Another country down today.  Each time we cross a border it amazes me as to how different things are when you have only crossed a river or a line that doesn't really exist.
Almost all the borders we have crossed have been extremely slack in terms of stopping people.  I'm fairly sure that, other than entering Sudan, I could have just ridden straight past the controls without a single question. Today was no different. As always, the immigration staff genuinely welcomed me, a few minutes of waiting and filling out the entry book yourself (why would an immigration officer enter your details into the entry book?  That's way too much like work.) Then we rode into Zambia.

Yet again things change, the road is potholed, kids are quieter and seem to have some sort of fear in their eyes and today for the first time for me it poured down within a kilometer of the crossing.  I've been lucky with my rides so far and while most riders have been wet at least once,  I've either been at the front or the back and it's not been raining by the time I've rolled through.

The day's riding was relatively uneventful - 140kms with a light tailwind. I spent the day riding with Tim and Bruce and we had finished lunch after 75kms by 10am. Joining the train of Frank and Craig for the afternoon meant completing 140kms by 1pm including the border crossing.  I guess sometimes the legs just turn easy and two days rest helps that.  It looks like the rain is in for the night, so it could remain interesting. Hopefully we won't be affected by the flooding that has hit Zambia in the last few weeks.

Time will tell.

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.

  We're 2 months in and crossing the distance halfway point anytime right now.  It gets to the point in any long trip like this where the days blend into one another, the weeks fly past without you realizing, and the towns & places you visit become less and less memorable through the sheer volume of the new sights and sounds you are bombarded with.

Today I woke and couldn't get my rhythm, the morning routine was shot, I couldn't find anything, couldn't make things fit in my locker. I just couldn't function with any semblance of efficiency. At this point in the day I was over the whole thing, over the routine, over dropping my tent every day, over eating more porridge, cleaning my dishes, loading my locker, squatting to do my business....you get the picture.
 
Soon enough I was out on the road and the legs where feeling good, so I dropped a few gears and got into a pretty quick tempo that quickly found me riding alone. It was while I was knocking away at the kilometers I found my self in the middle of a gravel road that seemed to be rapidly deteriorating, realizing I hadn't seen anyone for at least an hour, and suddenly feeling very secluded and a little insecure - the realization kicking in that I'm cycling alone on a back road with only a few dollars in my pocket somewhere in the middle of Tanzania not even sure if I'm going the right way.

Its these moments on the tour that remind you of the adventure we are going through and make me feel so grateful to be a part of what we are doing. I think it will be one of the moments that I will remember most vividly from this section.

We are on the edge of the rainy season here and despite a few light showers we have remained fairly dry. However another of those memorable moments is in the past to us right now. The dirt we are on will become treacherous when its wet, the trucks will get stuck and everyone will suffer. Watch this space; we all know its coming.

At the beginning of the tour it was explained to us that we separate the garbage into three buckets, organic that we bury, re-usable that we give to the locals and burnables that we burn daily on the basis that we either burn it or it ends up in a landfill.  

The re-usable bin made me curious as I could not believe that our empty bottles, packets and general waste that we dispose of daily would be of no use to anyone, how wrong I was. I have seen fights break out over the bin bag full off empty plastic bottles as we leave camp, this morning I watched a group of camera shy Ethiopian women in ethnic dress form a rugby scrum over what we left.  

During today’s ride I saw this taken to a new level, the local Ethiopians who have been doing an incredible job of keeping us supplied with drinks and helping out with problems clipped a Dik Dik just after they passed me on the road. A Dik Dik is a large domestic cat size antelope. The knock from the car didn’t kill the animal outright so they jumped out and slit its throat to let it die painlessly. He was then skillfully skinned at the roadside all the useable meat was butchered on the spot and the hide in perfect condition was kept. Had we not crossed into Kenya and left the boys behind today I would be chowing down on what looked like some incredibly tender meat tonight. Nothing goes to waste!

It was time to spoil myself this morning so a visit was made to the Sheraton Addis Ababa, rated as the best hotel in Africa. Cost per head was 220 Bihr, about $22, I managed to put away the following:

3 poached eggs
3 sausages
1 pita bread
2 slices of ham
chunk of blue cheese
chunk of emental
chunk of Gouda with chilli
chunk of another cheese
2 egg omlette
6 rashes of beef bacon
serving spoon of baked beans
2 mini burgers
1 large waffle with strawberries syrup and whipped cream
2 pastries
more cheese
coffee
2 thick juice smoothies

Not a bad breakfast in my mind, will burn it off tomorrow so not too worried.

Today is a rest day, but I thought I would talk a bit about the routine of the Tour D'Afrique as it kinda takes some getting your head around if your not out here.

The average day is supposed to be 125km's of riding, therefore most days are over 130km's in order to make up for shorter days into rest days or tough days (lots of mountains or exceptionally bad roads will normally be shorter days). Therefore slower riders can be out on the bike for 10+ hours day in day out depending on conditions.

We rise just before daybreak, in Ethiopia breakfast is served at 6.30 am, so you are usually up clothed and packing your tent down before 6am, no alarm needed, the muffled sounds of all the others doing so will wake you gently. Rise put on your bike clothes rub in chamois cream around your bits if its a real long day or really hot, roll your matt, drop your tent (all of which your incredibly efficient at) then head over with your bags ready to go in your locker. Fight for a spot on the truck to get your stuff in or drop it outside to do later. Find your bowl and tea mug and head to the breakfast truck that has hot water, coffee, bread, jam, peanut butter, porridge or Semoleana and on the odd occasion eggs or banana's all ready to go. Eat, do your thing in the bush with a shovel to bury if need be, wash your b-fast kit in bowls waiting for you, pack locker, find who you feel like riding with or put on your tunes and hit the road (race days all the racers leave at the same time, but as time goes by less and less people are taking the racing side seriously, you choose the days you want to race and the days you want to cruise, see the sights and hang with your friends.)

Once on the road you can find your group changes many times through the day as you pick up people or drop back to others, stop for coffee, coke, or toilet break as you feel like. As you hit any of the towns you can pretty much guarantee that outside one of the cafe's there will be a bike sitting there, you pull up and join whomever it may be, they head off when they are ready by which time another group or single will normally have joined you. If you are feeling really lazy you can sit at these for over an hour and be amongst a set of rolling friends - its kinda fun when your not in the mood, eventually the sweep rider comes along and you hit the road for a couple of hours until you are well enough ahead to do the same again.

The lunch truck is set up somewhere past halfway and consists of a (or multiple of you wish) sandwich, most often tuna, egg salad, cheese and tomato or on occaision last night's leftovers if they go well in a sandwich (pasta sandwiches are actually pretty good). Fill up your bottles head into the bushes with shovel if the need arises. Repeat the morning routine in the afternoon depending on how you feel and eventually you'll turn a corner and see the camp being set up.

Pull up give your name for attendance and grab your mug for some hearty soup that is always sitting good to go around the dinner truck, eat, grab your shit from locker, sort your bike and put up your tent, usually have a short rest before the rider meeting describing the next days riding hazards, climbs, conditions and race distances if its a race day, awards for days race if there has been one and any other business that people are doing that is pissing the team off (not washing hands, burying crap, riding erratically etc) some evenings the contents of the lost and found is auctioned, if you leave your kit loafing it goes straight in the lost and found bin and gets auctioned off weekly. You buy staff beer for the item you lost, BUT anyone who wants that item is welcome to bid any amount of beer for it, risky business leaving your stuff around.

Dinner is served straight after the rider meeting then you have a short time before the sun sets and most head to bed. Day done.

It is such a simple way off life, no real stress other than controlling your temper when kids are hurling rocks at you for sport. Add to this mechanic support in the evenings, trucks passing you a few times during the day that will stop if you give them the thumbs down to help you with your problems, medics doing rounds in the mornings and evenings, local support in the form of 3-4 guys and an extra vehicle or two that are also out on the road watching out for you, chasing kids, extra refreshment stops on 160+km days.

There is no doubt that this tour is hard on everyone involved, it drains you physically and mentally, but if your gonna do it, then this is defiantly the way to do it in style.

Today saw a different style of race and ride. In general, it has been a tough few days - all over 140km’s with the heat so all of us are getting a little run down. Add the bug that is passing through camp and the tour is slowly beating even the strongest down.  

We had a 10km warm up followed by a 20km time trial in which racers and expedition riders where invited to partake for the chance to win a coveted yellow ‘stage win’ plate. The results will be up later but it goes without saying it hurt, it was hot and it made me want to puke before I finished.  

This fun was followed by a 26km cruise to lunch and then a 36km convoy into Khartoum. The Sudanese Police were kind enough to escort us but insisted on blaring the lights and sirens the whole way. Add the fumes, people, donkeys, goats, dogs and the intensity of having to watch closely the rider in front so as not to take out 5-6 riders and it makes your blood boil.  

I loved every minute of it, and don’t let any one else on the tour tell you any different, to do this ride, race, expedition or whatever you want to call it you have to be a bit twisted and basically enjoy a little suffering.  

Sudan as you can probably gather from other posts has been a rare pleasure. I have not previously been lucky enough to travel through a country that rarely sees tourists. I heard from a guy that works in the Ministry of Tourism that less that a hundred US citizens apply for a visa into Sudan per year, I believe the population is 35 million, so that gives you an idea as to how rare we are in some of the villages and tea huts we’ve passed through. Ethiopia is getting closer and I know the general feeling is it can wait. As a nation the Sudanese have been gracious, hospitable, curious and more than anything else, happy.  

Today also marks the end of the first section ‘Pharaoh's Delight’ and, unfortunately, means we will be losing two of our Lone Planet sectional riders, Scott and Sharif. You will be sorely missed!!  

Rest day tomorrow. I think a sleep in till at least 8 am will be had all round.

I can't lie about being very apprehensive this morning: 165km’s after the tough day yesterday and a serious lack of training. Add to that the first official race day, -  it was set to be a tough one.

I decided to head out 5 minutes before the racers just to settle into a rhythm and warm up properly, but went through my gears and was sitting at 40kmh on my own almost straight out of camp. It turns out the promised tailwind had arrived.

I soon found myself in a group of 6 cruising quickly along. The teachers from Ontario, Frank, Swen and John where using the wind to its best and loving life. It has only been 2 days and I already realize its going to be a lot of fun riding with those guys. When we start hitting regular beer stops it might get kinda messy though. After 16km, We joined the Red Sea and spent the rest of the day with it at our side.

Around 50kms, we stopped for a rest and the main pack caught us.  We all stopped for a pee break and a chat then I set of with the racers for the rest of the day.

The pace definately increased, helped by the Cairo cycling team. The bunch was around 15 strong and we where holding a steady 35-40 kmh, made easy by the wind still pushing us along. We had our first proper crash of the tour with Simon Exley hitting the deck pretty hard. He came away somehow with a bit of road rash and bruised ego.

After lunch the screw got turned up again and the bunch was reduced one by one till we were down to around 8 riders. We finally decided, with another 70kms to go, that we should ease off a bit, ( I was killing myself to stay on at this point)

The cease fire stayed in effect until the last few kms when Nick Padt nipped to the front for the win, with Carolla Tize and Lone Sand together in the group right behind.

Special mention again to Simon, who even after his crash, took 3rd place.

Camp tonight is a short walk form the Red Sea where most riders took a swim to clean up after 2 daysof riding. The farmers' tans have already started due to perfect sunshine for the first two days. Dinner was an awesome three course affair with Rice Chicken and Vegetables!