Tour d'Afrique - Cairo to Cape Town by Bike

I have been meaning to post something to this effect since Egypt...man how time flies!  I have had many questions about the daily logistics of the tour; I hope this answers a bunch of them.

 

Our schedule is very consistent day-to-day, but has changed quite a bit throughout the tour with the hours of light (varied quite a bit by the change in season, our moving toward then away from the equator, and crossing time zone lines).  Our current one is pretty wacky:

 

4:00am: my first alarm goes off

 

5:15am: I have packed up my tent and all of my camping possessions into my "red box", buried my morning business somewhere in the bush, applied body lube and bike shorts and am ready to go except for a few details

 

6:00am: I have eaten my ginormous breakfast (just like home) of oatmeal, peanut butter and jam/honey/syrup and occasionally they will put other goodies out for us like eggs or baked beans.  One day they put the Canadians in heaven by having pancakes with REAL Canadian maple syrup (donated by a Montreal rider.

 

Lately, the sun rises around 6:00am.

 

6:20am: My "red box" is on the truck and I am normally running around trying to still do my last minute things like put sunscreen on, clean my glasses, fill my bladder with water and bottle with Fast Fuel, grab my PVM Energy bars for the day, pump up my tires, etc.

 

6:30am: I am normally ready seconds before the race start.  Expedition riders are allowed to start whatever time they like after sunrise.  There are a few which push the early limit every day to get as many kilometres finished before the heat of the day.

 

~9:30am: This is highly dependent on the distance for the day, but normally lunch is just over half the distance for the day.  The other day we had an incredible tail wind and hit the 90km mark shortly after 9:00am.  Lunch before 10:00am feels strange, but I don't argue because I'm normally pretty hungry by that time.

 

Early afternoon: Again, highly dependent upon the distance for the day and the road conditions, but we are normally done cycling for the day before 3:00pm.  We have finished as early as 11:00am and as late at 5:00pm.  Everyone goes at their own pace and stops at different places for different amounts of time so we scatter into camp slowly.  Distances for the days depend on the road conditions.  Lately, we completed three centuries (greater than 160km) in three days over decent roads and we were still done around noon.  Over the rougher roads, a 100km day can take quite a bit longer.

 

6:00pm: Rider meeting where we learn about the following day's specifics, hear about any upcoming attractions, have fun announcements and fortnightly have a team quiz night.  Following this: dinner!  Varies quite a bit, it usually very good and is never short on quantity.  The sun has been setting during dinner lately.  If we are at a bush camp ( i.e. in the middle of nowhere) we hang around the camp chatting about whatever, then turn in to bed at varying times.  I have gone to bed as embarrassingly early as 7:00pm and on this early rise schedule as late as after 9:00pm!

 

The following day: do it all again!

 

I was discussing with another rider last night that we found it odd that even when we really pushed hard for a day that our legs never really got sore after riding.  It is only once I said it out loud that it seemed odd that we had just cycled 500km in three days and didn't feel much pain in the legs.

 

Riding weeks are typically about five days followed by a rest day.  Our longest number of consecutive riding days is 7 days while our shortest was 2.  Everyone does different things on rest days.  I personally find them more tiring than riding days since there is so much to do.  I try to get my "chores" out of the way like laundry (yes mom, I have hand washed - rather foot washed - all of my clothes on the trip), fixing things, internetting, etc. first, then head into town and walk around or do any activities I had previously planned.  Also on rest days we are responsible for our own food which can be quite entertaining.  Farther north, I tended to eat more at restaurants since they were very cheap and the local food was extremely interesting.  Lately grocery stores have become more westernized so I can get breakfast and lunch pretty cheaply, then will try something new for dinner.

 

During the rest days, we are typically camped on a hotel lawn.  Some get hotel rooms, but am very comfortable in my tent so don't mind saving the money.  During the riding week, we camp anywhere from hotel lawns to campgrounds to abandoned Jehovah's Witness centres to school yards to small clearings on the side of the road to lake shores to places that we have no idea why it is like it is, but we have fun with the locals and pitch our tents.  All camp spots have had their appeal.  Hotels come with showers (normally cold, but still nice) and we don't have to dig holes for our calls of nature, school grounds came with many curious students that were fun to throw my frisbee around with, bush camps come with the excitement of being in the middle of nature, desert camps came with the beauty of an endless starry sky and unreal peace and quiet, the list goes on.

 

Logistically, this is a pretty easy way of seeing Africa from a rider's point of view.  Our basic needs are catered to and any worries we have are generally superficial since we have support in our health and many other areas.

 

Now we have less than a month to go with so much to see and do.  I keep saying that this trip is like skimming through an African guide book.  It is giving me a great overview of the continent so I can later come back and travel some of the highlights more in depth.  Once Africa is in your blood...