you stop to check your pants and pee. But pee is not really the right word. You kind of just drip molasses out of your dick for the one and only time during the day, despite drinking all day. And the dirt is unbearable. Well, for the ladies it probably is wonderful. It's not really dirt, but more of a corregated hardpack. The entire day is corregated. It's like riding over rumble strips so hard that your teeth chatter. And you vibrate all day long. It wears you down to the point you are yelling at the road. But, sometimes the dirt stops and you are relieved with some very deep sand. Now you're riding through butter and you can't slow down cause you sink or fall over. So, you pedal on giving it all you've got while your tummy burbles and you're not sure if you want to fart, crap, burp or puke. It all feels the same at the end of the day. Then you probably do them all, sometimes simultaneously, anyway. The desert is just awesome.
So, sorry for the long post, but here are some closing thoughts: My spirits are not dampened one bit. I love this tour. The good, the bad, the sickness, the health, the dirt, the sweating, the 57 degree heat, the long days. Everything is just awesome. Really, really awesome. It really feels like Africa with all these challenges. The scenery has changed, the plants are different and things are going well. But I do miss some things. In no particular order:
1. A glass of milk. Real milk, not chunky powdered milk.
2. Falling asleep on the couch.
3. A pillow.
4. BBQs.
5. Toilets you sit on.
Anyway, that's all for now. I'll post pictures tomorrow and post about my time in Ethiopia so far. But I can say this: I will miss Sudan. I will miss it a lot.
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Some more photos.
Sorry there are no more photos to be had. The internet here is so slow, these photos took almost 2 hours to upload. Also, it's hard to choose pics that can accurately represent how awesome this trip has been. When I get back, I can show everyone all of the photos and maybe that will give a clearer picture. Now I head off to bed to rest before a 150km day tomorrow. It is the opening day of an 8 day stretch without a rest day. Wish me luck! Until next time,
Danimal
P.S. I just realized felucca is spelt with one L and two Cs. My bad.
Good riddance Egypt! Hello Sudan? And a birthday to remember.
So, I have arrived in Wadi Halfa. We are again sleeping in a soccer (dust)field. When we take off in the morning, the ride is though the desert again. This desert is a little different, though. There are black rocks and mountains, and it's hot. Finally, some heat. Also, it is my birthday. I decide not to have a beer because Sudan is a dry country. No alcohol crosses this border at all. If you get caught, you get 40 lashes. Not gonna chance it. The ride is very pleasant. I rode with a few people in the morning before the lunch stop. After lunch, I hoofed it solo, and took a picture with a sign, a city called "El Beer". Funny how it is. The scenery was actually very beautiful on this ride. The afternoon was peppered with mountains of black and red and different colours of sand. There was also a tail wind, which gave me an afternoon average of between 35-40km/h. But it was hot. Yes, mom, I wore sunscreen and a lot of it, but still managed to get burned. There was also no traffic. I stopped to pee once and just listened. It was very eerie. There was no sound. No traffic, no wind and no animals. Something I have never heard before. Anyway, after a pleasant 150km, I arrived at camp in a cheerful mood. It was, after all, my birthday. 26 on the 26th. I will celebrate in Ethiopia. However, I was greeted by two ladies, Tori (Canadian) and Kari (New Zealand). They gave me some hugs and one of them snuck me a mouthful of vodka. I took the plunge. It was awesome. They had also set up my tent for me which was a nice surprise. Could this day get any better? Yes, actually. I swam in the Nile. Our desert camp was only 200m from the water. And crocodile free it was. I was first one in the water and it was cold! But with an internal heat fueled by vodka, it went in. And I'm glad I did. I have swum in the Nile. The smile on my face lasted for the rest of the day. It was awesome. Also, I had EFI'd Egypt. A small step for me, but one large step for a total EFI.
So, besides the one day, I have some notes. I am glad to have left Egypt. The rides were ok, but I won't miss it. The people are only after your money and some of them are very unfriendly. If you are planning to visit Egypt, I offer this: Don't. Visit Sudan instead. Look at a high-def picture of the pyramids and call it a day. As I write this from Khartoum, I have yet to have a bad time in Sudan. Everyone, bar none, is extremely nice. People are always smiling at you and offering to help you. And for free! There seems to be no white tax here! The locals are always waving and offering support and praise. The animals are healthier and the land is cleaner. The air is much less polluted. Everything is simply much more welcoming here. Also, there are riots in Egypt now as I'm sure you all know. So, I'm glad to be gone.
My first rest day was in a small town called Dongola. There is not a whole lot to see here but it's a quaint little town with great personality. The market is close by our camp and offers goods at the same price a local would pay. I actually had a really good time here. I had some tent pegs fashioned by a blacksmith. This guy was unbelievable! His anvil was an old gearshaft from a semi. His fire was fuelled by a hand-cranked old blower motor from a car. And he didn't speak English. The Tripod (Ryan, Adrian and me) also had some jewellery (albeit ugly) fashioned out of angle iron according to Ryan's design. And all this without any verbal communication! Just drawing and hand symbols. It absolutely blew my mind. Again, I can not emphasize how nice the people are. For a war-torn country, this place beats Egypt by a million miles. One night, I had some coffee with some spice in it. It was delicious. It was apparently also highly addictive. I have been craving it since. I was told it was cardimom, but I don't know what that is, so I'll get a second opinion. I went out for dinner as well and managed to feed 7 people for about 10$Cdn. Much cheaper than Egypt. We had fol, which is a bean dish and falafel.
Then the bad times came. I usually get sick around my birthday, and this year was no different. Starting the day after my birthday (the day I arrived in Dongola) I came down with the flu. Stuffy nose, fever, the works. I toughed it out, though. The hot dry air helps clear your nose. Also I started my Malaria meds, which give me crazy dreams. Other than that, no side effects. I was sick until about today, when I arrived in Khartoum. The rides have been decent, though long. Apparently we hit dirt two days after Khartoum, which is going to change the game a bit. The desert leading up to Khartoum has been pretty boring, cause it's flat, but it is as close to desert as I've ever seen. It's exactly what you picture. Lots of dead camels and lots of sand. And it's f**king hot during the day. But I am not one to complain as it beats the cold. As for Khartoum, it is a big city. Not a whole lot to see, but I went to a mall to get some TP and a brush to empty my tent of sand. We did have a terribly painful ride into the city. We had to ride in convoy because of the traffic. Convoys are slow. We went for 40km and it took us 2.5 hours. Lame. I would have preffered going uphill.
As it stands right now, I am in good shape. No health issues anymore (not that I would have given up anyway), no bike issues (cause I'm the only one to clean my bike every day) and I have ridden everyday up until now. For those who are curious, my total distance so far is 1979km. At an average of 25km/h. Eat that headwind. I can tell I am becoming stronger. I'm not as tired, and I can go faster and father. I have earned a reputation as being meticulous with my bike and eating the most out of anyone on the tour. My only point of sorrow is that we have lost Mad Dog Munday (Adrian). His section is over and he has gone back to Europe. The Tripod is forever lost. But the dynamic duo lives on.
I will try and post some pictured tonight, but the internet is painfully slow so no promises. Until next time,
Danimal
So, besides the one day, I have some notes. I am glad to have left Egypt. The rides were ok, but I won't miss it. The people are only after your money and some of them are very unfriendly. If you are planning to visit Egypt, I offer this: Don't. Visit Sudan instead. Look at a high-def picture of the pyramids and call it a day. As I write this from Khartoum, I have yet to have a bad time in Sudan. Everyone, bar none, is extremely nice. People are always smiling at you and offering to help you. And for free! There seems to be no white tax here! The locals are always waving and offering support and praise. The animals are healthier and the land is cleaner. The air is much less polluted. Everything is simply much more welcoming here. Also, there are riots in Egypt now as I'm sure you all know. So, I'm glad to be gone.
My first rest day was in a small town called Dongola. There is not a whole lot to see here but it's a quaint little town with great personality. The market is close by our camp and offers goods at the same price a local would pay. I actually had a really good time here. I had some tent pegs fashioned by a blacksmith. This guy was unbelievable! His anvil was an old gearshaft from a semi. His fire was fuelled by a hand-cranked old blower motor from a car. And he didn't speak English. The Tripod (Ryan, Adrian and me) also had some jewellery (albeit ugly) fashioned out of angle iron according to Ryan's design. And all this without any verbal communication! Just drawing and hand symbols. It absolutely blew my mind. Again, I can not emphasize how nice the people are. For a war-torn country, this place beats Egypt by a million miles. One night, I had some coffee with some spice in it. It was delicious. It was apparently also highly addictive. I have been craving it since. I was told it was cardimom, but I don't know what that is, so I'll get a second opinion. I went out for dinner as well and managed to feed 7 people for about 10$Cdn. Much cheaper than Egypt. We had fol, which is a bean dish and falafel.
Then the bad times came. I usually get sick around my birthday, and this year was no different. Starting the day after my birthday (the day I arrived in Dongola) I came down with the flu. Stuffy nose, fever, the works. I toughed it out, though. The hot dry air helps clear your nose. Also I started my Malaria meds, which give me crazy dreams. Other than that, no side effects. I was sick until about today, when I arrived in Khartoum. The rides have been decent, though long. Apparently we hit dirt two days after Khartoum, which is going to change the game a bit. The desert leading up to Khartoum has been pretty boring, cause it's flat, but it is as close to desert as I've ever seen. It's exactly what you picture. Lots of dead camels and lots of sand. And it's f**king hot during the day. But I am not one to complain as it beats the cold. As for Khartoum, it is a big city. Not a whole lot to see, but I went to a mall to get some TP and a brush to empty my tent of sand. We did have a terribly painful ride into the city. We had to ride in convoy because of the traffic. Convoys are slow. We went for 40km and it took us 2.5 hours. Lame. I would have preffered going uphill.
As it stands right now, I am in good shape. No health issues anymore (not that I would have given up anyway), no bike issues (cause I'm the only one to clean my bike every day) and I have ridden everyday up until now. For those who are curious, my total distance so far is 1979km. At an average of 25km/h. Eat that headwind. I can tell I am becoming stronger. I'm not as tired, and I can go faster and father. I have earned a reputation as being meticulous with my bike and eating the most out of anyone on the tour. My only point of sorrow is that we have lost Mad Dog Munday (Adrian). His section is over and he has gone back to Europe. The Tripod is forever lost. But the dynamic duo lives on.
I will try and post some pictured tonight, but the internet is painfully slow so no promises. Until next time,
Danimal
Still alive and definately kicking.
Hello all. I am still here. I am still alive. I am still awesome. The road has been long and the internet has been scarce. Sorry about the bad typing, the keys in this internet cafe are very old and sticking. So, we have a lot of catching up to do. Luxor is where we left off.
I am glad to leave Luxor. It is a tourist town and basically encompasses everything I didn't want to have happen on my trip. Hounded incessantly by vendors, honked at by cabs and forced to barter every, single price down really is not fun. I have sort of decided that when I want to buy something, I will have to get rid of my "white tax". That's what I call a tax on being a "rich" white tourist. However, the Luxor temple was pretty cool. On the way out of Luxor, the ride was pretty nice. There is a lot of greenery because you're right near the Nile. It sure beats looking at the desert. The people are very testing, though. On one particular day, we passed through a small town where rocks were thrown. I took a large rock in the right bicep, but was ok. You can't hurt steel anyway. What was funny was that all these rocks were thrown by a class of young girls. GIRLS!!! Sugar and spice and everything igneous, clearly. That really got my blood boiling. One of our riders had a wheel bent by a rock and a poor Quebecois was actually knocked over by a kid riding a bike. Let me tell you, I have never wanted to kick a kid in the face worse than today. But, I suppose it's all in preparation for Ethiopia.
After Luxor, and the ride of doom, we arrived in Aswan. This town was much better than Luxor, but still had the white tax. By this point, I have made a few good friends. One is a guy named Ryan. Originally from South Africa, he is married and now lives in Dublin. Very sarcastic sense of humour, so we get along perfectly. His nickname is Princess. This came about because he always suggests activities, to which everyone agrees, and then makes us wait while he gets ready. Concensus is: he is doing his makeup. The other dude, named Adrian Munday, is an investment banker from London, UK. He is a hilarious guy who we call Mad Dog Munday. This name does not suit him at all because... Well, because he is an investment banker. He is only a sectional rider, so he will leave us in Khartoum. We call him Mad Dog because he fractured his skull when he was three and now has a limited range of motion in his left eye. We were gonna call him Mad Eye Munday, but it doesn't have the same ring to it. Anyway, in Aswan, I had McDonalds cause I needed some calories and some stomach-safe food. Let me tell you, it is way better here than in Canada. Your food actually looks like food, not some burger makings thrown into a shitty cardboard box with some lettuce. It was delicious. After the food, the Tripod (Ryan, Adrian and myself) took a felluca ride on the Nile for an hour. A felluca is actually just a really unsafe-looking sailboat. This ride was really nice, though. A good way to relax after a day of cycling. Abdullah, our captain then took us to the market (on commission, of course) to find some supplies without the white tax. We would need some food for the ferry across Lake Nasser. Overall, it was a pleasant evening.
The next day, we took a ferry (first class) across the lake to Sudan. Read that again. It sounds nice. And the ride was fun. But not fun like going to Disneyland. Fun like shoving pieces of broken glass up your ass and sitting in a tub of Tabasco sauce. The place was crammed. Full to the tits. Everyone and all of their gear and their family's gear and their family squeezed on through one door. Then you had to fight your way for a place on deck where you would sleep. We were supposed to sleep two to a room and two on deck. Thankfully, I organzied our room to fit all of our gear and all 4 people. Thanks again, military training. So, we were four people to a room of about 8x10. With only two "beds". And two toilets for the entire ship, which was about 1000 people. But these were not sit-down toilets. These were holes that you squat over and try not to piss all over your shorts while you fire out two-day-old Big Macs. Then one of our toilets flooded. You can imagine this was awesome. I sound bitter, but I'm actually here laughing to myself non-stop. This is going to be one of the more memorable times of the trip. It was great fun. You'll see photos. But at least the trip only lasted 18 hours. When we finally landed, we were the last to get off the ship. This was actually a relief. There would be no fighting to get out the door and sit in the hot sun. But guess what? We had forms to fill out. Four of them to be exact. All requesting the same information. So, we had to sit and wait for everyone to fill these out. After 3 more hours, this was done. On to customs. This was actually the easiest part of the trip. The customs officers did a baggage inspection where they opened about 10 bags, looked at them and closed them again. On to Wadi Halfa!
I am glad to leave Luxor. It is a tourist town and basically encompasses everything I didn't want to have happen on my trip. Hounded incessantly by vendors, honked at by cabs and forced to barter every, single price down really is not fun. I have sort of decided that when I want to buy something, I will have to get rid of my "white tax". That's what I call a tax on being a "rich" white tourist. However, the Luxor temple was pretty cool. On the way out of Luxor, the ride was pretty nice. There is a lot of greenery because you're right near the Nile. It sure beats looking at the desert. The people are very testing, though. On one particular day, we passed through a small town where rocks were thrown. I took a large rock in the right bicep, but was ok. You can't hurt steel anyway. What was funny was that all these rocks were thrown by a class of young girls. GIRLS!!! Sugar and spice and everything igneous, clearly. That really got my blood boiling. One of our riders had a wheel bent by a rock and a poor Quebecois was actually knocked over by a kid riding a bike. Let me tell you, I have never wanted to kick a kid in the face worse than today. But, I suppose it's all in preparation for Ethiopia.
After Luxor, and the ride of doom, we arrived in Aswan. This town was much better than Luxor, but still had the white tax. By this point, I have made a few good friends. One is a guy named Ryan. Originally from South Africa, he is married and now lives in Dublin. Very sarcastic sense of humour, so we get along perfectly. His nickname is Princess. This came about because he always suggests activities, to which everyone agrees, and then makes us wait while he gets ready. Concensus is: he is doing his makeup. The other dude, named Adrian Munday, is an investment banker from London, UK. He is a hilarious guy who we call Mad Dog Munday. This name does not suit him at all because... Well, because he is an investment banker. He is only a sectional rider, so he will leave us in Khartoum. We call him Mad Dog because he fractured his skull when he was three and now has a limited range of motion in his left eye. We were gonna call him Mad Eye Munday, but it doesn't have the same ring to it. Anyway, in Aswan, I had McDonalds cause I needed some calories and some stomach-safe food. Let me tell you, it is way better here than in Canada. Your food actually looks like food, not some burger makings thrown into a shitty cardboard box with some lettuce. It was delicious. After the food, the Tripod (Ryan, Adrian and myself) took a felluca ride on the Nile for an hour. A felluca is actually just a really unsafe-looking sailboat. This ride was really nice, though. A good way to relax after a day of cycling. Abdullah, our captain then took us to the market (on commission, of course) to find some supplies without the white tax. We would need some food for the ferry across Lake Nasser. Overall, it was a pleasant evening.
The next day, we took a ferry (first class) across the lake to Sudan. Read that again. It sounds nice. And the ride was fun. But not fun like going to Disneyland. Fun like shoving pieces of broken glass up your ass and sitting in a tub of Tabasco sauce. The place was crammed. Full to the tits. Everyone and all of their gear and their family's gear and their family squeezed on through one door. Then you had to fight your way for a place on deck where you would sleep. We were supposed to sleep two to a room and two on deck. Thankfully, I organzied our room to fit all of our gear and all 4 people. Thanks again, military training. So, we were four people to a room of about 8x10. With only two "beds". And two toilets for the entire ship, which was about 1000 people. But these were not sit-down toilets. These were holes that you squat over and try not to piss all over your shorts while you fire out two-day-old Big Macs. Then one of our toilets flooded. You can imagine this was awesome. I sound bitter, but I'm actually here laughing to myself non-stop. This is going to be one of the more memorable times of the trip. It was great fun. You'll see photos. But at least the trip only lasted 18 hours. When we finally landed, we were the last to get off the ship. This was actually a relief. There would be no fighting to get out the door and sit in the hot sun. But guess what? We had forms to fill out. Four of them to be exact. All requesting the same information. So, we had to sit and wait for everyone to fill these out. After 3 more hours, this was done. On to customs. This was actually the easiest part of the trip. The customs officers did a baggage inspection where they opened about 10 bags, looked at them and closed them again. On to Wadi Halfa!
Thursday, January 20, 2011
Luxor, the land of the most annoying sales people in the world.
So, I arrived in Luxor today after a "short" 100km ride. I was making good time, and finished in a little over 3 hours. I am bordering on calling myself a cyclist. Anyway, I arrived, set up my tent and went out for a solo tour of the city. I saw the Luxor temple, which was pretty neat. I haven't gone in yet, but I plan to. I had too much walking to do. I visited the market and then it went downhill. The shop owners hassle the heck out of you., They all want you to come into the store to give you a "special price, my friend". I didn't buy anything, but there are a lot of trinkets to see. I have my first full rest day tomorrow, so I will finish my shopping, do some laundry (for the first time) and have a shower! The people here are very pushy, and not nearly as nice as in Cairo, but I sort of expected it. It's a huge tourist town. The ride here was very eventful. I a lot of children on the side of the road waving and asking for money. I actually got hit by a stick wielded by one of said children today, and was pretty annoyed. I guess it's good practice for Ethiopia, where stones are thrown with high frequency.
I have met some very nice people here on the tour, and am meeting more as I ride past different groups. The group is so diverse, with people from Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, Holland, Trinidad, South Africa, Egypt, and the UK. I have had a few requests foir information on the daily routine and food, so here we go:
0530: Wake up, freeze, pack up gear and freeze.
0600: Breakfast. Usually oats, bananas, pitas, instant coffee (which offends me), peanut butter, jam and sometimes hard boiled eggs.
0700: Start cycling. Freeze some more. Watch the sun rise over the desert and get chased by dogs.
0900: Stop for a first snack and apply some chamois cream.
1100: Stop for lunch. Usually some sort of pita sandwich that I fill with salami, veggies, PB, jam, cream cheese, regular cheese and an orange. Also refill 3L of water and 1L of orange drink for some salt.
1145: Resume cycling. Hate life and all that accompanies it. Wish the ride was over.
1500-1600: Finish riding. Sob about the pain in my ass cheeks. Set up tent and unpack gear. Have a post ride soup. Always vegetarian. Break out in vaginas due to lack of dead animal.
1630: Clean my bike like I'd clean a rifle. It's the only tool I have, so it's staying in good shape.
1715: Rider meeting. We get briefed on the next day's activities.
1730: Eat dinner. The food varies, but here are some examples: Mashed potatoes with meat spaghetti sauce/chicken cous-cous stir fry/spaghetti and BBQ'd chicken/Fish and veggie pasta.
1800-1900: Complain about the pain in my ass. Listen to others do the same. Have a tea.
1900: Bed. Instantly fall asleep.
So, I complain about my ass pain, but it's actually not too bad. I have had no chafing, which is lucky, because a lot of people have. It's just sore from sitting on it for 7 hours. And the rides are usually pleasant. The desert gets a little boring to look at, but we've passed mountain and ocean, so it gets better. So, I'll post some pics and satisfy your appetites.
I have met some very nice people here on the tour, and am meeting more as I ride past different groups. The group is so diverse, with people from Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Norway, Holland, Trinidad, South Africa, Egypt, and the UK. I have had a few requests foir information on the daily routine and food, so here we go:
0530: Wake up, freeze, pack up gear and freeze.
0600: Breakfast. Usually oats, bananas, pitas, instant coffee (which offends me), peanut butter, jam and sometimes hard boiled eggs.
0700: Start cycling. Freeze some more. Watch the sun rise over the desert and get chased by dogs.
0900: Stop for a first snack and apply some chamois cream.
1100: Stop for lunch. Usually some sort of pita sandwich that I fill with salami, veggies, PB, jam, cream cheese, regular cheese and an orange. Also refill 3L of water and 1L of orange drink for some salt.
1145: Resume cycling. Hate life and all that accompanies it. Wish the ride was over.
1500-1600: Finish riding. Sob about the pain in my ass cheeks. Set up tent and unpack gear. Have a post ride soup. Always vegetarian. Break out in vaginas due to lack of dead animal.
1630: Clean my bike like I'd clean a rifle. It's the only tool I have, so it's staying in good shape.
1715: Rider meeting. We get briefed on the next day's activities.
1730: Eat dinner. The food varies, but here are some examples: Mashed potatoes with meat spaghetti sauce/chicken cous-cous stir fry/spaghetti and BBQ'd chicken/Fish and veggie pasta.
1800-1900: Complain about the pain in my ass. Listen to others do the same. Have a tea.
1900: Bed. Instantly fall asleep.
So, I complain about my ass pain, but it's actually not too bad. I have had no chafing, which is lucky, because a lot of people have. It's just sore from sitting on it for 7 hours. And the rides are usually pleasant. The desert gets a little boring to look at, but we've passed mountain and ocean, so it gets better. So, I'll post some pics and satisfy your appetites.
Tuesday, January 18, 2011
Determination>Training
So, I have just completed my 4th day of cycling. At present time, my odometer is up to 540km. With 170 of that being in one day. And it was a 170kms into a headwind. That was a tough day, but what can I say, I'm durable. Anyway, I made it out of Cairo ok, and went past the pyramids, which are very impressive. It's wild to think that they are almost 5000 years old! Our engineers now can't even make a building last 100 years. The first day of cycling (135km) was alright, a few ups and downs, but nothing I can't handle. The second day (173km) was tough. We cycled along the Red Sea for most of the day, which gave us some brutal head winds. There was a lot see. I'll post some pictures when I get a chance, but my camera transfer gear is locked away in a truck until the 21st. The third day was not as bad. Another 130 or 135km. We went past some more desert. Then some more. And then... Some more. A lot of sand. I have been pretty meticulous with cleaning my bike though. I'm trying to ride EFI (every f**king ich) which means you don't get picked up by the truck at all, so I want my bike to last as long as possible. Today was the 4th day. It was an "easy" 95km. I say easy with quotes because I never thought I would say cycling alomst 100km was easy.
We've had a few hickups along the road already. Someone showed up with no bike because someone at the Madrid airport stole it. And no, it was not lost, it was stolen. Too bad, because his bike cost him $5000. There was a rim broken in transport for another poor guy. Also (mom, don't freak) one of our riders was hit by a semi as we cycled along the red sea. He is ok, just a little bit of a bent bike and a broken rim. And last night (night 3), we endured a sand storm. It was pretty miserable. It was the worst the staff has seen since the company started the tour. My tent blew over just as it started raining. However, I possess a Gore-tex sleeping bag cover, so I just left the tent down on top of me and went back to bed. I did wake up with a smile on my face, though, because I had just weathered a sandstorm and was ok. How many people can say that? My tent did have enough sand in it to make my own beach though. Also, my nice clean bike was buried in my beach.
Some people have commented that it's cold in Ottawa. I believe you, but it is also f**king cold here. I end up wearing most of the clothes that I have until the sun comes up and even then I'm only warm if I'm biking. I had the impression it was supposed to be hot here. So, if anyone tells you the desert is hot and dry, they are lying. It's cold and wet (has rained twice). I didn't even bring my sweats :(
To Paul: I would have thanked you for that stuff, but I haven't had a flat yet. Or a shower for that matter. I plan on it tonight. We're staying on a hotel beach and the tour has rented 4 rooms we can use to crap and shower. I'm not gonna stay in the hotel though, cause I'm a cheap bastard. We have two more days of cycling through the desert until we hit Luxor, a large tourist town where I can do laundry, shower and sleep in a bed with a pillow. If I rent a room.
A couple of side notes: 1. The locals in Egypt are very supportive of the tour. They always drive past and honk and give us a wave or a thumbs up or something. It's very cool. I also got mobbed by about 10 young women (about 11 or 12 years old) while I was eating lunch one day wanting to take their picture with me.
2. People like riding is groups (a peleton) because it cuts down on wind resistance. I tried, and it sucks. You are so focused on not hitting the person in front of you, you miss all the scenery. I have seen way more than many people here because I've ridden solo every day. It gets lonely, but it makes you push yourself even harder. I remembered a quote as I was riding the 170km day: "The difference between impossible and possible is a man's determination" That helped me get through the day (all 9 hours of riding).
3. Today (day 4) we had a tail wind and I booked it down a hill and got up to 65km/h! What a rush!
4. Some non-serious thank yous: Squats, leg press, dieting, Gore-tex, tailwinds, sweatpants, pillows.
Anyway, my time here is running out, so I'll update again in Luxor if I get the chance! Dad, happy belated birthday!
Mother nature: 0, Danimal: 1.
We've had a few hickups along the road already. Someone showed up with no bike because someone at the Madrid airport stole it. And no, it was not lost, it was stolen. Too bad, because his bike cost him $5000. There was a rim broken in transport for another poor guy. Also (mom, don't freak) one of our riders was hit by a semi as we cycled along the red sea. He is ok, just a little bit of a bent bike and a broken rim. And last night (night 3), we endured a sand storm. It was pretty miserable. It was the worst the staff has seen since the company started the tour. My tent blew over just as it started raining. However, I possess a Gore-tex sleeping bag cover, so I just left the tent down on top of me and went back to bed. I did wake up with a smile on my face, though, because I had just weathered a sandstorm and was ok. How many people can say that? My tent did have enough sand in it to make my own beach though. Also, my nice clean bike was buried in my beach.
Some people have commented that it's cold in Ottawa. I believe you, but it is also f**king cold here. I end up wearing most of the clothes that I have until the sun comes up and even then I'm only warm if I'm biking. I had the impression it was supposed to be hot here. So, if anyone tells you the desert is hot and dry, they are lying. It's cold and wet (has rained twice). I didn't even bring my sweats :(
To Paul: I would have thanked you for that stuff, but I haven't had a flat yet. Or a shower for that matter. I plan on it tonight. We're staying on a hotel beach and the tour has rented 4 rooms we can use to crap and shower. I'm not gonna stay in the hotel though, cause I'm a cheap bastard. We have two more days of cycling through the desert until we hit Luxor, a large tourist town where I can do laundry, shower and sleep in a bed with a pillow. If I rent a room.
A couple of side notes: 1. The locals in Egypt are very supportive of the tour. They always drive past and honk and give us a wave or a thumbs up or something. It's very cool. I also got mobbed by about 10 young women (about 11 or 12 years old) while I was eating lunch one day wanting to take their picture with me.
2. People like riding is groups (a peleton) because it cuts down on wind resistance. I tried, and it sucks. You are so focused on not hitting the person in front of you, you miss all the scenery. I have seen way more than many people here because I've ridden solo every day. It gets lonely, but it makes you push yourself even harder. I remembered a quote as I was riding the 170km day: "The difference between impossible and possible is a man's determination" That helped me get through the day (all 9 hours of riding).
3. Today (day 4) we had a tail wind and I booked it down a hill and got up to 65km/h! What a rush!
4. Some non-serious thank yous: Squats, leg press, dieting, Gore-tex, tailwinds, sweatpants, pillows.
Anyway, my time here is running out, so I'll update again in Luxor if I get the chance! Dad, happy belated birthday!
Mother nature: 0, Danimal: 1.
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