heading off for now

i'm getting kicked out of this chair by my fellow cyclists ... i have been sitting here for a good three hours ... i'll check in later again ... after dinner

ciao

Some more thoughts

• The picture above is what we have been looking at for the last four days ...
• Many more English signs around the towns, resorts, settlements in this area ... even a ERA Steer FOR SALE sign
• The towns Hugada and Safaga are noticeably cleaner, more upmarket, better sign posted, etc ... but then these are tourist areas - especially for the Germans!!
• My Polar Watch stopped reading my speed/distance ... it seems to be the battery in the sensor ... and the agents said they checked it in December ... THANKS for nothing. I did get another speedometer from someone else ... truly thanks to Nels.

keep the comments coming

hi there ... i really like the short comments and greetings here on my blog and to my email address ... keep them coming ... even if they seem arb and simple ...

Daily Kilometers: 110/170/140/130/140/95/rest

aagghh ... 170km on day two!!!

Day one was tiring - the convoys are slow and tedious! The adrenalin and excitement all made us very tired.

Day two was not too bad ... actually very good .. but long

Day three was awesome ... eat your shorts all you cyclists!!!! 140km at an average of over 42km/h. We completed it in under 3h30 with a lunch break, on an MTB!! ... But I must admit that we had no real hills and a gale force wind of note pushing us along!!!

Today was not 130 ... closer to 110km. Bombed along with the wind again ... ran out of gears several times and clocked 78km/h at one stage - was even doing 54km/h uphill!!

Unfortunately this euphoria will end soon ... probably tomorrow as we head for the mountains, direction Luxor ... and the wind in our faces ... I recon my good mood will be destroyed half way through tomorrow morning.

Day after tomorrow will be a quick 95km into Luxor and a rest day to follow ... so the first very important WASHING DAY will soon be upon us!

Daily Routines

Currently we get woken at 06h30 by the bus horn and Duncan walking around blowing a whistle.

Two nights ago some police car decided to blow his siren at 03h56 in the morning. I heard Darrel rummaging around but thought nothing much about it. It turns out he got up at that hour and started dismantling his tent thinking it had been the wake-up call. When it dawned on him that it was still quite dark and no one else was around he went in search of his cellphone to check the time ... ;-)

Some people get up a little earlier - pack and leave on the trek for the day - one can leave at anytime after sunrise. Basically we need to eat breakfast (provided), get dressed and pack up camp to leave at eight. 08h00 is the time the racers all leave ... the fast and the slow racers. We have to register as a racer before each section and it basically means that our time will be recorded - not necessarily that we will be going for a win ... we will let Chris and Adri fight that out over the next four months.

Once on the road we will encounter the lunch truck somewhere roughly half way along the day's route where we get some energy bars and sandwiches and drinks. Then we head on to the end of the day's cycling. I generally head off with all the fast guys - and Janet. This bunch tends to break up along the way with some screaming off ahead and others dropping off behind me.

Once at camp we get our kit off the bus, put up our tents and get changed. I tend to have a quick wash in the tent. Then we lounge around, fiddle with bikes, read, snooze, re-pack, organise, go swim (the last two days), etc. Just after sunset (about five thirty I think ... don't wear a watch after the ride) we have a rider meeting re problems and the next day's route. Then a very big dinner and off to chill before bed ... about nine - give and take.

Toilets have been over this or that sand dune with a shovel and a roll of toilet paper ... and yes we were supposed to bring our own toilet paper ... aahh how much I miss the two ply with the little puppies printed on it.

General

As you might seem to notice - I AM in good spirits. I'm currently thoroughly enjoying the trip. My muscles are a little sore, my butt as well - but neither too bad. The weather has been WINDY!!! beyond belief - last night some people had to dismantle their tents and lie inside them due to the wind nearly destroying them standing up. It has been fairly cool with this wind - but quite pleasant today and yesterday - quite chilly as soon as the sun sets though.

The terrain is very consistently barren - sand!!!

No trees. Lots of police and military outposts and checkpoints on the way. Roads generally VERY good - two and three lanes both ways. It has been very flat to downhill nearly all the way ... hence the good spirits. We still pass many incomplete developments along the way. Today we passed thru Hurgada and into Safaga ... noticeably more upmarket holiday resort areas - palms, gardens, painted and structurally complete buildings all round. People are friendlier and generally everything more pleasant.

The bunch

The top picture includes all the South Africans ...

• Shaun - Formerly East London, now here and there and I can't remember what field he is in
• Darrel - Cape Town, marketing field. Totally chilled, relaxed and never cycled more than 50km before this tour
• Alice - Jo'burg, physio - just finished community service and decided on Christmas Day to do this trip!!
• Dave - currently living in Zurich - I think formerly from Stellenbosch, IT industry
• Howard ... used to be in South Africa - now lives half his life on his yacht and the rest doing crazy things like this tour

The Germans are in the picture below ... Marcus, Patrick and Gerhard

Lots of other interesting people. The Tour leader is Jack - he did the tour two years ago and decided in the first week that he'd come back to help another time. Duncan - a Kiwi - did it last year and is assisting Jack. Shanny is from Canada - working for the organising company and is helping out for the first six weeks. We have a bike mechanic - Dean from Canada - not too busy yet ... but I'm sure he will not get bored!! The nurse - Elaine - works with the nurse who came thru last year and had heard so much good about the tour. Rachel - our sheep loving Aussie who is able to crash a bicycle on an open, flat, uninterrupted stretch of road by going over her handle bars ... thank god she is the communications person and not responsible for other more intricate stuff ... They are all totally chilled, relaxed and real good fun!!!

There are many others amongst the 32 riders. I'll touch on some here and there ... as I get to know them better.

Patrick having fun in Cairo

The other guy on the pictures is Sean - from Canada and Sarah is from USA.

Around Cairo

Some pictures from Cairo ... trying to put several in this one entry ... not sure how it will work.

Three pictures of the pyramid/s at Giza ... far away, closer and stone work - real close.

The market (Khan el Khalili) is real good fun to shop for artifacts, souvenirs and lots of junk. Real good fun to haggle!

The hieroglyphics are from one of the Tombs next to the Giza Pyramids.

The Sphinx is much smaller than I expected.

These locals are not that bad ...

These locals really are not that, nor that local. I had a very nice day with Billy and Christy (my friends riding by horse thru Africa). They were currently several kilometers south of where we were staying in Cairo. Met them in town (Cairo) and had lunch, mailed at the internet cafe and then went with them to find horse feed thru the back streets of Cairo ... starting at the stables where the horses get kept for the pyramid rides.

They are doing very well and are in very good spirits ... good luck, enjoy and it was good to see you guys again!!!