Hello from Lusaka

Hi there all.

well we made it too Lusaka ... that was one tough section!!! Hills, hills and more hills ... endless rolling hills. Not as steep as Ethiopia, but tough, endless stuff. The distances have also been much longer ... and very noticeable in the legs. Somewhat monotonous at times ... continuous tarred hill roads with tall grasses on the sides. Much fewer people, minimal Coke stops, few (but fast, self-centred, dangerous) cars and buses and vegetation all round.

It is the first time on the tour that I actually questioned myself why I was doing this ... during a brief tired, strained, aching moment ... which flashed by as soon as it appeared!!

It is actually quite interesting how tired and run down some people are ... actually to see how different people are suffering at different times. Some - including myself - took strain a while ago and now are racing along and enjoying every second; whereas others are only now going thru a definite slump.

Talking about slumps and taking strain ... we lost another cyclist in Lilongwe. Tom V. decided to pack up and leave. Sorry to loose you, but I fully understand your decision. There goes one of the stalwarts of the Grump Old Men ;-)

We have now unfortunately lost four cyclists in total ... Tom B., Leigh-Anne, Eric and Tom V. Nice to have met all of you and wishing all of you lots of fun and adventures for the future. There are several more who are taking a lot of strain ... and a few close to cracking totally ...

Well that is more or less all for now. I've got to rush off to the hairdresser ... to get rid of the stupid three stripes on my kop - I've got a dinner appointment and can't go like this. Then off to the hotel to replace the cassette on my bike and relax a little. Tomorrow is our off day - but I'm off with Marcus to see some charity projects and another angle to Zambia and their people.

I've got loads of lekker pictures on my camera ... no promises ... but I'll try to get them onto a USB drive and come back to this Internet Cafe tomorrow evening ... lets see how tired I am.

Some extra info:

• We've crossed the 7880km mark ... so less than 4000km left.
• My fossils are joining me at Victoria Falls in four days ... yeeha!
• We've got more long distances coming up ... Thursday, Friday, Saturday all around 170km!!
• Siggie ... you are still crazy! ;-)
• Termites DO eat tents!
• The sun is hot out here
• If you wish to loose weight ... do the Tour d'Afrique

Ciao