End of Pharoh's Delight

First Section of the the tour, the Pharoh's Delight, ended in Khartoum. Don't ask me who comes up with these names... last race day in to Khartoum was a 20km time trial, fun. I was 3rd over all. A little dissapointing, but I wasn't too far off the leader. Plus I was riding with rack and panniers. And I was sick. And the sun was in my eyes. And I didn't get a proper warmup. And my ipod was dead. And my tires were under inflated and 38mm wide. And....

I've been trying to ride easy and get some base miles in but it's hard not to ride with the racer's every once in a while. No one on the tour, except Marc our wrench (he won the time trial - but he had skinny tires and I'm pretty sure he dopes), know how to race so they are easy work over. Mark and I like to race a couple days a week and attack/counter until everyone is exhausted, then we drop out in the last 5 k and watch the sprint. Good times. The dirt stages are by far my favorite, it's what the poprad was built for, but there are only 4 or five dirt sections per stage.

Writing in my journal and on this blog is an interesting experience. I can't even come close to writing everything I would like to, I would be writing constantly. So many little stories to tell that are really special but just take too many words to capture properly. Mostly it's the people, riders, staff and a few locals, who I wish I could adequately describe to you. I think I'll come away from this trip with more that a few close friends.

Smatterings:

... OK, so I just took a pee behind a bush in the corner of a WWII cemetery in Dowtown Khartoum, Sudan. I'm not sure things can get much more surreal. Had a great rest day today, hanging out with some guys from the khartoum YMCA: Visited a refugee camp, took a boat out on the nile to the conluence of the Blue and White Nile, Ate a fab meal at Waagi's house. I don't know if it's the desert heat, or the cycling or what but the watermelon here is incredible. After the YMCA trip Waagi dropped Malcolm and me at the Protestant Cemetery. Malcolm's grandfather was a missionary in the 50's and was buried there. We found his grave (after a bit of searching). Very emotional for Malcolm. I had some charcoal in my bag and a Sudanese newspaper so I helped him take a rubbing of the grave. Just a cool moment. Malcolm says it's his best day on tour so far.

"... desert wanderers discover in themselves a primeval calmness (known to the simplest savage) which is perhaps the same as the peace of God..."
Bruce Chatham, In Patagonia

... I think it must be suffering that is at the center of the rural African's sense of calm. Learning to suffer with peace... Sometimes, when things are really tough out here you can almost feel it, then of course you reach a rest day and satiate yourself... I don't know, I need to dwell on that some more.

Desert sky is so beautiful. Endless, cloudless, smooth. Just a smooth transition of color from milky gray at the horizon to a saturated pale blue at the apex. Sunsets, of course, are also great. But aren't they all.

Rode lunch sweep today...17km per hour. Christ. It's mystifying how a young man, in good health, can only manage 17km per hour. I stopped under a tree to let him get ahead. The only tree, actually, that I had see for 10kms. Nice shade, cool breeze, not bad. Pulled out a jam sandwich I made at lunch. Dropped a bit of jam on the sand, in 5 minutes there were a couple of ants, then 50, then 100. Then a caravan of who knows how many coming from the base of the tree to the spilled jam and back. A weird little albino ant showed up, took a bite of jam and freaked out, running away in spasms and dragging a ball of sand covered jam by its hid legs. 20 feet or so away something fast moving caught my eye. Almost like a water bug, it was racing over the ripples in the dune - up /down, up/down, up/down stop. Up/down, up/down, up/down stop. After 3 or 4 efforts it reachs the jam, a big scary looking ant with big f'in pinchers. Took a big gulp and it was off. I hoped more of those weren't coming. Nice place, that shady spot in the middle of the Nubian desert by the pavement. Quiet, cool. The sun behind the tree cast a cool shadow on the sand. Might be the most tranquil I have felt ever. Maybe. Not sure how long I was there watching the ants, 45 mintues maybe? Took me 20 minutes to catch back up to Mr. 17km/hr though. Going slow makes my butt hurt. But soon we reached the police check point 2 km from camp. he bought me a Coke at the tuck shop, which I didn't really want but accepted. More shade and a nice chat for a half hour or so and we rolled into camp in time to eat the last of the soup and hang out some more, in the shade of the trucks, in the desert.

No pictures will load. Always times out. Too bad, I've got some nice shots, must be more that 2500 pics on my camera now. I have no idea how I'll sort them if I can't do it along the way.

thanks to everyone for reading and your comments. It's nice to hear from you. In 4 days we'll be in Ethiopia where the road turns back to dirt, you can buy beer again and the kids throw rocks at you. Till then .

Bunch of Jerks

I really enjoyed Egypt. The markets were a bit of a hassel, really aggressive haggling, and the kids could be a bit much at times. But compared to the Sudanese people the Egyptians we met are a bunch of jerks. Of course you need to take that comment with a grain of salt, bu the Sudanese are very friendly, not threatening or agressive at all, and ery welcoming as well. 3 or 4 times a day am invited into someones home for tea and snacks. They are just as happy to chat with you as they are to leave you alone. I think the entire group has had the same experience. Upper Egypt (remember that's actually southern Egypt) south of Aswan is also called Nubia, and it's people Nubians. The Nothern State of Sudan (where I am now - in it's capital, Dongola) is also part of Nubia. So the very southern part of Egypt and the North of Sudan are populated by a similar cuture and people. Reminds me a lot of Zambia, Dongola is about the size of Chipata.

The reason the difference between Sudan and Egypt seems so great to me is that we stopped travelling over land in Aswan and took a ferry down Lake Nasser to the border at Wadi Halfa, Sudan. Currently there is no official road that crosses from Egypt to Sudan. There is a road being built and it may be done by next year. While the road should be great for the economy of Upper Egypt and Sudan I'm worried it will be the end of teh nice, rural villages that currently exist along the dirt roads we have been travelling the last few days.

The last few days of riding have been great fun. Very hard riding, but fun. Many of our riders coudn't make it the entire day and had to e picked up. The roads are really rocky, sandy, hilly, corregated and hot. Perfect conditions for a good soul crushing ride! And at the end of the day all you have for comfort is warm water to drink and hard ground to sleep on. It's been tough on many of the riders and todays rest day could't have come soon enough. I wish it was harder (of course) and am having the time of my life. Every day something really cool happens. There have been some lonely moments, and some moments of frustration, but they are few and I recover from them quickly.

Internet speed here is slowwwww. so I'm not sure how many pics I will upload... Check the picassa site and see. Khartoum is supposed to have better internet (internet in Dongola is new, actually) so hopefully more pics there.

Smatterings from my journal:

... Randy's (our tour leader) house in Canada burned to the ground yesterday. Crazy. You're not supposed to have alchohol in Sudan but the staff broke out a smuggled bottle of (really bad) south african brandy and commiserated with him. Everything he owns now fits in Locker 19...

Travelling with TdF is nice, but somehow lacks soul...

arrived at the dock in Aswan at 10:30 am to find out there were only enough cabins for 35 people (there are 61 of us)... boarded at 11:30 - riders with bags and bikes battling Egyptians and Sudanese with all kinds of merchandise and baggage from clothes to soap bars to TV's - Chaos, but everyone who should have a cabin gets one and I head to the top deck to claim my spot before it gets too crowded...4:30 and still docked... 7:00 pm and the bow ropes are finally released, only 20hrs to go to get to Sudan, inshallah... docked at Wadi Halfa at 1:30 pm... Thru customs at 5:30, camp at 6:30, trucks made it through customs (lucky) so no delays, we leave tomorrow.

... toughest ride yet today, after lunch was especially tough. Deep sand and headwinds! Scot and Tom got lost and missed lunch so I threw a couple of sandwiches in my bag and took off to find them. Found them at 88 clicks, only 20 more to go but they were sure relived to be found...

... riders are starting to hook up with each other already....

... looks like Randy and Erin are getting close, I really hope that doesn't mess up the staff dynamic...

the trip is beggining to feel a bit voyeristic, kind of like a theme park ride... I need to find a way to get people to notice more and get involved. Be patient. Listen. Notice the funeral, recognize the shops, sit in the market long enough to become part of the background...

... spent the day in the market today with Yancey, we had a great talk and I think I've found a confidant, sorely needed too.

... Not a single camp yet has been quiet. Always there are dogs, or donkeys, or trucks on the road all night, or a town with loud music and 3 mosques annoucing prayer 5 times a day. If I camped in my back yard I would have more peace!...

... The Sudan has been great but the falfel in Dongola sucks. Good Shwarmas though.

'Till Kharoum -

Temple Karnak

Just came from the sound and light show at the Temple Karnak. I went for the cheez factor, but it was actually quite amazing. The temple is nearly as big as the FSU Campus. My feet have a couple blisters, I never thought I'd be doing so much walking, so the the hike thru Karnak was a bit painful but worth it. Really drives home the history of Egypt and the incredible culture that has existed here for 3000 years. The Pillars of the temple are huge. Bigger than the pillars on the Lincoln Memorial and all had hewn thousands of years ago. All the walls, pillars, obelisks etc... are covered with heiroglyphs. Made me feel a bit stupid standing there looking at this incredible Architecture and realizing how little I know.

Got back to the hotel in time to see the end of the belly dance show and have a Stella before heading to the internet cafe. Luxor has been a blur of markets and restaurants and temples. I finally learned how to say "go away kid" in arabic (emshi habibi). Very usefull when in the touristy areas. Today is friday and a day of prayer so there was no bartering in the Egyptian market. Took me a coupel of purchases to figure out 1) why the prices seemed so reasonalble and 2) why the vendors got so upset when I tried to haggle. I guess they don't barter like that on a day of prayer. I was a bit lost in the market and running late to meet some friends, my feet hurt so I convinced a guy on a donkey cart to give me a lift back to camp. We certainly caught a lot of peoples attention! I wish I had a video camera of that ride thru the rough and narrow streets filled with fabric and produce and spices.

Off to Idfu tomorrow, only 117 KM, should be easy. Inshallah!

Up the Nile

The Nile river flows north, so going up the nile means you are travelling south and southern Egypt is called Upper Egypt. Today we are having a rest day in Luxor, a good sized city on the nile. It's very nice here, I like it much more that Cairo or Giza. Wandered in to the market here last night after dinner. Most of the streets here are lit and it seems very safe, even at night. I quickly moved out of teh the "vanilla" or tourist market and into the "Egyptian Market" where things are much cheaper, people are much nicer, and you don't get hassled by begging kids or vendors. You pay about 8 egyptian pounds for falefel in the tourist area, you pay 1 pound for it in teh Egyptian market (if you barter properly) This moring we checked out the spice section of the market, tons of great spices: fennel, cardamon, cumin, tamarind... you name it... smells wonderfull down there. Bartering here seems easier than in Zambia. more relaxed. But they do get insulted if your first price is way to low so you have to have some idea of thecost before hand. Tomorrow we head to Idfu, then Aswan (we get to ride across the Aswan Damn! - no one else can). Then it is 24 hrs on a ferry up the nile to Wadi Halfa in Sudan. Our trucks have to go on a separate Ferry so we'll wait for them there before pedallingtowards Khartoum.

Some Smatterings from my journal:

...bikes. A custom Thorn with a 14 sp Rohloff. Serval bikes have Rohloff hubs on them, including the full suspension recumbent. I'm pretty sure the recumbent guy will not be able to cycle the whole route, based uponwhat I've seen so far. The poprad is riding solid and the specialied tires are bomber. No flats yet, though many people on the tour have not been so fortunate.

... rode in overlander #2, the lunch truck. Passed the riders at km 12 and drove on to km 68 where we set up iin teh desert for lunch. Todays feast was african poloni on pita bread, peanut butter, jam and bananas. Much easier than the egg salad yesterday. Peeling 150 boiled eggs was a bit tedious. I'd much rather slice poloni...

... manned the refreshment stop at km 133 today, which also served as the finish line for todays stage. Weird being dropped in the middle of nowhere with a box of bananas, jerry can of water, a chair and a giant flag that says "finish". At least I can see the Red Sea from here...

...off day today to I rode the whole day. A bit hung over from the beers with Vimpie, these egyptian stellas are strong. Ride was great though, and finishing up at the TOubia hotel and camping on the red sea was brilliant.

" A fool throws a stone into the sea and 1000 wise men can not pull it out" Cypriot Proverb

"There is no charge for the Awesomness" Kung Fu Panda

...conrtasts. The last three days have been thru the desert, no people, no towns, no water. Now as we enter Qena and return to the Nile Valley population has exploded and there are green fields everywhere...

New pics are up on picassa. I'll try get more up before I go (I've taken 800 pics already -can you belive it?) Once we hit the Sudan I may not have internets access, or beer access :( , til we reach Addis Ababa in 30 days. Hopfully I will find something in Khartoum though.

quick post

Just hit the town of Safalga, Egypt. Right on the Red Sea it's a pretty little town. The tour rented 3 hotel rooms so we could all shower and charge camera's etc.... We're camped on the beach and having a braii tonight - veal steaks!

Since leaving Cairo we have basicall been riding along the red sea. Day one had some brutal headwinds but since then it has been stiff tailwinds the whole way. Yesterday my average speed was 31 mph, by myself, over 50 miles! Now that's a tailwind.

The work part of the tour isn't bad a ta all. Plenty of free time. I can ride almost every day. We singned up an addtional 15 racers in Cairo and everyone seems to be getting along. I've got some cool pics and some great quotes (the other day at breakfast I asked a couple of the riders how they were feeling, they said "great" and I said "well, it's probably the best your gonna feel all day, so enjoy it!")

I'll post some pics and write more when we have a whole day off in Luxor (in two days - inshallah) Inshallah means "if god wills" and is a very popular saying here. If you ask how long it something will take and they say "2 hrs, inshallah", you can expect it to take between 8 hrs and 4 days.

Fresh Dirt

There is now officially Egyptian dirt on my bike. Also there is Egyptian cow poop, motor oil, goat pee, and who knows what else. The ride to some of the lesser pyramids today was short (20K) and hectic. We had to ride in pretty heavy traffic through the outskirts of Giza to get there. My periphrial vision was filled with flashes of interesting buildings, people, and crop fields while my focus was on avoiding the sand, pot holes, cow dung and speeding honking vehicles. Kids jump into the street to give me hi fives (I'm over that already) Adults point, laugh and cheer. The smells are so potent and mixed, before you have time to process one smell you're assaulted by another. I wish I had taken a video but frankly I was too scared to taken my hands off the bars for long.

Cycling alone on that route would by challenging, but manageable. But with 48 cyclist in a long convoy and me being responsible for their safety.... it was a good eye opener. Everyone did well though and I think we all learned a lot about what to expect and a few do's and don'ts. We got to the pyramid site and were instantly greeted by two egytian fellows who told us it was 10 eqyptian pounds (LE) to walk up to the pyramids. That's like 2 bucks, but I thought we deserved a discount. In the process of our brief negotiation it became obvious that these guys had no Authority to let up in, or take our money. Then the cops showed up (I know! right?) They called over the two men and had a brief convo. Then I was called over and the officer said simply "These pyramids are forbidden" but he had a combined look of weary, disgust and anger on his face that said soooo much more. I thanked him politely and told him we would be leaving. They escorted us all the way back home.

Three days in and I like the staff more and more each day. One of the indaba staff pulled me aside this evening and said " I want to give you a compliment" in that o so unique south african twang. "It's rare that you find an american who is not so much full of bull shit" she said. Made me smile, and made me feel good. My impression is that for South Africans "no bull shit" is a way of life, it might even be on their license plates.

I've gotten to know my roomate Erik best. He's our communication officer. He updates teh blog, takes care of a lot of expensive equipment (3 sat phones, 1 BGAN satellite internet unit, a dozen cell phones, cameras, laptops etc...) He's from Toronto and just left his job as a logistics manager for a Childrens Hospital to do the tour. He has worked for the WWF in Nepal, before they became the WWE I think (lol). He's very likeable, has a ton of enthusiasm and energy. He geeks out on music, technology, medical kits, gear in general and seems to have a real thirst for knowledge. Our sleep schedules are very different. he stays up later and I get up earlier but neither of us is bothered if the other uses the computer, watches, tv or whatever, while the other sleeps. And he's been super generous with the use of his computer, a sweet macbook pro.

Well, I could write forever tonight, I think the larium pills are giving me a bit of insomnia, but I'll stop there. More about staff tomorrow. Saturday we ride from the Great Pyramids on to al point south so expect fewer posts after that. Take care.

First Impressions

Catatract Hotel: Giza, Egypt

From Tour d Afrique 2009

The hotel is much nicer than I expected. It's big, 500 rooms arranged as a bunch of 8 room town houses. Cable TV, internet ($20 per day), beautiful pool area and great breakfast buffet. The grand lobby even has a faux sky painted on it's 30 foot tall ceiling. Little wag tails fly in from the courtyard and perch on a ledge up near the ceiling and tweet/wag/tweet/wag. I've made friends with one of the hotel staff, Muhamed. He likes cars (esp mercedes) and likes correcting my bad arabic.

Prep for the tour is as expected. Not as hectic as RAAM (yet) but lots of bike building meet and greet, protcol review etc... The TdA veterans seem to have everything dialed in. Not too stressful.

I've met all the TdA staff, they seem like a good bunch. 12 in all: 4 from Indaba (the overlander company) 2 TdA Veterans, and 6 newbies.

Randy and Miles, the vets are great. They're confident and have obviously done this a few times before. Miles is a bit more quiet than Randy, who does most of the talking during meetings, bu they are both friendly and helpful. Randy has a large purple birthmark on the right side of his face. I first met him at 5 am the day I arrived. He introduced himself, I looked at him and I said "what happened to your face?" Smooth.

The indaba staff are led by a South African named Vimpie. Probably the most experience guy on the tour. He's very charismatic, likes to joke around but when he needs to tell you something important he is very direct and clear. The rest of the indaba staff are made up of two other S.Afr. women and a Kenyan named George. George speaks Arabic, Ethiopian, Swahili and English!

The rest of the newbies are cool people. TdA obviously knows what to look for when it comes to staff. I'm off to breakfast right now, I'll dish some dirt on my fellow newbies later today.

Who's a bad ass

From my journal: On BA155 frm LON to CAI 8:50pm CAI time

I'm officially excited. Had great luck on both my flights, empty seat next to me on first leg and exit row on second leg. Fewer Arab speaker on the flight than I expected. I'm anxious to try out the 12 words I know. Trying to identify the source of the nervous excitement I'm feeling. I think a large part of it is trepidation over the people I will be meeting.

At our third (and final) annual New Years party in DC my friend Kim asked me if I know anyone who was more a a bad ass than I was. It's a silly question and of course she asked it just to make me feel good but these guys that run the TdA, the veteran's, they are bad asses. I'm a little nervous to meet them.

But to answer Kim's question more directly, yes I do know someone. I met him in DC. He's the business partner of a friend of mine. He's Jordanian/Palestinian and has been arrested 7 times. He's been beaten by police. He came to the states and got his law degree and started his own NGO with this friend of mine. Because of his origins and our countries paranoia he's been put on the no fly list. If he chose to fly home to visit his very ill dad he woudl not be able to return to the US.

There are people like this everywhere. Good, smart, caring people whoare disenfranchised or discriminated against for political reasons. They're the bad asses, I'm just a tourist. And a lucky one at that.

Heathrow

Flight to London went smoothly. After 5 days in DC I'm definitely feeling ready to get on my bike. DC was a blast, but too much drinking, eating out, and laying around have left me feeling fat and lazy. I imagine in a few weeks I'll be wishing for some chili fries from Ben's Chili Bowl (Juanch0 - put that on your list) but right now I'm ready for a more austere lifestyle.

No surprise charges at the airport, bike and backpack went on without a hitch, Britsh Airways were true to their word. My bike almost didn't make the train to DC due to a misunderstanding between me (a first time train taker in the US) and the Amtrack employee who just happened to be on his first day at work. That made me a little paranoid but for no good reason of course. I expect to see the poprad on the tarmac in Cairo in about 8 hrs.

Checked my news reader just now, seems like there is more talk of the ICC issuing an arrest warrant for President Bashir (sudan). I really hope we don't have to skip the Sudan. My arabic leassons have been going well (In Sha Allah) and would like to get to spaek it as much as I can. I'll do lesson 5 before getting on the flight to cairo. Neat language. Not as hard as I expected, but still hard.

No nervousness yet, just ready to get started and get all the preliminary BS out of the way so we can get on the road. No pictures yet (although I did get a good shot of a bike cop riding his bike in the Heathrow Airpot - I'll post that later)

Paul

Poplar Tent

Charlotte area trails are dialed in. Beginner, intermediate and expert options intertwined so that that the ride options are endless. I rode 4 trails while up there for christmas and every one was a blast. The best though was the Poplar Tent Trail (also called Beach Spring). See the animoto slideshow I put together for some pics. The whole trail system was built by hand, by locals, over years and years. It's very similar in feel to Tom Brown in a way. Except Tom Brown is to Poplar Tent what Bruce Banner is to the Hulk. This is the best trail I have ridden since the Monarch Crest and Fruita. No joke.

The Tarheel Trailblazers are the local MTB club and maintain all the trials (around 20) in the area. They do a great job as far as I can tell. I hope FOTL can reach the the level of these guys. I really like the new website Mike set up. It's nice to have an old school guy involved with it and he obviously put a lot of work and thought into it. A little bird told me there was some drama at the meeting about websites and who would design and host it etc... My vote is for Mike. He's been around and will always be around and really cares. The problem I've seen with most club websites is you get a lot of enthusiasm at the beginning, but it soon fades and the site suffers. That wouldn't happen with Mike. And the site is already up.

I'm in DC for 4 days then it's off to Cairo!