Friday, January 30, 2009

Across the Sahara

We pedalled across the Sahara and into Khartoum and the first section of the ride is complete. It was a beautiful ride on newly paved roads. Sickness spreads through the camp like wild fire with many people violently expelling fluids from both ends of their bodies, and lots of truck riding going on. I'm fortunate to not be affected as yet, and will keep my fingers crossed that it continues to be that way.

The Sahara is in many ways like a beach, and we ride and ride dreaming of finding water and waves to jump into... but they simply don't come. Occasionally we camp near the Nile so we can have a swim there. There is some risk of getting Bilharzia swimming in freshwater throughout Africa but seeing its a disease that is easily treated I think it's worth the risk.

In Khartoum I had my first proper shower in 9 days, and I'm now feeling much much fresher. Today I actually sat on a toilet twice in one day - it's been two weeks since I last did that!!!

I have now pedalled the entire distance between Cairo and Khartoum and my body is handling it pretty well... despite a bit of finger numbness, mild chafing down under, all else is well!!!

Sunday, January 25, 2009

Desert Dust

The town of Dongola now has internet access so I am able to update this blog sooner than I thought. The connection is still slow so still no photos (and my camera is back at the zoo where we're camped charging).

Sudan is I think the nicest place I have ever been. The people are so friendly and giving. The majority of the road between Wadi Halfa and Dongola where I am now has been mostly unpaved which most of the mountain bikers prefer! The roadies ride on but have a tougher time without suspension. Many of the riders are struggle more in the heat so I'm feeling lucky I've come here from the heat and aren't having such a rough time adapting. My long dose of Doxycycline had commenced which means that those taking the doxy are more prone to sunburn. I apply my sunscreen religiously and haven't been burnt yet but I reckon I'm going to come home with a very sexy cycling tan!!! I have the beginnings of a sunnies tan now too, as well as a glove tan, finger tan, knicks tan, t-shirt tan... there'll probably be a helmet strap tan too before long!!! Sudan is mostly desert so it has a low population level, clean air, strong sun. The sand is very fine - like dust and it gets everywhere. My clothes that were once white are now nowhere close to their original colour - I did a heap of washing today too and it just wouldn't come out. It coats my tent, and my body. Worst its through my camera which makes its functionality very temperamental (I'm hoping it will behave better after its finished charging because now the zoom doesn't work, the lens takes a lot of fiddling with before it will close.) At the end of a days cycle it coats my arms, legs and clothing (which is a good thing because it provides protection against the sun). Depending on where we're camped depends on how well we can wash. Sometimes we can go for a swim in the Nile, sometimes we're allowed to fill a 750ml drinkbottle to use as our shower. You'd be surprised at how refreshing it is though.

I stopped between villages the other day when I was greeted by a boy and he asked me to sit in the shade for a while which I did because it was the middle of the day, and I could feel the sun burning my skin. His dad made me a cup of tea and fed me some dates (I think the water for the tea may have come straight from the Nile but it didn't make me sick)... very nice of him... then he decided he wanted to kiss me at which point I decided it was time to leave. I get so used to hanging out in my lycra I forget that I probably look like a prostitute to some of these people... I carry a sarong in my backpack and have since made a point of putting it on when I stop!

I quit the race because this place is so amazing and I like taking the time to stop in some of the villages, chat to some of the kids, and leave when I want to leave instead of when the racers leave. The plan was never to race this thing anyway.

Sadly the road from Dongola to Khartoum, and Khartoum to the Ethiopian border has all now been paved so I have put the slicks back on my bike, and am now looking forward to getting to Ethiopia where the pavement ends - even if the kids do throw rocks and try to put sticks in between your spokes!!!

Sunday, January 18, 2009

1000km gone

Well sorry about the lack of pictures on here... web connection is really slow and everyone is frustrated at not being able to do it.

We made it to Idfu yesterday, and today kept pedalling on to Aswan which means we have now kicked over the first 1000kms of the tour. It's amazing how fast it's gone (and also how fast my MTB can go too!!! - managed to cover 113kms today at an average of 29.5km/h).

My racing endeavours continue because I don't believe in quitting so I'm going to finish the section to Khartoum at any rate. Todays race was the first 60km and I managed to stay with the pack until just before the end... the MTB still feels strange to sprint on!!! And when some of the people in the pack are boys with cyclocrosses me on my lovely red Rockhopper just seems to fall off the back. Finished only 1 min behind the pack today anyway, better than the 12mins yesterday!!!! Very strange race situations. Sometimes there'll be a railway the entire pack has to stop at to wait 10mins for a train to go by before we can continue... and there's lots of donkeys on the road, traffic moving everywhere, and potholes potholes potholes.

Aswan is much nicer than Idfu. I went exploring around town with Sonja in Idfu and the kids were crazy, pulling on our bikes trying to make us come off... improves our balance at any rate!!! We camped in the local soccer stadium grounds.

So now we're in Aswan and Aswan is the last place for internet (and beer too!) until we reach Ethiopia so I won't be able to update this blog again until a while!!!

Mum & Dad - thanks for your email update - always good to know what's happening back home. Dad your new car sounds like a great idea what colour is it?- I don't think you'll regret the choice!!! Tassie is beautiful - think I'm headed back there on my next adventure perhaps!

Friday, January 16, 2009

LUXOR - rest day

Well... I am enjoying an easy day here in Luxor. After I wrote my last message I made my way back across the Nile on the ferry where I met a man called Mahmoud. Mahmoud was a horse and cart driver and offered me a ride in his "ferrari" for 5 egyptian pounds to see the market and the bazaar and then take me back to my "hotel" (which is actually my tent which is set up in the grounds of Rezeiki camp). I initially refused until he offered me the same trip for only 2 pounds, I decided my legs were quite tired and it might be worth a tour of Luxor. So I got on and had a full city tour of Luxor... and then he stopped and bought some meat... and then offered to take me back to his house and make me dinner. I had already told him I am already married as well... I seriously need to buy a ring or something I think and actually wear that head scarf I bought!!! Anyhow, I didn't get offered any more camels from him because I did tell him I was already married, however he asked how many camels for my sister and offered a million - so there you are Janey - you're worth more than me! If things don't work out with Jim one day you can come to Luxor to meet Mahmoud. I refused his offer of dinner at his house aswell. So he invited me to a party instead. Which I also refused.

I'm very excited because I'm getting bar ends for my bike in Khartoum. Lone has lent me hers in the meantime, which was very kind of her. Hopefully the fingers will get a little less numb soon!!! Thanks heaps Plenty for sending them to Quentin!!!!

Today has been a bit less exciting... I cleaned my bike, then went for lunch and ate an entire half chicken. Very tasty. Then walked back through the markets. Bought some fresh dates which I have been eating and have just thought that i probably should have washed them first. Hope the stomach will continue to be tough!!! They also sell viagra at the date shop if anyone reading this ever comes here and needs any. I didn't buy any but the man said he could sell it to me for a good price! Next I'm headed back to camp to clean up my tent - which is just as thrilling as cleaning my room only I actually can't porocrastinate doing it as I have to pack it away tomorrow morning as we're peddling to Idfu and then Aswan the following day where we hop on a boat and cruise down to Wadi Halfa to enter Sudan! I'm very excited about Sudan but think that there won't be much internet access.

Beth and Irene - thought I should let you guys know Bike Mechanic Dude is already taken :( didn't get in quick enough. He was already hooked up with the medic before they came here!

My phone has caught up to me too 100 egyptian pounds later.... but it has a flat battery and there's no power sockets inside my tent!!!

Thursday, January 15, 2009

from SAFAGA we went west to LUXOR!

It has taken us two days to ride from Safaga to Luxor and we were blessed with tail winds making the "toughest day in Egypt" easier than the first two days! The 40km hill climb was easy enough and the promised headwind on the downhill to follow which usually makes the section harder than the climb never came.

Today we returned to cycle along the fertile farmland along the banks of the Nile, providing us with a big change of scenery to the nothingness of the desert that we have passed through.

Suddenly all of the kids in the villages we pass through line the streets. Some are kind, yelling out their greetings of "hello, how are you, what is your name?" while others are more aggressive and wait for the next cyclist with rocks in their hands ready to throw as you ride past... Haven't come off yet.

There are many more cars, narrower streets, and plenty of donkeys and donkey poo to avoid running into!

But now I'm in Luxor, having just completed a failed mission to find some bar ends to attach to the ends of my handlebars to stop my fingers going numb. It was an interesting mission anyhow, I had to go across the cross river local ferry by myself. Met some nice Arabic girls however who were friendly and spoke only a tiny bit more english than I do arabic. We had some kind of very giggly conversation because neither of us could understand eachother. At least sitting near them meant that I didn't get another marriage proposals- which happen so frequently I am tired of rejecting them even if they do involve camels... if anyone's ever desperate for men come to Egypt - they're everywhere and will propose if you're only talking to them for a few minutes!!! Anyhow, I'm hoping I can get some bar ends brought over from a sectional rider when we reach Khartoum. Fingers crossed while I still can cross them!!!

Looking forward to a well deserved rest day in Luxor tomorrow anyway!!!

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

The first few days...

Firstly apologies for not updating this blog earlier. Internet access in Cairo was dodgy and my patience wore short! Managed to get my visa for Sudan with no worries - took most of the entire day hanging around the sudanese embassy though. Had a few days up my sleave so I went out of Cairo to a beautiful place called the white desert. Have some nice pics but as I said before internet access is dodgy so I'm not uploading anything today sorry!!!

Been riding 4 days now and the first two were pretty nasty - I decided to at the last minute register as a racer rather than as an expedition rider as I had originally planned and am now regretting the decision as I spend most of my mornings staring at a wheel in front of me trying to keep up with the racing pack - I managed to stick with them for the first 50km on the first day but after that let myself get dropped. So I'm coming 4th out of the 5 girls that are racing but am seriously considering giving up the race so i can just ride and look up, enjoy the vast desert around me. We've had some good riding so far, the first day was the nastiest - 123km battling headwinds out of Cairo meant we formed pelotons pretty fast working as a team pulling turns out the front. The second day we did 168km from our desert camp to the next desert camp - a long way but beautiful tail winds meant it wasn't as hard as the first day. I let myself get a biut dehydrated that day and was feeling very tired after 100kms. Today and yesterday we have been feeling spoilt because we did 133km, then today only 100km with more beautiful tailwinds so easy riding. We have police escorts when we ride and they tend to enjoy following packs of girls - don't think many egyptian women go around wearing lycra! Today I rode most of my day alone but still picked up a police car who followed me maybe 40km of my day!

I'm in a town at the moment called Safaga, and it's the first time in 4 days since I've had a shower so I'm feeling nice and fresh again.

They feed us really well - the chef on tour can cook well. Breakfast is porridge or breads and spreads or both plus fruit. Lunch is some kind of meat/eggs/tuna (source of protein) plus bread. When we reach camp we get some nice salty high protein soup to help keep the fluids up. Dinner is carb rich and protein rich - rice/pasta/couscous and some kind of meat and veggies with lots of spices to make it nice and tasty. In addition to this we can fill up water bottles with energy drink and we get a box of 20 energy bars to last us 10 days.

I'm having a great time anyway - enjoying the sealed flat roads of Egypt. I'm not surprising a little sore but nothing too terrible - quads are aching slightly but that's not as bad as the pain at the base of my neck. Only mildly saddle sore at this stage and hoping it stays this way - there's so much sand around and it gets everywhere - the last place you need sand is inside your cycling knicks!!!

Anyhow - only 2 more days until its time for a rest day and one of those days is meant to be the hardest Egypt day so I'm looking forward to getting that one out of the way!!!

Hope this message finds all of you well - I lost my phone in the hotel in Cairo sorry Mum & Dad - they have found it and I might be getting it back fingers crossed - there is advantages in having a phone with a massive crack down the screen!!!