Rectification

It seems that the race rules have not been applied correctly in the race so far, and all race results are revised. For me personally, that means I do get a 12 hour penalty for taking the truck after my crash, even though those were not race kilometers. For the women's classification, that does most likely not make a difference, for the overall classification, it will. As all will have to be recalculated, the results have not been published yet (will be published here), but I am sure that I can congratulate David G. on his well deserved stage win! I will do anything I can to take revenge in the new section, starting tomorrow...

And, if I cannot win, I can always mobilise my new found Ethiopian friends.

One down, seven to go!

After having crossed the Sudanese desert, we have arrived in Ethiopia. We are camping on the grounds of a hotel in the hills just outside town, for the first time during this trip we have hot showers! And a pool with a view actually, it nearly feels like a holiday.

The desert crossing was very much to my bike's liking; loose sand, lots of it! Together with navigational challenges, heat, dust and a complete lack of facilities, it was quite an adventure. Unfortunately my body did not agree with my bike, and I had to adjust my pace. But who knows when the skill of vomiting off a bike seat (no stopping and only hitting my shoe) comes in handy. The wounds are healing fine, stitches have been removed. In spite of these difficulties, I have done good business in the classification, I have won the first section (Pyramids of Nubia, nearly 2000 km) overall (both men and women). I bet I am in for some revenge by the boys....

In spite of the national hobby of Ethiopian kids of throwing stones at tourists, Ethiopia is great! What a change it was to cross the border; suddenly there were women on the streets, people smiling, colours, trees and hills, beer adverts... after nearly three weeks in an alcohol free country, it was quite nice to drink a first cold beer after the ride! A well deserved beer it was, after a 100 km ride with over 2500 m of climbing.

Now we enjoy two rest days in Gondar, which will be well spend; laundry, cleaning the bike, shopping (finding toilet paper can be quite a challenge), and sight seeing. Definitely looking forward to that! The day after tomorrow, we will continue our way to Axum (rough roads and lots of climbing!).

One of the fellow cyclists is keeping a blog with a lot of pictures, please take a look at www.scottcarmichael.com if you want to see more!

Souvenir from the Sudan

Just when everything was going well (getting used to the headwinds, enjoying the smooth tarmac roads and the grazing camels by the roadside, getting used to the lack of hygiene that comes with hot weather, cycling and no shower facilities), I lost concentration for a moment, resulting in a painful 30 km/h dive onto the gravel roadside. After some first aid from my cycling buddies and some strong ignorance of what I had ahead of me, I decided to ride the remaining 50 km to the luch stop. There our tour medic was waiting to clean the wounds and stitch me up. Her comment when removing the bandage ("oh dear!") did not sound particularly positive, but she managed to compensate for all the skin left at the roadside by pulling a bit harder on the remaining skin to close the gap. Five stitches in the left forearm, three in the left hip should do the job. So far so good! The bruises will be gone by next week, the scars will be my souvenir from the Sudan.

I was not allowed to ride on after that, luckily the lunch stop was the end of the race that day (not all riding kilometers are racing kilometers), and I was back on the bike the next day, defending my position. Although not in the best shape, I still enjoy riding as long as the road is smooth, which it has been upto now. From tomorrow we are expecting gravel and sand for the next six riding days, hopefully that will not be that painful. I changed my tyres to get ready for the rough road, my bike looks so much better now. This is what it is made for!

Today we are enjoying a rest day in Atbara, a small, industrial town in the east of the Sudan. Abandoned amusement parks seem a big thing here, as we are again staying in one. Well, there is water for doing our laundry and taking a shower, so no complaints! We went into town for dinner and got a free ride back to our camp from a Sudanese man, because he had heard about us on tv and in the newspaper. Famous in Sudan!

All in all it has been a good tour start, with good roads, good company, beautiful (although maybe slightly boring) desert landscapes, friendly Sudanese and 7 stage wins out of 8!

Blond Ambition Tour turns into Operation Desert Storm

Forget everything in the last post about getting used to the desert... The moderate headwinds were storms and for some participants it was hard (or impossible) to reach camp before sunset. For others it was a good opportunity to team up, battle the wind and gain some hours. With solid teamwork in our group of three we managed to stay ahead of the others, even though it was a challenge to reach speeds of 20 km/h sometimes, resulting in rides of  ore than 7 hours. The bike is holding up well in the sand and dust, so is my tent that I never before tried out in these circumstances. The legs are tired but ok, enjoying the rest day.

Here in Dongola, situated along the Nile, it is hard to believe that the desert is waiting for us at the city limits. We're camping at an abandoned amusement park (although that may be too big a name for what it actually is/was) and are enjoying the luxuries of having water for a shower and laundy, and cold drinks. Another four days to the next rest day in Atbara. As we are heading south east from here, crosswinds are expected instead of headwinds, and with shorter distances and good roads this may be an easier four days, before we head into the desert where sand and navigation challenges are waiting for us.

Would that camel make it to Cape Town?

After some tough negotiations at the Khartoum Camel Market, I decided to stick to the original plan of cycling down, as a camel seems to offer insufficient advantages in comfort or speed to justify its €1.000. But with the cycling coming closer, I am thinking that the camel may be much more used to the desert circumstances than I am...

To get into the habit of cycling through the desert, we will have only four cycling days until next rest day in Dongola on Tuesday; 81, 148, 143 and 140 km. Weather: hot, dry and sunny (not unexpected), more or less flat, tarmac roads, moderate headwind.

When loading the truck, it turned out that all my stuff fits in my locker! Although I think I have not brought a lot of unnecessary stuff, it still added up to two big duffle bags; tent, sleeping bag and mat are bulky, spare parts are heavy. Didn't take much else, except for a first aid kit and cycling wear. Now it is taking one last shower and enjoying one last night in a real bed before we turn to camping without facilities. 

As traffic is crazy in Khartoum, and we are too early in the tour to lose any participants, we will leave town in a convoy; a police car, two support pick ups, two trucks, about 50 riders and the Minister of Tourism of Sudan, supposedly. Don't expect he will be cycling though...

Final preparations

Spares are bought, bike is packed, legs are trained... Ready to go! I will be flying to Egypt tomorrow, and onwards to Khartoum on Wednesday.

Some key facts about the trip:

Name: Tour d'Afrique, 12th edition
Start: January 10, Khartoum, Sudan
Finish: May 10, Cape Town, South Africa
Estimated distance: 11.693 km
Countries: Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa
Participants: between 50 and 60
Accommodation: my little tent (Lowland Conquest)
Tour support: trucks, cook, medic, mechanic, so all I have to do is cycle. Piece of cake.
Gear: my own Trek 8000 WSD (mountainbike), Shimano XT/SLX parts, gears 44/32/24 front, 11/36 (!) rear, Avid BB7 disc brakes,  Fox Alps fork with lockout, and lots-lots-lots of spare tyres
Race: each day has a set stage which is timed from start to finish, the rider with the least accumulated time wins. OK, it's slightly more complicated with mandatory days, grace days and time trials, but you get the idea. There is a separate women's classification. Race results will be uploaded every few days here.
Rest days: every few days, to enjoy Africa and to allow the legs to recover

The tour will cover a new stretch in northern Ethiopia. Read what the organisers have to say about that:

"The new route through the northern Ethiopian tablelands will be particularly challenging. This 10 stage 1050 km long stretch features almost 19.000 meters of climbing and descent on by and large rough unpaved roads. One of the new stages will require over 2.600 meters of climbing, a new record for the TDA, and on another we’ll be as high as 3.250 meters, another TDA record. As such it will be a mountain biker’s paradise and a serious physical and mental test for any cyclist."

What an opportunity, you can still pledge donations for the Jobortunity Training Institute!
For now I would already like to thank  Stefan, Dim, Rie, Marieke & Dries, Hannah, Winnie, Ellen & Timon, Ilse, TWC de Maaspoort, Finken Tandartsen Horn, Sandra & Jan Willem & Fauve & Suze, Guido & Claudia, Lisette, Jan, Guus, Philip, Niklas, Peter, Mirka, Lukas, Karima, Alexander, Helga, Sandra, Mike, Laura, Natalie & Diewert, Sina & Thomas, Sabrina and Stefanie for their pledged contributions!

And for all of you who think that cycling from Sudan to South Africa is an big, unnecessary and crazy thing to do, it can be much bigger, less necessary and crazier. One could also walk from India to England, cycle or ride a tractor to the South Pole, push an empty wheelchair across Australia or golf his way through Mongolia. Just saying.