Making a list and checking it thrice!

We had a white Christmas in 70 years!!!  A very rare event indeed.  I spent the Christmas break packing for the trip.  Everything was divided into three categories: clothing, camping / daily stuff, and bike related gears.  The clothing weighed in at ~10lbs, camping at ~40lbs, and bike stuff at ~20lbs.  

This is the camping and daily stuff pile.  

Bike components.  Lots of tubes tires etc.

I'll be rotating through this pile of clothe for the next four months!

Predictably unpredictable

To quote Yogi Berra: Tour d'Afrique is ninety percent mental and the other half is physical.

TDA has two groups of riders: expedition and racing.  I signed up to race.  Basically racers are timed for the 95 stages and expedition riders are not. The spirit of the Tour d’Afrique Race is one of ‘back to basics’ racing.  There are no huge crowds to cheer you on, no corporate sponsors, and no TV cameras.  It’s just you, your fellow riders, and Africa. There are 12 mandatory days for racers, these are considered some of the hardest Stages of the Tour.

1)    Egypt: Stage 2 Desert Camp to Desert Camp (paved, 168 km/104 mi)
2)    Ethiopia: Stage 23 Bush Camp to Gondar (paved, lots of climbing, 107 km/66 mi)
3)    Ethiopia: Stage 26 Bahir Dar to Bush Camp (paved, up and down, 162 km/100 mi)
4)    Ethiopia:  Stage 36 Riverbed Camp to Yabello (gravel, climbing, 96 km/60 mi)
5)    Kenya: Stage 40 Sololo Camp to Bush Camp (dirt, very rough, 85 km/53 mi)
6)    Kenya: Stage 41 Bush Camp to Marsabit (dirt, very rough, 86 km/53 mi)
7)    Tanzania: Stage 56 Mangalosi to Mbeya (dirt, climbing, 111 km/69 mi)
8)    Malawi: Stage 62 Nkhotakota to Kasungu (dirt/paved, climbing, 121 km/75 mi)
9)    Zambia: Stage 67 School Camp to Jehovah Camp (paved, climbing, 148 km/92 mi)
10)  Botswana: Stage 79 Ghanxi to Buitenpos (paved,  flat, 207 km/129 mi)
11)  Namibia: Stage 86 Betta to Konkiep Latta (dirt, 153 km/95 mi)
12)  Namibia: Stage 89 Hobas Camp to Felix Unite Camp (dirt,/paved, 159 km/99mi)

EFI stand for Every Fabulous Inch – to be considered EFI a rider must ride every inch of each days route, on a bicycle, under your own power.  My goal is to achieve EFI status. This is the ultimate challenge. To reach EFI, not only do the riders need to survive each grueling day, but also lucky enough to not get seriously sick or injured.

TDA provides a very solid frame work for safety - like police escort with sub-machine guns in major cities. They also warned us of the challenges might encounter on a regular basis:

•    You arrive at the finish line before the vehicle with the timing station does because the roads are bad or the vehicle was needed elsewhere.
•    Your stage time is affected by a herd of goats that blocks the road.
•    You are cheered on by a group of school children one day, only to be pelted by stones from a similar gathering the following day.
•    You miss a turn and end up having to cycle an extra 10 km backtracking in order to reach the finish line.
•    You add 30 minutes to your time because you couldn’t resist stopping in awe of the elephants that crossed the road in front of you.
•    You slow down to a near standstill as you navigate through the crowds in a village on market day.
•    The truck containing your locker breaks down and, after a long day in the heat, you are forced to wait several hours in your cycling gear until the truck finally arrives at camp.

What boils down to is that each day is going to challenging and unpredictable.  Like a rider from last year said "It's great to be prepared, but it's also great to learn things and make shit up as you go too, so embrace all the randomness that Africa will surely provide."  

No matter what happens, there will be a few good stories to tell.

Less than a month from now, under the Pyramids in Giza, Egypt, I'll be starting the 7500 mile trans-Africa bike race.  It will be the most physically and mentally challenging "vacation" ever.  A few years ago, when I researched an overland trip across Africa and stumbled on Tour d'Afrique's (TDA) website and was intriguing by the offering: Africa, adventures and cycling all in one.  I was not in any shape to participate then, since TDA is billed as "the longest and toughest bicycle races and expeditions in the world."  So I bought a bike and started cycling. 

I was thinking about registering for the 2012 ride earlier this year.  While driving back home from DC, I had a conversation with Dana Farrel, a rider just returned from this year's TDA.  Her enthusiasm immediately captured my imagination for the trip and the message was pretty clear: just do it!  Seriously, I couldn't wait to get home to sign up for the 2011 TDA after talking to Dana. Since that conversation, everything went by so fast: getting a bike, weekend long rides, research and buy supplies, immunization, secure leave from work, apply for visas, etc.  It's been a blur.  

My goal for this blog is to update friends and family on the progress of the trip, based on internet availability.  Looking at the first week of rides: day 1 - 70 miles, day 2 - 100 mi, day 3 - 70 mi,  day 4 - 59 mi, day 5 - 75 mi.  I'm not sure if I can muster the energy to type.  No matter what happens, there will be a few good stories to tell.