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I may be speaking too soon...

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  I may be speaking too soon...but thank goodness the number of casualties has calmed down. After the week of chaos nothing worth mentioning has really happened medically. So since our awesome rest day in Chittimba I have actually had a really calm week & managed to get on my bike daily.

Today was a sensational day of riding. The past few days have been a little challenging for some with lots of climbing & yesterday an extra 20km added on at the last minute due to a road being washed out by the rain. So today being mainly downhill was enjoyed by most, there was a slight cross wind that slowed you down a little but all riders were in camp by 1pm, unharmed and uneventful for me. Yay!

Posted March 31, 2009 by Alexandra Shanny
Malawi | Tour Updates 		Btn_share_twitter Btn_share_facebook


White Gold

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Toilet paper, or White Gold, as many Td’A riders call it, is a constant companion to everyone on the Tour. Sooner or later, however, you are bound to find yourself with a pressing need for some but with none to be found. For those rare, yet somehow all too often times here is a tip on how to use other paper items in place of the White Gold.

First you must have some other kind of paper; a receipt, magazine, old journal entry etc… Once you’ve located a source of paper you need to use a technique I call “Crumple, Crumple, Smooth”. Take your piece of paper and crumple it thoroughly, then smooth it flat. Repeat three times and it is ready for use.

It’s not quite 3 ply Charmin but it will get you through.

Posted March 29, 2009 by Paul McManus
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Isn't there like a drought in Africa or something?

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So we've left the transcendent rest day spot of Chitimba Beach. Yesterday began with a cool little rainstorm and we ate our breakfast of French Toast, boerewors,  caramelized cashews and fruit salad (prepared by a volunteer crew of riders headed by our indomitable French Connection riders) watching the downpour.

The rain cleared, and the sun came out bathing our beachside camp in heavenly warmth.

Riders, not having a town to sally into, spent the day trading stories about the party from the night before, playing beach volleyball, reading, eating and swimming in the warm waters of Lake Malawi (nobody really listens to their travel doctors' warnings anyways).

Normally staff doesn't serve dinner on a rest day but we decided before hand that we should do something special... so we ordered three pigs to be delivered to the campsite. After our cook James slaughtered and butchered them, riders gorged themselves on a sumptuous barbeque. It was, far and away our best rest day.

That being said, we've all heard that our next proper campsite at Kande Beach makes Chitimba look like an internment camp in comparison. Awesome. Unfortunately we got a call today and learned that rains have washed a major bridge out and our planned route along the lake has disappeared. No longer will we be camping beachside, drinking cold beers and daring the single riders to hit on the overland girls. It's a mountain trek through the interior of Malawi now. 

The only cool thing about this situation is that tonight, when all the riders were informed of our misfortune, there was no collective groan from the crowd or questions about how we could possibly alter the route to allow for beachfront campsites. Everyone in the group has become a tough- as- nails cyclist and acquiesces to the fact that in Africa,  shit happens from time to time. Leonard di Caprio's character in ‘Blood Diamond' was fond of using an acronym to describe situations like this: "TIA" or "This is Africa".

We here on the Tour d'Afrique have an extended version of that: "TIA-FIOFO" or "This is Africa- Fit In Or Fuck Off".           

I hear there's a clique
Of riders who seek,
Roads long and rough
For those who are tough
Riders of the Tour d'Afrique

Posted March 27, 2009 by Erik Dobrovolsky
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Chillin' in Chitimba

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We've arrived at our rest day at Chitimba Beach on the shores of Lake Malawi.
The lake is warm, the beers are cold and everyone has a tab. No city, no internet, no distraction... a true day of rest.
Life is good on the Td'A.

Posted March 26, 2009 by Erik Dobrovolsky
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Moments in Malawi

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           After an arduous uphill day yesterday, today was downhill- 1,700m descent along a ridge top with spectacular views. OK, we did have to ride uphill for 20km or so first, but that was soon forgotten. The morning was spent in cloud & was quite cool, the first descents had my teeth chattering- quite a novel experience to be cold and sweating buckets at the same time.

            I warmed up by eating. A long stop for mundazi (doughnuts without the jam or hole or sugar), chapattis (fresh from the hotplate) & samosas (sold from the back of a bicycle). Plus a coke of course- they're not called Coke Stops for nothing.

            The views were really what the day was all about. From Tanzania the land seems to slide down into Malawi. Verdant green valleys, sometimes cultivated with corn, tea, bananas, sometime wild, cascaded off to our right. Whilst on the left the land rolled down to Lake Malawi in the distance, another range of mountains looming behind it.

            When we finally crossed the Songe River into Malawi the land was immediately flat, a striking change. And the fields were full of rice. Malawi is already noticeably poorer- the road being an immediate symptom. 15kms of flat riding saw the trucks appear along with about 200 local children standing around the camp. We're obviously the star attraction tonight- I hope we don't disappoint them.

Fiona Siseman
Lonely Planet Rider

Posted March 25, 2009 by Guest Author
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'Tales from the Saddle' Contest

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                      'Cycling Mom' Anne Rock, with son, Jimmy.

We were delighted and enchanted by the 44 wonderful stories submitted in our ‘Tales from the Saddle' contest.

While Francis Olverson's story ‘Into the Wilderness' garnered the most points, his article unfortunately exceeded the 750 word count rule by double that.  We should have picked this up and notified Francis in time for him to make the necessary modifications, but with this being our first on-line contest, it was overlooked. We've been on a learning curve.  

To compensate for our error and to reward Francis for the incredible effort he invested in the contest, we have decided to treat him as a co-winner and have awarded him a free section on one of our expeditions. We truly apologize for this oversight and promise that in future contests,  we'll do everything possible to obviate such inconsistencies.

The official winner of  the contest is Anne Rock, from Philadephia, Pennsylvania with her story ‘Cycling Mom'.

"I am thrilled to win this contest and hope to participate in either the Budapest to Bucharest leg of the ‘Orient Express' tour or on a section of the inaugural ‘Vuelta Sudamericana' expedition." said Anne.

Avid cyclist, mother, wife and teacher, Anne believes there's no better way to see the world than via  bicycle. 
 
"Walking is too slow (apologies to hikers) and driving too removed and ecologically unfriendly.  I teach high school English and want to share with students the opportunities accorded them through travel and learning from other cultures."

Congratulations Anne and Francis!  And thanks to all for participating.

Anne's story will be published in an upcoming edition of the American Bicyclist magazine.


                                        298
 

Posted March 24, 2009 by Tour d'Afrique Ltd.
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Adapting

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The daily routine has adapted over the last few days to include the incessant rain. The front runners are well into camp when it comes at around 3ish everyday. However anyone who has been caught slacking over the last few days has seen the sun turn into a few clouds, which rapidly turn dark and pour. All seem in good spirits when they come in, the rain seems to last about an hour all in and everything dries off pretty quick.

Next morning we're all packing up wet tents and damp sleeping bags, lunch has become an array of tents drying out around the truck much to the confusion of the local kids who are polite (or scared) enough to sit and watch without asking questions. They tend to run past if they need to get close to the trucks. Have had a few babies burst out crying just by looking at me, not sure what that says about me?!

I've also just had the first conversation about getting home over a beer in the hotel we are camped up in tonight. The consensus seems that emails that have been received from friends just don't understand what the tour is like and that it is kinda scary to go back to normal life.

Helen who has done a similar long trip previously added that she felt claustrophobic when returning home last time as she hadn't been inside four walls for so long - so go easy on us when we come home.

Posted March 23, 2009 by Mark Knight
Tanzania | Tour Updates 		Btn_share_twitter Btn_share_facebook


The Rain

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Being an Albertan I am quite used to driving in the Rocky Mountains; skiing in the winter and camping in the summer.

As a child I attended a YMCA camp in Kanaskis and would regularly be riding in the car with my mom and sisters, looking at massive rain systems loom directly in our path - my mom's knuckles turning progressively whiter and whiter as the sun disappeared, the first drizzles hit the windshield and then finally the vehicle becoming engulfed in a biblical downpour.

My little sister used to believe she had magical powers over the storms (she may still do) and would enthusiastically utter the following incantation:

"Shimaree!! Shimaraw!! Make this rain go away Poof!!!"           
Amazingly enough, this would work from time to time... although I imagine the fact that I live in a province where in the course of an afternoon one can experience snow, rain, and brilliant sunshine may have had a bit to do with it.

Regardless, over the past few days I am none too ashamed to admit that I have appropriated my little sister's mysticism and uttered that spell a few times. Some may ask "But Erik, why would you resort to such silly superstition?" Good ask.
We have been more or less inundated with rain over the past few days. Luckily it held off until we were on the tarmac roads but it still has soaked every rider to the bone for a few nights. Tents are saturated and smelly, shoes flooded and socks need to be wringed out upon arrival in camp. Nothing dries during the evening or at night so riders have resorted to using the lunch truck as a de facto drying line.

As I write this the skies have opened once more and driven all to their tents.

Posted March 22, 2009 by Erik Dobrovolsky
Tanzania | Tour Updates 		Btn_share_twitter Btn_share_facebook


Challenges

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The Tour d'Afrique started out as an almost entirely self supported expedition through Africa. Every day was a race day, camp-to-camp and participants were expected to cook for themselves. I can't imagine the difficulty they faced, but I have heard that after the first day most participants were on the brink of starvation.

Today we have experienced staff members, fulltime medics, expert mechanics and a bona fide chef who can whip up a gourmet meal for 60 with 15 tomatoes and half a kilogram of cow sinew purchased from a flyblown market. That being said, the tour still runs through Africa... and Africa is a challenge. The past 6 days have presented the staff and riders with a veritable laundry list, a cacophony if you will... of accidents, near disasters and full blown emergencies.
  1. A rider fell in a hole fracturing his right ulna, requiring immediate evacuation to hospital in Iringa, a 120km drive along pockmarked gravel roads
  2. A rider fell down two flights of concrete stairs, receiving a large laceration to the forehead requiring hospitalization
  3. Immediately following the previous incident another rider required hospitalization for abdominal pain
  4. Immediately followed by another rider requiring hospitalization for a kidney infection
  5. Another rider fell receiving serious lacerations
  6. Followed by another fall resulting in a knee injury
  7. Another rider got tangled in an Acacia bush resulting in a 3cm thorn becoming imbedded in their shin... naturally requiring hospitalization
  8. A rider, while exiting a low doorway lacerating their scalp
  9. The dinner truck got stuck going uphill requiring us to dump all of our clean water to reduce the load weight
  10. The dinner truck then broke its rear bracket three further times over the next three days resulting in riders arriving at camp and having to wait well into the night before their bags arrived
  11. On one of those nights, two riders decided to stop at a bar, forgot the time and were MIA in the pitch black for hours while staff scrambled to find them (this was also a night where the dinner truck broke its bracket and was stuck on the road and the support LandRover was in Iringa with the broken ulna)
  12. A fire broke out on one of the trucks when a rider placed her wheel on a vehicle battery, connecting the circuit
  13. A support staff member's laptop was stolen
Life on the Td'A may have gotten a bit easier since Year 1, but there still are times when all Hell breaks loose.

Fortunately, we are a merry band of brothers (and sisters) who bore Murphy's brunt with aplomb.

Everyone now is safe, secure and accounted for.

Posted March 21, 2009 by Erik Dobrovolsky
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Celestial Dice

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When the Celestial Dice are Rolled
We are born with colour, ethnicity, intelligence, relatives
and the desire for Life

Until the age of majority
healthcare, education and sustenance should be our birthright
Then we should be given freedom to pursue
the ultimate goals of happiness and contentment

There are many trajectories to the same goal
Be it sitting in a sunny Ethiopian alpine meadow watching our ten cows
or Sitting in our private club savouring a filet and sipping Chateaux Margaux ‘84
Of Course these externals do not show what lies in the heart Our greatest potential handicap is either
Having too Little or Having too Much

May the spirit that guides us
Show us the path to Nirvana

Ernest Enns

Posted March 21, 2009 by Guest Author
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