Little Acts Of Kindness During A Huge Journey

 

Benjamin Levin is the Content Creator on the 2024 Tour d’Afrique Cycling Expedition. As the tour approaches the finish line in Cape Town, he considers what the riders will take away with them from their incredible journey.

On the Tour d’Afrique we have visited long dead pharaohs in Egypt, walked with mountain gorillas in the dense jungles of Rwanda, watched the great wildebeest migration in Tanzania and cycled with elephants in Botswana. Now, as we approach the end of the tour, hammering through the gravel (and occasional tarmac) on our way through Namibia into South Africa, we find ourselves reflecting on the trip, considering what we will remember about it in five years. It is not that we will not remember the skies over Lake Malawi or the copper red dirt of Zambia; it is that we will first think of the people. We will remember the amazing shared experience that we have had with each other. Over all of the epic landscapes, over the kilometres cycled and life we have witnessed, we will remember each other first and everything else second. That is what makes traveling special and the Tour d’Afrique extra special.

When the trip started in Cairo, nervous excitement welled up among the TDA staff and riders as each new face arrived; anyone who walked into the hotel could be a rider. As we began to sort out the TDA riders from the average throng of tourists, our nerves began to calm a bit. And once we started to mingle, we discovered something about ourselves and about the group as a whole: that we were all here because of a similar drive that we have, a drive to see the world and a drive to cycle the world. Everyone on this expedition could have made a different choice, a potentially sensible choice (haha!), to go on a lovely, cushy holiday to any number of remote tropical islands. They could have sat in the sun, drinking cold drinks and breathing clean ocean air. Instead they chose to cycle 9,000 kilometres through dust, wind, rain, and heat, through jungles, deserts, mountains and valleys, on their way to what would be the most epic accomplishment in most people’s lives.

By the first day, although most people’s nerves had settled a little bit, people were still wary, not only about the ride but about spending four months with a group of strangers. Many riders came with a partner, a friend, even a child or a parent in some cases, but a large portion came solo, hoping to connect with people as the ride progressed; they would. “You are in front of a major challenge with a group, so after the first kilometre you are not a solo rider anymore, you are part of a group,” Jannes Nijland emphasized. He explained that when you are part of a group working towards a common goal, it forms a camaraderie that is only found in environments like the one that the Tour d’Afrique fosters. Three months into the trip, “we have all sort of become an extended family,” Helen Smith commented, as she celebrated her 50th birthday in Botswana, with elephants in the background. Even the Baldwins, an experienced husband and wife duo, had concerns about the social aspect of the trip. “One of the concerns we had coming with a cycling group was that it is a group of people that we are going to be with for four months… but once we got here you sort of realize that everyone has a common denominator that we have got: we are cycling,” Andy Baldwin said.

As the trip progressed out of Egypt and into Eastern Africa, bonds continued to form within the group. On the Tour d’Afrique there are riders from all over the world and all sorts of unique backgrounds, including different levels of cycling experience. It became apparent quickly to many of the riders that having this variation in levels of experience was a bonus on our long journey. As Vince Waite and I chatted while riding to lunch one day, little acts of kindness were big on this trip. He explained that one of the things he felt very fortunate about was that another, more experienced rider, Jim Flynn had seriously helped him while riding in Rwanda. Vince had only been biking for about half a year before the tour whereas Jim has been a lifelong cyclist. As the mountains rose up to greet us in Rwanda, many people struggled with the climbs. On one of these days, Vince was standing up on his bike, pushing hard to make a climb when Jim rode past, telling him to sit down. Vince listened, curious about what Jim would say, knowing Jim had more experience. To his surprise Jim put his hand on his back and pushed him up the climb. Vince said that he did this on two other climbs as well, helping him make it through a tough day.

Above all things, this is what the Tour d’Afrique is about and what makes it special: little acts of kindness during an epic undertaking. Doing a trip like this solo would be amazing, a feat of human achievement; however, a trip like this without human companionship would be a much different experience. You might get to see dunes fall into the sea in Namibia, or get to explore the Pyramids in Egypt, but without each other to do these things with, we would not look back at them in the same way. With a group like the one we have on the Tour d’Afrique, it is about more than sightseeing and cycling; it is about connection. It is about the chorus of cheers that go off in support of the last rider getting into camp; it is about the laughing, crying, and smiling you do with your fellow riders. It is about being pushed up the hill and sitting on the beach in Cape Town knowing you did it. And maybe you could have done it alone, but you are glad that you did not.

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