First day of a new month and a crisp, cold and clear morning greeted us at our bush camp as the expedition riders set off early to get as much distance behind them before the heat set in. Everyone had their long sleeve jerseys on, plus arm and leg warmers, and hats and gloves. It is nice to get some cool weather! The day ahead was flat and fast and guess what…..Namibia has tailwinds!!!!! Our campsite is an interesting one;a deserted town now owned by a Namibian local, complete with a railway line running through it. The warnings from Christie, the owner,included snakes, a train arriving at 10.00pm and a claim that as it was a full moon the grave yard nearby might be active??? It made for a few interesting conversations amongst riders throughout the afternoon. Still, it’s a beautiful sunset tonight complete with passing train and the scenery at dusk was incredible. Bikes are being locked up, tents zipped to ward off any reptilian visits and most people are camping near the trucks (they are a brave lot these riders!) Less than two weeks to go and many are getting a sniff of the homeward stretch. Still, Namibia has turned on its charm, and once again the scenery has changed and most are enjoying the beautiful, semi-arid feel of the landscape.
Another section began today, The Diamond Coast, though the diamonds and the coast are yet to appear. Cool desert roads awaited the cyclists as they left Windhoek this morning. Another early day and another venturous episode of turning the cranks toward Capetown. Windhoek had it’s many Western conveniences; Malls, banks, movie theatres, level sidewalks, and the chance to watch television till the mind capitulates. But enough is enough, everyone was ready to head back into the wilderness of a bush camp, where many of the riders have begun teaching each other their native dances, especially the Dutch and Swiss riders, who seem to have some of the most acrobatic national dances ever witnessed. One of the swiftest of the Dutch riders, Jan, outsprinted the speedy lead group of cyclists for the stage win, while his compatriot, Eva, did the same in the women’s division.
So with a multitude of stars all around our heads, and the misshapen moon giving us a good long stare we sit and ponder the stillness and perhaps think of our favorite Alfred Hitchcock movie. Mine is North by Northwest.
Saturday, May 12th, 2007
V&A Waterfront, Cape Town, South Africa
The Programme
10:00 – 14:00
Africa!
The Amphitheatre, V&A Waterfront
Enjoy the music, dance and performance of the African countries on the Tour d’Afrique route
14:00 – 14:30
Finish Line
Quay 6, V&A Waterfront
(In front of the Table Bay Hotel, near the statue of the seal)
Welcome the riders as they cross the official Finish Line
14:30 – 16:00
Arrival Ceremony
The Amphitheatre, V&A Waterfront
Join the Mayor of Cape Town in welcoming and congratulating the riders
Official results, Medals, Bike Donations
RSVP by 8th May, 2007
Theresa Brown:
Tel: (021) 785 5975
Cell: 084 353 1975
email: theresa@networld.co.za
The final stage of the ‘Elephant Highway’ section brought us no elephants, only a nasty headwind and some warthogs. The race distance was short with the finish line being at lunch. It was a relaxed atmosphere with the whole crew being there at once, enjoying yummy sandwiches, oranges, a crsip cool morning (oh welcome back cold temperatures!) that had everyone in warm gear. After that the hills arrived in full force to remind everyone that they were back for the duration of the trip and that, combined with the headwind, made for a slow afternoon. After navigating our way through the beautiful city of Windhoek, we are now safely in our campsite for the next two days, the Arrebusch Travel Lodge. Tomorrow, we have another bike donation ceremony at Joe’s Beer House, a fine establishment that offers cold beverages and a decent sized serving of food. We are using that to entice the riders to come along too. A few riders are off to the red dunes for a bit of quad-biking fun and the rest….oh you know, the usual….eat, sleep, clean, eat, drink and for the lucky ones….watch some satellite tv. We bid farewell our two sectional riders Ian and Alicia and we will be welcoming to lovely boys from Israel who will join us for the final section into Cape Town. Apparently, the weather has turned cold further south so break out the winter woollies and bring on the cold air and a touch of snow on the mountains…apparently!
Hello Namibia……country number 9! Our welcome was a nice thunderstorm, complete with wind, lightning, rain and some great thunder claps! Behind us this afternoon we left some flat territory, great elephants, cute donkeys, Planet Baobab, yummy icecreams and our longest day ever…..209km! There wasno tailwind, only cross and headwinds. At least the sun didn’t get a peek at any riders until very late in the morning but when it did, it did with some ferocity. Lunch was a quick affair, with riders cruising into the refreshment stop at 160km and then just making the coke stop at 200km. However, a tired, but happy bunch were present at the rider meeting tonight to enjoy a delicious meal of ‘bangers and mash’ (as our English lad Phil would phrase it) and reflect on their long day today. They also got to enjoy plenty of icecreams, cold beers, yoghurt, chocolate, tasty burgers and whatever else the local shop at our rest camp could provide us with. Everyone remembered their passports for the border crossing and everyone made it through the border crossing. So we are still ALL on our way to Cape Town. The sun is always shining in bike heaven!
Good morning Namibia! The riders enjoyed an extra half hour sleep in (due to the time difference between here and Botswana), two birthday boys (Adrie and Chris….race leaders), some overcast skies and a cranking headwind….yes, it’s official that due to Global Warming tailwinds in Africa have ceased to exist. Andy Cameron managed a sneaky breakaway with about 8km to go to surprise both Chris and Adrie and the rest of racing pack and went on to another stage win. Eva, ever so strong, came home to win the women’s stage and remains extremely competitive against the men. While it was slow going till lunch, there was a reprieve about 30km afterwards with the race going through the town of Gobabis, a lively, loud and busy little place that provided tired riders with the essentials (grocery shops and a bureau de change and somewhere to hide from the headwind). While others sheltered from the wind and tried to forget what lay ahead, some of the braver ones headed off on their own and battled a fierce headwind that was well and truly ‘ripping’ over flat terrain (the bushes are quite low to the ground here). They limped into camp in the wee hours of the afternoon, tired and windblown. For once, everyone has had to peg down their tents tonight. Freshly washed clothes have been seen flying off into the distance. Everyone is looking forward to cheap drinks in tonight’s bar. We are staying in the grounds of a B&B in the little town of Witvlie and enjoying a good nights sleep in lieu of the wind at present. Tomorrow, we ride into Windhoek and are looking forward to 2 days of rest and play.
A bush camp full of thorns, horses and cattle, a glorious sunrise, a tour leaders birthday, a hot ride and a hotel campsite complete with shade, cool breeze, cold beers and a swimming pool. This could best sum up the day of riding today. Another scorcher on the flat road meant that many of the expedition riders left just as the sun was peeking over the horizon and the sweep came into camp with the last rider about 1.30pm this afternoon. That meant that everyone was able to rest and enjoy a shower and the pool, especially after the unrelenting heat, yesterday and today. Tomorrow is the tour's longest day in terms of distance; a whopping 208km day complete with a border crossing into Namibia and a change of scenery (oh, dear…the hills are back). And only one coke stop for the day!! We say goodbye to Botswana, the lovely elephants and we look forward to Namibia, some hills and a two day rest day coming up in Windhoek. Wish us luck for our super big day!!!!
For the rest day in Maun, most riders enjoyed a scenic plane ride over the Delta (some struggled to keep breakfast down though!), spent the day lounging and swimming by the pool, eating whatever food they could get their hands on and welcoming back Walter Bachman who had left us for a few weeks to get treatment for an infection in his arm (he’s returned looking refreshed and healthy). The tour departed this morning heading towards the Botswana/Namibian border. Ahead lay 158km of boring, flat, fast riding with a tailwind…..no, hang on that’s what the riding notes from last year stated but in 2007 the tailwind turned into a crosswind this morning and then decided to become an annoying headwind this afternoon. There were also a few wee climbs to remind you that you had legs. We were told there would be plenty of giraffes but all the riders saw were plenty of cattle, donkeys and horses! Checking scenery took a back seat to making it to the campsite or resting under a tree avoiding the oppressive heat that has returned to terrorize the riders! Guess what…..the flu bug has snuck into someone’s tent and is very quickly making it’s way around the group. Tonight we are settled into our third to last last bush camp of the trip and we have lamb stew and sweet tunes to enjoy! Bike heaven is well and truly on the downhill slide into Cape Town.
Ok, so what do a bunch of riders decide to do when they know they have to do a time trial but they are coming into a rest day... they create the concept of a team time trial organized by country or regions of the world. (shhh, don’t tell them the riders think of this every year).
So preparations last night consisted mainly of working out a team song, creating a team name and designing a team uniform and would you believe it... the riders were so excited they were up before the African Routes boys had finished making breakfast this morning... and believe me you could have mistaken the campsite for a bunch of children waking up on Christmas morning the noise was so loud.
When the time trial began however, after the nudity, the teasing, the team songs and the checking out of the team uniforms (the girls team of Janet, Sarah, Alice and Tiff had this one in the bag being sponsored by the likes of Prada, Bling and almost anything and anybody you could think of)... it was serous stuff!
The race was on!!!! The Dutch and the British teams were the firm favourites but they had not counted on the strength of the staff team as well as the women’s team... well, one of them anyways as the other girls team was very focused on working on their tan lines. So the time trial came and went with the Brits winning in the men's category and team 'Positively Smashing Darlings' winning the womens title.
So now finally, here we are in the hot, steaming thriving safari metropolis of Maun making preparations for a plane flight over the Delta tomorrow... and of course doing all the normal rest day things like laundry, cleaning bikes, eating and sending updates home... oh and enjoying a few birthdays as well.
Today we left the Elephant Highway and continued on our merry way to Maun, our rest day tomorrow. Our destination was a bush camp 170km down the road which was flat and offered spectacular views of the country around us. The tailwind appeared, putting a smile on everyone’s faces as they arrived at lunch to the sound of Hotel Costes, Volume Four which belted out some very chilled-out funky tunes over the Botswana countryside. About 30km down the road, we arrived at a camp called Planet Baobab which provided us not only with a pool to swim in but a bar area that served tea, coffee, cold drinks, beer, gin and tonics, banana bread and carrot cake with super friendly staff all eager to hear about the trip so far. So you can imagine that no one was willing to leave, even the racers stayed for a long time enjoying the atmosphere, food, drinks and of course the pool area! The afternoon was hot but some welcome relief arrived in the form of a herd of about 50 elephants along the road approximately 20kms from camp. Riders stopped, racers rode back and everyone had a good story to tell at camp tonight (that was before round 8 of our tour quiz night). Tomorrow, the first 40km is a team time trial organized by countries so at the moment people are talking tactics, bikes are getting prepared and the girls are taking it all very seriously. After that, it’s a non race day to Maun, a plane ride over the delta, a rest day, another swimming pool and just another gorgeous day in Africa!
