Ten Bir for One Beer

I'm sitting at the Goha Hotel terrace overlooking the city of Gonder, Ethiopia.  We have two days of rest day here.  This was the the toughest stretch in the race this year, 8 consecutive days of riding.  The 8 days included 3 days of rough off road around Diner, Sudan and 2 days of climbing of over 3000 meters in Ethiopia.  The scenary changed from flat farm land of Sudan to mountainous Ethiopia as soon as we crossed the border.  Ethiopia is greener than Sudan, it was the first time I seen a tree in a long time.  Ethiopia was also the first time we saw some clouds in the sky.  The heat in Sudan was just brutal.  Some people claimed to have seen over 57C (137F) during the late afternoon.  The highest I saw on my watch was 113F.  The problem was not just day time heat.  It was hot at night as well.  When we put our tent down, the ground was hot like a pizza oven.  It doesn't cool down all that much throughout the night.  The water we drank was hot.  Kim, from Denmark, called our energy drinks "Energy Tea," because it was hot all the time.  Once we crossed into Ethiopia, it definitely felt cooler.  Someone calculated that we consume about 3000 to 4000 calories per day.  I think we use about 4000 to 5000 per day.

Sudan left a big impression on me.  People were very friendly.  No matter how remote, Sudanese people were always very welcoming and kids were very well behaved.  I was also a bit surprised to see cell phones everywhere we went, even in the remotest of villages.  In the last night camping in Sudan, I said goodbye to our security support from the Ministry of Tourism, Mr. Allam and Abdul Baggi.  The Sudanese support team went back to Khartoum after we left Sudan.  Mr. Allam said they will take the paved road to Khartoum, only 160kms.  I told him we took the dirt roads for the past three days, and we were all beat up physically.  Mr. Allam laughed and glanced to the direction of Sharita, our Tour Director, and said: "that woman, she likes to see people suffer."  For the last two years, the TDA went through Dinder, a very tough area to cycle through.  We experienced some very tough road conditions.  Some people lost their EFI.

Ethiopia was a welcoming change for cooler temperature, but the hill climbs were brutal.  Interesting fact: coffee was invented in Ethiopia!  There are still wild coffee beans harvested here.  Christianity also had some roots here.  Their calendar and time is very strange.  The Ethiopian currency is called Bir, about 15 bir = $1USD.  We climbed over 2000 meters in one day.  One stretch of climb was over 20 miles long.  The granny gears were helpful, but I wish I had great-granny gears.  What goes up, must come down.  I once hit 70kmph (about 42mph) going down a steep hill, while dodging cows, donkeys, pedestrians, cars, trucks, kids, and pot holes.

Tony from the UK organized a trip to visit a local school supported by a charity called Link Ethiopia. Some of the riders donated money to get uniforms and school supplies to the poorest kids.  The children were happy to see us.  We even had a friendly soccer match with the kids. The school also provided a traditional coffee ceremony, which consisted of roasting the coffee beans, ground them, and finally brew.  The coffee was fantastic.  They also provided a traditional injirah - lamb slow roasted over injirah bread.  They even had beer!  Two things I observed: women drank beer freely with men, but men ate first, then women ate last.  The school master explained that things are changing now (his word was "civilized), women are equal to men.

Stage 16 - "Hope you enjoyed the last section!  Now the real fun starts!  Some of you will lose your EFI this week."  This is how Sharita, our group leader started the rider meeting.  After much needed rested in Khartoum, our morning started with an adventure.  Len, Paul, Matt and I got a van from the hotel to take us to our camp site.  The problem is that the van driver is Chinese, he doesn't know where our camp was, only roughly knows where it was.  It's also a Friday (Muslim holiday) as well as an Sudanese holiday weekend, so very few people were on the road in the morning.  So we began our adventure at 5:30am.  The driver took us to a stadium under construction, and Matt tried to navigate us to the camp site.  After a few miles, we were lost.  Finally I told the driver to pull over (in Chinese) and asked a truck driver (we have the name of the camp site in Arabic).  The truck driver immediately recognized it, "ah Soba!"  Soba means camping in Arabic.  He was trying to give us directions in Arabic, but we didn't know what he said.  So I asked him to come with us.  He pointed to his truck and asked us to follow him.  This guy was driving a 18 wheeler, pulling two trailers!  He did lead us to the right place, finally.

So the last section was called "Pheroah's Delight."  It was relatively flat and on good pavement.  This section is called "The Gorge," about 1600kms, and mostly on dirt or deterioted roads, and very high climbs.  We are going up to 12,000 feet of climb.  This is the toughest section.  The morning started out confusingly, with many twists and turns to get out of Khartoum.  Once we were out of the city limits, the scenary changed dramatically, compared to the desert that we have seen so far.  We saw some green and it got greener as the day went on.  There were are lot of farms all around us.  But the cross wind was so strong that I couldn't manage to average over 20kmph the entire morning.  Once we reached lunch, I have used up all 3.5 liters of water.  That's about 1 gallon of water.  After lunch was even tougher with the wind and the road seemed to be in a constant, yet ever so slight, up hill.  The temperature reached 110F, again!  In my worst day last week, I still reached camp by 1:30pm.  Today, I got to camp at 2:30pm.  I was exhausted.  About 10km away from the camp, I ran out of water again, after the lunch refill.  Thank goodness the TDA folks ran a water truck behind.  I did not pee at all in the afternoon.

Once we reached the camp, we had to change our tires to the biggest possible ones.  I brought 700X35, since I read last years riders' surived on those.  After installing them, Sharita walked by and I asked for her thought on my tires.  In her South African accent, she said "yaaah" and laughed.  I think she meant "good luck with those."  We'll see what happens.  Another 155km tomorrow.  Also, I've stopped coughing up blood and nasal drips are clear, a good sign!  This was also my first night of dish duty, we all get to help out to clean the kitchen pots.

Stage 17 - Our first dirt day.  Actually it was only about 30km out of the 155kms.  Oh boy, riding on the dirt was tough.  First of all, the dirt road was like a wash board, so it's constant bouncing up and down.  Secondly, the sandy part is really tough to get through.  You never lose control in the sand, you just have to keep moving.  Finally, you can't go fast on dirt.  You must pay attention constantly to see where the best route goes.  When a truck or car passed, the dust coated a nice layer of dirt on the skin.  Sun lotion and many layers of dirt equals great sun protection.  We finally got out of the dirt road (for today at least) and went through a large town.  Kim, James, Kendra and I took tea on the side of the road.  People gathered there asked about where we were from and where we were going.  Very friendly conversation.  After lunch, I saw a lot of kids on the side of the road.  Most common things I heard today were: welcome welcome! what's your name? hello! one two three four five.  where are you going? I love you!  I love America! and my personal favorite: ni hao, ni he li hai! (Hello, you are awesome in Chinese).  I felt like a rock star.  People give thumbs ups, clapped and cheered all day.  All that support gave me so much more energy.  At a police check point, I past a bus load of teen-aged Sudanese girls.  They all squeezedd through the windows on one side of the bus to wave, gave thumbs ups, and screamed loudly.  Was that what it felt like to be Justin Beber?  These girls' screams rivaled the Wellesley girls at the Boston Marathon.  At the next two Coke stops, I chatted with a few locals about our trip to Cape Town.  I do sense people cheering us on and really want us to do well.    I thought, although the people may not have the opportunity to do this journey, they do wish other people to accomplish this goal.   That's the human spirit I guess.  I really felt energized by the Sudanese people cheering.  After 155km, I was not very tired.

It was a hot day again.  My watch at one point said it was 108F.  We were all riding in that temperature and with no shades what so ever.  One guy said it was 54C (136F) at a Coke stop.  That sounded high, but it sure felt like it.  Once I reached camp, I went directly to the Nile canal to cool off.  The water was very refreshing.  I went twice!  The local kids even joined us.  The local police chief dropped by after dinner and brought us bottled Coke, water, and mango juice.  That was a nice gesture.  This is why I love Sudan.  The people here are incredible.  Mr. Obama, normalize our relationship with Sudan now!

Tomorrow, we'll cycle 100km on the wash board corrugated dirt road all day.  Tonight, I slept without the rain fly on my tent.  Sleeping with the stars above.  How awesome is that?

Stage 18 - The governor of the Dinder District droped by our camp tonight.  He made a great speech about how the people in his region looks forward to the riders coming through every year.  He also remarked about the women in our group and how he wanted his young girls to see how other women from other parts of the world were like.  He was a very progressive thinker in this regard, I believed.  There were about 5 or 6 well dressed young girls traveled with him.  The girls giggled when they saw us and started talking to each other.  The governor snapped his finger, and then silence, not even any expressions on the girls' faces.  Funny he also said that it's "cold" right now, because it's winter here.  Well if 110F is winter, then I would hate to know what summer is.  It actually looks like winter here, the trees are dead, the grass are yellow, and people wear jackets over their regular outfit.

The ride was terrible.  The road was so rough.  I actually fell twice!  None serious.  It was just deep sand, which cushioned the fall a bit.  A lot of other riders fell too.  Some with more serious injuries.  The TDA actually ran out of iodine!

Before lunch the two Kims from Denmark and I took a Coke stop in the town of Suri.  When we pulled up, I saw about 10 men squating around a table, all taking food from a large bowl.  It was bread mixed with fool (bean dish).  Each taking a bit with their hand.  Once we arrived, they offered us to join them.  Sudanese people are very hospitable.  Bob, our oldest rider overheated today.  A Sudanese man took him to his house, gave him cold water, and washed his feet!  This is the same Bob that lost 50 Sudanese Pounds and someone returned it to him.  We hear stories like this all the time.  In the afternoon Coke stop, it seemed every kid in town swarmed around our Coke stand.  They just watched every movement we made, but didn't bother us at all.  Then an older teenaged kid shooed the kids away with a stick.  I think he was trying to make room for us, but we didn't really mind the kids.  It was certainly appreciated.  I had two flat tires today.  The first one I just ignored and pumped it back up.  It had no problems rest of the day.  In the afternoon, the rear tire was low on pressure, but didn't go all the way to flat.  So I just rode it as it was to camp, ~40kms.  Some of the riders had up to 10 flat tires.  I personally saw a rider's tire burst!  After arriving at the camp, I took the rear tire off and found several thorns in the tire.  These are prickly thorns from local trees or bushes.

We had an interesting rider meeting today.  We are camped at the local village, and the local people surrounded us.  Some people brought tea and biscuts for us.  I tasted a minty tea and a cinnamon tea, they were delicious.  People are so gracious here.  More fun tomorrow and the next day on dirt.

Stage 19 - Wow, what a tough day!  All day of sandy corrugated surface.  My brake was rubbing on the rim and tire in the morning. I'm glad to fixed that problem right away.  The day just kept dragging on, it was hot and no wind.  My body was shaking all day from the corrugated dirt road.  Once we got to camp at 4:30pm, I was exhausted.   The local village people and a couple of riders played soccer, I don't know where those riders got their energy from.  A lot of riders worked hard today.  Some entrepreneurial kids from the village dragged a donkey cart full of water.  We were able to take a quick "shower."  It was very refreshing.  (This was a very short entry, because I was so tired!!!)

Stage 20 - This was a our last day on dirt.  It was very memorable.  The scenary was simply beautiful.  We rode on the same dirt road as yesterday, but in the wheat fields.  The golden husks surrounded us.  There were a few hills that added to the scenary.  As we past small villages.  I noticed all the mud house roofs are dome shaped compared with flat shaped in northern Sudan.  I suppose it rains here more.  It was evident on the dirt we rode on, it had not rained in a long time.  The ground cracks with big gaps.  The village people are very friendly as always.  Kids, boys and girls, were waving and said hello.  I stopped at a small village in the afternoon to grab a "cold" drink.  Within minutes, just about everyone in town surrounded the shop to see me drink two colas.  I had no idea what I drank, it was a glass bottle with Arabic written on it.  It tasted like super sweetened Cherry Coke.  It was delicous!  Some local people asked me about where I'm from.  I said "China."  Some people put their thumbs up and said "China good!"  I returned the favor and said "Sudan, good!"  They laughed in appreciation.  Then they asked me something in Arabic, from their gestures, I guessed they were asking about where I'm going.  "Cape Town, South Africa" I said, serveral times.  More and more people came to the shop.  Kids were touching my bike to see all the gadgets.  Simple village life is good.

At the camp, Len bought a dozen of water melons for everybody.  It was amazing how refreshing water melons can be after a long hot day.  Tomorrow we leave Sudan and head into Ethiopia.  From last years' blogs.  Most riders said Sudan was their favorite country and Ethiopia was their least favorite.  Mostly because kids threw rocks at the riders in Ethiopia.  We can also start drinking alcohol in Ethiopia, to many riders' delight.

Stage 21 - We finally hit the pavement again.  I actually missed the dirt.  It was fun to travel through some remote villages.  The ride to the border of Sudan and Ethiopia was nice and easy.  We could see the terrain change from very flat to a bit hilly.  People on the road waving and giving thumbs up, I'm going to miss that.  Crossing the border to Ethiopia was easy.  We went through passport control on the Sudan side, a quick form to fill out, then a stamp on the passport and that was it.  Crossing a single bar gate, then there was a small bridge between the border, and we crossed into Ethiopia.  While cycling on the bridge, a man shouted to me: "Welcome to Ethiopia!"  After crossing into the Ethiopia side, the border control was very slow.  We all went into a small, but air conditioned shack, and handed our passport to a receptionist.  He recorded our information in a thick book.  We had to give our occupation to the receptionist.  Mathias from the TDA said to the receptionist, in a heavy Swiss/German accent (just imagine Arnold Schwarzenegger) : "he's a navigator."  The receptionist said, with a smile: "where is your ship?"  I said: "It's in the ocean."  We all laughed.  The receptionist actually entered "Navigator" under Occupation for me.  We also had Rock Star, Nuclear Physicist, Proctologist in our group.   It took about an hour to go through the entry process.  While waiting a few riders found beers!  I took a sip of Dashen Brewery's beer from Gondar.  It was overly sweet and malty. I only took a couple of sips, while other riders drank several bottles.

After crossing into Ethiopia, the people physique definately changed.  People dressed differently, more western shirt and pants.  Just a few meters into Ethiopia, a kid waved to a group of cyclist and said "hello, give me money."  Andre from Quebec, Canada, retorted "you give me money," without hesitation.  The kid didn't say anything.  A lot of people shouted "you, you" as we rode by.   Looking forward to our 25 days here!

Stage 22 - Our first day in Ethiopia!  We've been warned about kids throwing rocks.  Well, some of us got hit.  I got spat on, twice.  The sun rose from the distant mountains in the early morning.  The Ethiopians have a different time system.  Their time starts when they wake up.  So our 6am is their 12:00am.  Our lunch is noon, and their's is 6am; our mid night is 12:00am, and theirs is 6pm (18:00).  So they are 6 hours behind Sudan, eventhough they are in the same time zone.  We decided to keep the Sudanese time, to avoid confusion.  Also, they their date and year is about six and half years off.  It's June, 2003 in Ethiopia now.

The morning ride was gorgeous!  It felt mother nature was riding along with us.  Birds were chirping, rolling mountain roads twisted and turned.  It was a comfortable 75F.  As we rolled throughed different villages, young kids enthusiasticly ran towards the road, waved their arms, and yelled out "you you you you!"  That pretty much described our entire day, anytime we saw kids - "you you you you!"  The people in the villages were predominately Christians, by the cross they wore on their necklace or the image of Jesus on those tuk tuks.  Some women had a tatoo on their forehead.  It was a circular symbol, I'm not sure what it meant.  After lunch, there were two steep climbs (like Pilot Mountain) and one steep, twisty, and long descend.  We hit over 40mph on the down hill.  The mountains were spectacular in the background.  I stopped a couple of times to take pictures.

Stage 23 - This was the toughest climb day - 5 miles of warm up on rolling hills, 15 miles of continuous climb from 1200 meters elevation to 2200 M, 20 miles of descend to 1600M, then 20 miles of climb to 2250M.  This was a mandatory day for the racers, so we all had to leave by 7:30 together.  7:10am, I found a thorn on my front tire.  I had to patch it quickly.  Then the climbs started.  The first climb seemed endless.  Every time we made a turn, it was more up hill.  The odometer rolled very slowly, after all, I was only going 6 mph climbing.  We past little villages here and there and there were more kids shouting "you you you you!"  We finally hit some down hills and they were fun to go down.  The only problem was that there were more people and animals on the road than cars.  On an up hill climb after lunch, some kids hid behind a row of trees on a hill pelted rocks at me and Andre.  I got hit on the hip and the wheels.  Then, the next group of kids got behind my bike and tried to open my bag.  Good thing I caught them, otherwise, I would have lost something, like other unlucky riders.  On the next hill, more kids tried to throw stones at us.  I got pissed and got off the bike and pretended to chase the kids.  The kids scattered and one left his stick on the road.  I took the stick and put it on the bike handle bar.  For then on, every time I saw kids, I put my hands on the stick.  That worked as a good deterrent.  No one messed with me again.  Finally, the camp site was insight, but it was located at the highest point in town.  Which meant that we had to do a final climb of about 1km.  What a day!