Preparing for a long distance tour is a unique process.  Over the years we at Tour d’Afrique have developed a few tips and strategies that help our clients prepare for and deal with some of the things they will experience on long tour.  Here are 3 tips that cover three different categories of tour prep:  your body, your mind, and your bike. 
 
Rule 1:
 
  Take Care of Your Butt!

Saddle sores.  The bane of every cyclists existence (our tour nurses aren’t too crazy about them either).   No matter how strong your legs are feeling or how great your lung capacity is, if your butt screams with pain every time you sit down on you saddle you are not going to have a fun day.  Saddle sores are essential caused by 4 factors: pressure, moisture, friction and temperature.   Eliminate or reduce these 4 factors and you greatly reduce your chance of getting saddle sores.  The best way to do this?  There are several things you can do:

-         Buy great bike shorts.  Not your favorite ones that you’ve had for 3 years, not the ones that make your butt look smaller, not just good ones, great ones.  Buy the best shorts you can.  You’re gonna live in these things for 4 to 8 hours a day for up to 4 months.  Make sure they fit and are high quality.  The Desoto 400 mile short is one of my favorites and comes in mens and womens models.

-         Fix your saddle position.  Most people do not spend enough time getting their bike to fit them properly.  Having the right saddle position is critical to a comfortable ride.  Millimeters make a huge difference when adjusting your saddle.  Seek help from a pro.  Also make sure your saddle is the correct width.  Most people ride with a saddle that is too narrow.

-         Ride a lot.  You’re going to spend 4 – 8 hours a day on your bike while on tour.  Don’t think you can prepare for that by riding 2 hours a day at home.  Go for some really long rides on the weekends.  Use the bike and saddle you will be bringing on tour.

-         Keep clean.  This is harder than it sounds when you are on a long tour and you are camping every night. Start by wearing clean shorts every day.  And take your shorts off as soon as you get to camp.  Chamois crème is a great tool for helping to prevent and treat saddle sores.

Rule 2:
 
 Attitude is everything

A few bad days can ruin a tour if not dealt with properly.  You get frustrated and it starts to affect your behavior.  You start to complain about things and try to blame other people or events for your frustration.  Other people react to this behavior in ways that strengthen your opinion.  It’s a slippery slope that ends in a bad tour experience for you and those around you.   There are 3 things that you can do to avoid letting your bad days get the better of you.

-         Set goal and Expectations.  Make sure they are realistic and be ready to change them if being on tour is not what you expected.

-         Talk with the staff.  They are there to help and have probably seen people go thru what you are experiencing n tour before.  Remember, I said talk with the staff.  Yelling at someone doesn’t constitute a discussion.

-         Know your limits and take a break if you need to.  Typically only 15% of our clients will ride an entire tour without missing a day.  It’s OK to take a day off if it will help you enjoy the rest of the tour.  But watch out.  Taking too many days off can ruin your motivation.

Rule 3:

 Get to know your bike

Being a complete idiot when it comes to bike repair is cute at first.  By month two the novelty has worn off and no one wants to help you.  By month three there is probably going to be some real resentment at your lack of knowledge/interest in learning.    When your bike start to suffer, you start to suffer.  All this is avoidable. The more you know about your bike the easier it will be for you to tell the tour mechanic what is wrong and get on his good side because you’ve done a bit of your own research and can even help.


There are some great books and websites out there that can be great resources.  Think of it like this:  you’ll likely spend more time with your bike on a four month tour then most husbands will spend with their wives in the same period of time!  Get to know your bike.

That’s it for now.

I hope you found these tips useful, or at least entertaining.  In case you were wondering, the links I provided above are just for your information and ATMO (according to my opinion).  I don’t make any money from any of those websites or products.  Except for the Tour d’Afrique of course.  I work for them.


    - Paul McManus
 

Newsweek calls us the "leading long-distance cycling operator"



Globe and Mail asks "What kind of person tries to ride almost 12,000 kilometres in four months? Cycling fanatics...who want to see a different world and push themselves to new extremes."



More Magazine says Tour d;'Afrique is "no stranger to0 the exotic" and we arrange tours "to some of the world's hardest-to-access dstinations."



National Geographic Traveler selected the Silk Route as one of its 50 Tours of a Lifetime.

If you are in or around Amsterdam this weekend you should think about taking in the Dutch premiere of "Where Are You Go", a documentary film about the legendary Tour d'Afrique Bike Race/Expedition.

Canada 2009 | 60min | Dir. Benny Zenga & Brian Vernor

Where Are You Go chronicles four months of cycling, from Cairo to Cape Town, en route with the Tour d’Afrique, the world’s longest bicycle race and expedition. Traveling more than 70 miles per day, 50 racers and expedition riders experience the boundless Nubian dessert of Sudan, the great majesty of Victoria Falls, and finally the cold rush of the Atlantic Ocean. The 7,000 mile expedition is a constant adventure full of playfulness and mysterious beauty, and is a testament to the endurance of human curiosity.

For information, please click here.

To watch the trailer please click here.


Enjoy the show!!

We are excited to announce the latest DreamTour to become a reality - An Indian Adventure!

This 7 week, 3100km journey from the Taj Mahal to the southern tip of the Indian sub-continent begins in late January 2011. For more details click here.

To reserve your spot, please register now.\

photo by mugley

If you're in or near Melbourne, Australia this weekend, catch the Tour d'Afrique film 'Where Are You Go' screening at the Bicycle Film Festival this Saturday evening. The screening will be followed by a Q&A session with Tony Wheeler, Quentin Frane, David Nelson, Fiona Siseman and Martin Heng - all from Lonely Planet - who participated in a relay team in the 2009 Tour d'Afrique. More info and ticket details can be found here.

For the first time, the Tour d'Afrique has been documented by a team of film makers and is making its way around the world with the Bicycle Film Festival.

We are working to keep the web site in fine working order. It was down for some upgrades for a few hours today but is now up and running. Apologies for any inconveniences.

In March, 2009, Tour D’Afrique/Planet Wheeler Foundation, through Africycle, donated 10 bicycles to Emmanuel International Malawi for a new program that was just starting up.  This program, called SAVEUP, is a village savings and loans program that is expanding in many areas of Malawi.

The concept is simple:  village people organize themselves in groups who are willing to pool a small amount of money on a regular basis.  As the fund grows, the group members start taking loans.  With these loans, they develop small businesses.  The groups follow a precise methodology of saving while at the same time developing their own rules and regulations that govern group choices….for instance, how much money equals 1 share, how large a loan can people take, and what interest will the loan attract.  

The SAVEUP program, a 2 ½ year program supported by CARE International, is hoping to help 17,200 people join a Village Savings and Loans Association, enabling those living in rural areas to generate a brighter economic future that previously has not been possible.  

It takes at least a year to get a group from start up to maturity.  As groups have been established, the Emmanuel International Malawi field team have worked with traditional leaders in their areas to identify individuals who can keep this program growing, individuals who are trained as Village Agents.  These agents will undergo more in depth training which will prepare them for starting up new groups, thus repeating over and over the village savings and loans opportunities in more communities…..the ripple effect!

And this is where the generous gift of 10 donated bicycles from Africycle through Tour D’Afrique/Planet Wheeler Foundation comes in.  Village Agents who have just completed their SAVEUP training have been gifted with these donated bicycles.  The bicycles will help them reach the communities around them, providing them with a means of  establishing an increased number of groups.  The chief of each Village Agent was on hand to witness the handover of these bikes, a precious commodity to these communities.



Anne Taulo is one of the VSLA participants from Zomba district, TA Chikowi in Chiwamba village.  Anne is the head of her household; she is 27 years old and lives with her 7 year old son, Brian.  Anne has about 3.5 hectares of land to farm.  She has depended on what she can produce from her farm, selling the surplus to make a living for her and her son.  But Anne did not have a culture of savings.  She couldn’t think beyond her door step and she kept doing what her mother and granny used to do:  keep the money under the pillow, in the house and even by digging holes in the ground.  

Anne said, “I couldn’t think there can be meaningful and profitable ventures to undertake.”  Even if she had, she added, “I didn’t have anywhere to get a loan.”

The SAVEUP project targets the poor and less advantaged people, assisting them to improve their economic muscle.  In June, 2009, Anne found herself in the VSLA group.  So far Anne has managed to save MK 4800. 00 (US$34.00) and she has taken a loan out worth Mk 3000.00 (US$21.00).  She ventured into a cooking oil business and made a profit of Mk 2000.00 (US$14.00).  She hired temporary help to assist her on her farm for Mk 1500.00 (US$ 10.00) and with the remaining money, she purchased small household needs like soap and salt.  

When Anne was asked to talk about her vision of the future, she said that when the money is shared out in December 2009, she intends to buy a sewing machine (US$78.00).  Anne is thankful for village savings and loans and believes it will bring change and a chance to build her capacity.  

Anne was selected in her group to be trained as a Village Agent in her area.  She wishes to thank Africycle and Tour D’Afrique/Planet Wheeler Foundation for the gift of the bike which she feels will help her in her responsibilities of forming, mentoring and supervising more groups.  Her final statement is, “No more misuse of money as we have the Village Banks which are in our communities.”

Mr. Ronney Dauda is the head of a family with 5 members.  He provides for his family through subsistence farming.  In July 2009, Ronney joined the Tiyanjane Villlage Savings and Loans group.  Rooney saved Mk 5000.00 (US$35.00) and took a loan from his group for Mk 2000.00 (US$14.00).  He used the money to buy paraffin for lamps which he sold to his neighbors.  The profit on this start up business was Mk 1500.00 (US$10.50) which he used to buy chemicals for his fields and clothes for his children.  When asked about the program, Mr. Dauda said, “I didn’t know how to save.  I was just using the money anyhow.  I felt I had little money so I can’t save.”  Ronney feels the village savings and loans works well for people who have problems and will help to improve household livelihood security.  Ronney stated with a smile, “Thank you, Africycle [and Tour D’Afrique/Planet Wheeler Foundation], for giving me a precious gift of a bicycle.  I will be forming new groups in my area!”

With our launch of DreamTours, we are now asking you (not telling you) What is your dream bicycle tour? ...and people around the world are responding. With each new comment and question, the DreamTours concept takes shape!

The Latest Improvements
DreamTours BETA. This is a catch-all phase that basically means it’s a work in progress and so you can anticipate some things to not always work... yet.  

Through this beta-testing process we have allowed the concept to evolve naturally as each new user gives us further insight into what works, what’s popular, and what are the best ways to organize the DreamTours website.

Here are a few of the latest changes to the site:
•    Count Me In!: Now there is a way to show your intent to join a DreamTour with no up-front commitment. Click Count Me In! on the tour you want to join, and you'll be added to the list awaiting the tour's launch.
•    Thumbnails of participants: You can now see everyone else who has also "Counted In"
•    Progress bar: The bar shows how many more people are needed to reach the DreamTour's MINIMUM required. Once it's reached, the tour is ON, and registration opens. 
•    Free tour: On the DreamTour creator's “my Dream Tours” page they can view the extended progress bar. This shows the OPTIMUM number - the number of participants needed for the creator to get a FREE tour.
•    Better Commenting options
•    Minimum Numbers Reduced: We recently re-evaluated all the current DreamTours and lowered the MINIMUM number on several of them. So take a look, you might be even closer to making your DreamTour a reality.


We are busy with lots of other changes too:
•    Marketing Guide: Check our website over the coming weeks as we have been busy researching new ways to help you market your DreamTours. The internet and the real world have many tools to help people find other people with similar interest and interested in cycling adventures just like you.
•    Follow this Tour: Soon you won't have to keep coming back to our website to check the progress of your favourite DreamTour. Just click "Follow this tour" and anytime anything is changed or someone is Counted In to that tour - you will be alerted by email.
•    Clearer instructions and helpful tips: As we continue to learn how Dreamtours is evolving, we are conituning to improve the way it works. Check back regularly to see lots of changes, and helpful tips and instructions.

Ready to participate?
Create an account
Browse the many DreamTours currently on display
Get more information

Dream. Share. Ride
Here’s how it works...

DREAM up the bike tour you’ve always wanted…
•    Register your free account
•    Fill in the details of your dream tour
•    We review and approve it
•    Add photos
•    Plot your route

SHARE - Spread the word - find people to join you
•    Create your DreamTour homepage
•    Share your plan with others
•    Make a blog and use social networking
•    Collect comments from friends and strangers
•    Build a team of riders

RIDE - Will you ride for free?
•    Watch your progress via the progress bar
•    Increase your registered participants
•    Reach your group’s optimum size
•    Ride for free!
•    Live your DreamTour - as we lead the way


The Early Successes
Here is what’s being said about DreamTours...
Ndorfin Online
Adventure World Magazine
National Geographic Traveler

As more people learn of the concept, the closer some DreamTours are to becoming a reality.

Amber Route
A spectacular six weeks bicycle tour through eight countries will follow the ancient Amber Trade Route used by the Romans. The Tour will begin in St. Petersburg, one of the world most beautiful cities, winds its way through the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia, Estonia, then onwards through Poland and Slovakia, continuing on to Hungary cutting through Slovenia and end in the one and only - Venice, Italy.

An Indian Adventure
This tour isn't about getting from A to B as quickly as possible, it's about the journey, enjoying the sights and smells and seeing as much of the Indian subcontinent as we can…. Jaipur will be the next major destination before our final push to Agra, home to the iconic Taj Mahal. Watching the sunset on the Taj will be the perfect end to an epic 2000mile journey, through one of the most ancient, diverse and challenging countries on Earth. This is one adventure that could truly change your life!


So now’s the time to get involved. Help build the DreamTours system, and plan your own DreamTour, or participate by commenting and rating the current tour offerings. Or if you're ready to ride, click Count Me In! on the DreamTour you want to participate in.

If you see a problem, we would love to fix it for you. Please email us the details and we get to work fixing it.