Adele reports from the Bamboo Road cycling tour:

No one can deny that the greatest perk of traveling by bike is the joy of filling the insatiable appetite of a cyclist. When bike touring in a new country, fulfilling that appetite becomes an adventure onto itself. From decadent hotel dinners with a dozen dishes to choose from to road side noodle stands, Bamboo riders have sampled a wide range of Chinese cuisine. Although the food changes from region to region, there are a few familiar finds on the dinner table, or breakfast for that matter as savoury flavours and spices are served up all hours of the day.

To start the day off you may begin with a simple congee, a rice pudding, jazzed up with meat, fish or vegetables, or perhaps just on its own for those looking for a more gentle start for the taste buds. A beef broth soup with noodles or dumplings is another classic at any hour of the day. Dumplings made fresh at the table next to you or noodles stretched or sliced minutes before they are served is a delicious hearty meal you can be sure to find in even the tiniest of cook shops. Fried rice, pickled veg, fried eggs, steamed greens, spicy noodles, and sticky buns. Then there’s also the Chinese baked goods, or perhaps better describes as steamed or fried goods. Soft steamed buns filled with anything from steamy hot pork and broth to a sweet bean paste. The other commonly found road side snack found the world over is some form of fried dough. Fried carbs of any variety tends to work out favourably in my books

Throughout the rest of the day you can be sure to find yourself any number of meats fried up with their equal weight in chilies, simple greens with just the right amount of sautéed ginger and garlic, fatty cubes of pork caramelized to perfection, fried rice, egg tomato soup, bbq beef skewers sprinkled with salt, chilli and spices, marinated bamboo shoots, grilled lotus root…. hungry yet? I could go on but I think you get the idea. You want to head out for a meal with as many friends as possible that way you can order more dishes for sharing. Seeing large groups of family and friends sitting out well into the evening passing dishes around the table and perhaps a tall bottle or 5 of Tsingtao makes you think that we just don’t know how to eat in the west. Food should be social, as unique as the individual cooking it, and local both in style and ingredient sourcing.

To balance out our indulgences on all things carnivorous, fried, or otherwise we are in the midst of prime pomelo season here in Meizhou, road side fruit stands burst with piles of citrus, watermelons and bananas all of which are a perfect mid ride snack on these hot and humid days.

Adele reports from the 2015 Bamboo Road cycling tour:

If the dogs sleeping in the middle of the road are any indication of the new found pace of life, we can safely say we have said goodbye to the urban reaches of Shanghai and are onto the country life. Winding down roads that seem impossibly narrow to be a through road, a ribbon of reassurance flagging, and onwards we ride. As we pedal further away from the cities, we find ourselves weaving between China of the future and Chinas historic past. From towering skyrise developments to road side temples the real beginnings of the Bamboo Road are all around us. Ducks bathing in the ditches, rice drying on the roads and bamboo shooting upwards and bursting from every corner. With the rainy season hot on our heals, and at times seemingly here to stay, the landscapes burst with the electric green of terraced rice fields, and tall grasses rustling on the road side.

Well off the tourist path, the site of a spandex clad foreigners is a sight to behold for many. Except of course for the ladies sat around on a hot afternoon playing a fierce game of mah-jong, disinterested in pausing even for a moment to sell a cold pop to a thirsty cyclist. That aside, China has been a warm welcome to our riders, offering umbrellas in the rain, fixing a road side flat and laughing along at our attempts at sign language, text translations and mime to converse with those we come across in a days ride.

With over 1,000kms already under our belt we’re well on our way and the routine of daily life is starting to settle in. The days are full but that’s not to say we have not been fuelled accordingly. The food has been a definite highlight so far, stay tuned for more on our delicious culinary adventures, coming soon to a blog near you.

As our great expedition comes to an end, it would be impossible to say that we could have done this alone. Not without the help of each other; not without the help of the staff; and without a doubt, we would not have moved an inch without the fearless leadership of Sir Ciaran Orion Haranahanyahan Powers.

Like any true leader, he refuses any fame, any glory, nor any special treatment and, in fact, specifically requested that I kindly not write any blogs about him whatsoever. Right. Here I have for you – a summary of what we have learnt about Ciaran over the past 4 months in Africa.

For starters, this is this trip will officially mark the longest stretch of his life that he has spent OFF (Off his bike). While many cyclists turn up to the TDA having never ridden a bike or very little in comparison, Ciaran has spent nearly all of his life riding a bike, working in the cycling industry and following cycling events worldwide – only for all of that to grind to a halt in Cairo, Egypt.

Being tour leader unfortunately means spending most of one’s days behind the wheel of the Toyota Hi-Lux checking in to make sure everyone is more or less still alive. It’s a rough life. I mean the air-con is half-broken from a previous trip across the African continent and only comes out of the vents by your feet. The hardship. The suffering. While everyone else is sweating their brains out of their ears, half dead across the Sahara desert, Ciaran is there – rustling around in his back pack for his wool socks, reaching across to the drink holder (found only on the passenger side, ugh) for his diet soda water, while checking his smart phone for live stream updates on Giro d’Italia bike race. The multi-tasking is impressive.

The man runs a tight ship however. You can tell by the trim of his neck beard or more accurately, the laser-beams carved into the side of his head. Cleanliness IS a sign of godliness and Ciaran doesn’t let Africa get in the way. Did you know that this man has gotten himself a roadside/ally-way/ backyard hair cut in every country that we’ve gone through? That’s right. With the ease of cross language communication we’ve seen just about  everything from the tour-leader bowl cut to tour leader buzz cut and every other creative expression as to what a ‘good’ hair cut should look like. Out latest addition was a camp-cut done by a rider who shall not be named, the result of which was a request from Mr  Henry Gold himself to please “fix that” before Cape Town.

Now I know what you’re all thinking by now, the ladies must be a-running. You’re right, they are. The ladies have never run so fast and so hard, in the opposite direction. But hey now, he’s actually the perfect catch.  Listen up. He’s highly qualified in listening attentively to any complaint you might have about absolutely anything. I mean, even if there is nothing within his power he could actually do it change it, he will try. Why?  Because he has to. He will wake up hours before you every day and make sure your days starts as seamlessly as it did the day before. He will even drive you thousands of kms in any direction to deal with your personal problems. The only catch is that at the end of the day, you’ll be living in a blue Marmot tent with half broken zippers and, if he’s anything like the rest of us, sleeping on a theramarest with a slow leak.

Luckily if you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the one and only Ciaran HP on this African adventure, perhaps you’re one of the fortunate few joining the Bamboo Route this fall where you will be charmed by this guy’s endless zest  and obsessive-compulsive tour leading.

Last day in Namibia, last border to cross, last rest day, last mandatory race day. For a seemingly endless expedition, the finish line is for the first time a beckoning speck on the horizon. Sitting in the setting sun on the shore of the Orange River looking across to South Africa, the vanishing light is all too symbolic of one long story about to end.

As the tour comes to an end, it’s the best of days and the worst of days that stand out as the defining moments of tour. As for the rest; it’s nothing but the best of memories that float to the surface from this point onward. The worst of days are battle scars worn proudly, the pain and suffering of the EFIers have nothing but glory to report on, and all the others are simply a hilarious story of adventure.

How the highs and lows of the tour have come and gone, traded places, and turned around are all part of a true expedition. The process of turning expectations into realities and a routine into an adventure is all up to the individual to make the most of it, and settle in to a space of personal happiness and sustainability, regardless of the adversity of it all. At the on-set, the chaos was sought out, celebrated and relished. Nothing felt routine, and the road ahead was a great mysterious adventure. By now it’s a matter of survival, “how many kms” “what does the road look like” “what does camp look like” “how far to the closest coke stop” “what are the winds supposed to be doing tomorrow” “how many meters of climbing after lunch?” and on. What now feels like an all too predictable pace of life is the very rhythm of life that was the source of joy and peace in the on set. What do you love about tour life? Asked months ago to a handful of riders;

“The simplicity”

“the fact that I don’t need to think about anything if I don’t want to”

“I can just get on my bike, enjoy the ride, and that’s it”

All bitter sweet realities ticking their way to Cape Town only to quickly jump back to the ‘real world’, whatever that might be. The one journey that we have shared is a bicycle ride from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa, however the personal stories of success and suffering are a separate reality on to themselves. 100 stories to be told of what brought each individual to the TDA, and now another 100 stories of what each is taking home. Holding on to the mind, body and soul to keep it together for just one more week, and if we’re lucking enough, we’ll have another great week of adventures to be celebrated, and told to those on the edge of their seat, waiting to see us back home.

As of Windhoek, the tour has entered the final section to Cape Town; The Diamond Coast. The stretch is named after the history of the area, however, having the opportunity to ride through the vast scenic landscapes of Namibia is arguably the gem of the whole tour. Landscapes that stretch beyond your imagination and colours unthinkable to a dessert landscape. Blending pastel pallet of purples, yellow, red, orange, pink, blue – all ever-changing as the sun rises and sets. After spending nearly 4 months on the seat of a bicycle, it’s hard to imagine being impressed with the scenery …but we are. For many of us these first 3 days into the off-road, as brutal as they have been, have been our favorite days on tour.

Enjoying a stunning day of solitude in Sossusvlei, Namibia the tour takes a different kind of rest day.  There are no errands to run, no shopping malls, no electronic stores, just dessert, mountains, solitude and…. Silence. Everyone has seen the National Geographic photos of the red sand dunes, all at perfect 45 degree angles, snaking their way into the sunset and that is exactly where we are; springbok galloping past tents, weaver birds chirping overhead and jackals quietly lurking in the tall flat grasslands.

The tour has welcomed a few new faces to the tour in Windoek including Mr. Gold himself, enjoying the final stretch into Cape Town with the tour he created so many years ago.  Another three cyclists are all riding for Cinelli & test riding the Cineli Bootleg TDA model – Dario Toso from Cinelli, Chas of team MASH as well as Lucal Brunelle, the bike cinematographer legend. The race took a well-deserved half day yesterday, with a 30 time trial in the morning and a casual,  photo taking, naked mile riding, sun-burn collecting afternoon. With only one rest day on tour after this one, the spirits are high, worries are low and there is a rekindled spirit for the week ahead of rugged and wild riding.

Like everything else about this trip, it is one thing to talk about it and is quite another thing to do. As a writer for the Globe & Mail, Leah McLaren, once put it after cycling a section with us –  “I’m going to ride my bike across Africa. Sounds pretty great, doesn’t it? Rolls easily off the tongue. Gets a positive reaction at a cocktail party. But there’s only one problem: You actually have to ride your bike across Africa. And like most things in life worth doing, that’s a hell of a lot harder than it sounds”.

As we enter the more traveled part of Africa we run into all sorts of other travelers. From other cycle tourists to over-landers to volunteers on a short-term contracts, the reactions to our endeavor are the same across the board –  shock, amazement and then the questions. How, where, what if, have you ever, what about, has this, how do you etc. The sheer logistics on a macro and micro level are beyond the imagination of anyone who has never stepped aboard the Tour D’Afrique.

The personal commitment to managing one’s own mental and physical well-being is daunting enough. Then there is the other more tedious, yet essential, daily task of ever so carefully taking care of ones’ 100 or so individual belongings with the same care and attention as you have for the previous 100 days of exhaustion on the road. Did you put your camera carefully back in its case? Did you remember to take all of your laundry in that was drying overnight? Did you pick your dinner plate up from the ground next to where you were eating? Did your bathroom bag stay in the shower stall on the last rest day? Did you pick your passport up off the counter at the money changers? Did you waterproof ‘everything’ in your riding pack today? Did you need to take your camera out in the sandstorm? Did you leave your cycling shoes outside your tent last night?  And the list goes on and on.

These questions are usually simple enough to find the right answer to from the comfort of your own home or rested and relaxed on a rest day. However, after cycling over 100kms through sand and dirt, the ‘right’ answers to these questions become harder and harder to come by. Deciding which is less heartbreaking in the battle between lost and broken is perhaps dependent on the individual and the item involved. Whether staring at the computer that won’t turn on is any less upsetting than the passport which is sitting in the hands of some stranger are not directly comparable, yet they fall under the same list of tour essentials come and gone.

A quick survey of items that are no longer with us, due to the ‘extenuating circumstances’ of tour life, is almost comedic in its length, yet we can all agree that there is nothing funny about waking up to find that yes, you did in fact leave your cycling shoes on the road last night…. and so it goes:  5 tents, 12 cycling water bottles, one pocket knife, countless amounts of clothing, 7 cell phones, a dozen dinner plates, endless tent pegs, 4 headlamps, one solar panel, 2 reading kindles, 5 tires, a handful of sunglasses, 2 pairs of cycling shoes, 3 cycling helmets, 6 tent zippers, 13 tent poles, 2 watches, half a dozen cameras, one round of malaria meds, one iPhone, 3 cycling computers, 3 MacBooks…as well as just about everyone’s ego, pride, dignity, temper and patience.

Needless to say, on any given day on tour, you would be hard-pressed to find anyone  too hung up on the lament and loss of such high value and irreplaceable goods. The ship sails on tomorrow, we all help each other out where we can and in the end we make due with what we have, finding that none of it (except of the cycling shoes and passport perhaps) really matter in the end.

Bicycles that continue to come up with ever-new mechanical issues daily. Full body exhaustion that takes its toll on riders. Minds that can see Cape Town all too closely on the horizon. This is what  gives The Elephant Highway section of the TDA that elastic feeling of completion. While one end is pulling you closer and closer to the end, the other end is reminding you what lies ahead of you – today, tomorrow, the next day and every other day until that final pedal is turned.

With the very real end in sight comes a conflict in actions, motivations and feelings as to how excited or not one is to be reaching’ The End’. Regardless of the challenges at hand, or current priorities and to-do’s, no one can help but feel the present moments slipping away to never return again. The realities and experiences on this tour are comparable to none and hold memories more raw and real than anything many of us have ever experienced.

The freedom of building one’s home in a landscape that stretches to the horizon in all directions day after day. Seeing every horizon come and go, every sunset, every sunrise, every drop of rain and every ray of sun. Cycling across Africa is to truly live in every inch of the continent, one moment at a time. As we move south, the tour stays in ever more convenient and comfortable camping spots, with water and electricity at just about every camp from here to Cape Town. This may seem a given camping anywhere else in the world but here on this tour, this is true luxury. With that in mind, the tour honoured our final bush camp – not to celebrate their end, but rather to remember the beauty that they were.

Burning man was born. From the invested efforts of a few of the staff members, the supplies were collected over days of lunch stops until the time came to create. Over the space of an afternoon, the Man was built with face, hands, hair and the stance of true hero. Burning Man was introduced at that night’s rider meeting, welcoming all to write a note for the fire. As the sun set notes were added to the Man – feelings to let go, hopes for the future and wishes for the rest of the tour. “No time ’till Cape Town, “No time for bad times” and the fire was lit.

Many a night has been spent over the last week starring for hours at the last few burning embers of a fire or up at the vast sky full of stars, taking in every last moment of Africa. The tour starts now into its final section to Cape Town – just over 1,700kms to go. Kicked off with 8 days of dirt through Namibia, this tour is far from over.

It’s hot, it’s dry, it’s windy, it’s barren and every day it’s 150kms or more of dead straight, dead flat riding. The landscape is like riding through a cartoon with a 10 second illustration on repeat.  Grass, shrubs, bramble, grass, tree, small tree, grass, shrubs and repeat. The mystery of what lies ahead is taken down to a crawling pace of anticipation as every slight curve in the road opens the view to the next 10kms of your day; shrubs, grass, trees, small tree, grass, shrubs. No villages, no market stands, no stalls, no children, no turns, no forks, no school yards, no mountains, no cafes, no households, no farms, nothing. Take away all the noise and activity, take away everything that was once a challenge and we are faced now with an even bigger one; emptiness.

Completing 800kms in 5 days of riding is more of a meditation. With some riders spending upwards of 10 hours on the bike there is more time to think than the brain would like to deal with. Whether it’s a conversation aloud with your riding partner or a conversation with yourself  during the hours upon hours on the road, all the basics have long been covered. What to do after the tour, what you’ll miss about life here, how you feel about cycling at this point, what you’re really missing about life at home, what your next bike tour will be, next bike, past adventures, what new job you hope to get, new career move, new city, all about your family, your friends, you favorite beer, the food you miss and tales of your misspent youth are all topics long expired in the first few 100 kms in this 1,000+km traverse of the flat lands.

So where does the mind go now? With headwinds blasting in your face on day 3 of 170kms, no end in sight and no water left, you dig. You dig down past the point of giving up. Why? Because there is no option. It’s a place where many of us never go when we are at home with creature comforts at our beck and call. It’s a place that even if most of us never visit again, we know is there, deep inside us, that little voice that just says “keep on moving, just keep moving forward”.

Travelling 12,000kms by bike sounds fantastic and intriguing but the reality is far too abstract a number for any non-cyclist to really imagine. It is at this point in the tour where that number feels all too real and is accounted for more closely than at any other point. An expedition of this caliber is not for the faint of heart nor is it reserved for the ultra-athletes amongst us. Those who choose to join us for this mad adventure have simply had a serious conversation with themselves.  A conversation about pushing beyond the point of reason and beyond what you ever thought was possible and discovering that if you just keep moving, and keep moving forward, one day…you’ll get there.

A life-long athlete and accomplished ultra-marathon runner, it is no surprise to find John’s name near the top of the race results each and every day on tour. John’s life as a runner was simple; find a mountain, run to the top and run back down again.  Simple didn’t ever mean easy, as these mountain tops totaled up to 70kms for a round trip at times. Running up to 150kms/week at the peak of his training is a testament to the volume of physical exertion he is acclimatized to and perhaps made joining the TDA seem not so out-of-this-world.

In 2007, inspired by a curve ball in life, John decided to take up cycling.  Not being the type to take things lightly, he needed a lofty goal. For his first attempt at a bike race, starting out in the Masters category, he signed himself up for Paris to Dakar.  If it’s any testament to Johns’ humble spirit, in asking him how he did, he simply responded, “quite well”, which, through a series of prodding questions, I finally managed to discover that he in fact won the race. Feeling quite chuffed with himself, he decided to stick to it. TDA had been on his radar for years and at last in 2013 everything came together for him to join us all the way from Cairo to Cape Town.

Although anyone can argue that there is no perfect bicycle for this expedition, John’s bike is about as close as you can get. A friend and bike shop owner back home in New Zealand jumped at the opportunity to design the perfect ride. John is riding a carbon Specialized Stump Jumper with a carbon 29er fork, drop bars, XTR components, a beautiful set of wheels spinning on hope hubs and a whole range of tires for the wide variety of road conditions we face. Specialized Armadillo Captains, Schwalbe Duranos and a set of Marathon Plus tires have taken him this far. When asking John what he would change about his ride, he admits it’s not the perfect bike for the paved sections but for a trip like this, he wouldn’t change a thing.

For the third year in a row now, the Tour d’Afrique Foundation has connected with the town of Livingstone, Zambia, donating more bicycles than ever before. With guest support from the Ministry of Tourism, the Ministry of Education, teachers, students, and of course our charitable partners, it was a well-attended event on the beautiful patio of the Zambezi Waterfront hotel.

Here in Livingstone the Foundation partners with African Impact and The Happy Africa Foundation (THAF), are we are providing bicycles to students who would otherwise not be able to travel the far distances to school and back each day. The Happy Africa Foundation is a sustainable tourism organisation here in Zambia who works with local charities to provide logistical support to small scale local projects. African Impact is one of THAF’s sister programs which THAF supports with administrative help, staff, and logistical resources.

African Impact works providing basic resources to enable youth to complete their primary and secondary education. With the help of the Tour d’Afrique Foundation, 50 youth will be able to make it to school and back every day without having to miss out for work at home, or for their parents to pay for transport out of their already stretched income.

“I didn’t have hope that my child will make it to grade 10 this year, but the bicycle he was given at his school, both his attendance and performance improved dramatically.“

The Tour d’Afrique Foundation would like to thank all of our 2013 riders for their contribution to the Foundations, as well as an extra thank you to Chris Walker, Tracy Esterhuyzen, Sandra Seager, and Trish and Wayne Gaudet for their added support of the foundation this year. None of this would be possible without you. After hearing the difference each bicycle makes in the lives of these youth, spoken directly from the students who benefited is a true testament to the importance of this work.

The long days begin. In just 8 days of riding from Lilongwe, Malawi to Livingston, Zambia the tour covered a total of 1,219kms, every inch of which can be felt at this point in the tour. For the first time, the idea of reaching Cape Town has gone from an abstract tag line said to every local we’ve met along the way to a real destination coming closer and closer by the day.  With over 3,000kms still to ride however, this carrot is still far enough from the nose, to challenge even the most dedicated EFIer.

Living the life of a TDAer, many abnormal day-to-day events take place which no one blinks an eye at. We all expect tomorrow to be hard, we all expect to wake up exhausted, we all have our ongoing medical situations that we tend to each day, but when the most commonly spoken phrase is now “only one month to go!”, you know we live a deranged reality. Only one month? If you were told that you had one month off starting tomorrow, you’d be through the roof with excitement at the endless possibilities of what you could get up to and where you could go.

This week has been a reminder to all of us however, that it doesn’t matter if there are 2 or 2,000 kms left, anything can happen at any time. Cycling has its inherent risks, as any insurance company will be all too eager to inform you, and sometimes accidents happen.  We had to say an early goodbye to full tour rider Jan, who is home safe and sound by now but is greatly missed by everyone back on tour.

The fine balance of suffering and living-the-dream is what gives this tour the soul searching satisfaction, which at the end of the day makes you feel alive. There is nothing in life that can make you feel more alive and more present then a challenge that gets at your very core, followed by moments of absolute peace and perfection. The tour enjoyed the latter of the 2 for the few days spent in Livingstone, Zambia. From micro-flights over Victoria Falls, to cruises up the Zambezi, life is good for at least a few days. As for tomorrow, we can count on at least one thing, bikes will be ridden, exhaustion will be had, and a cold beer at camp will be that much sweeter.

Adele shares the trials and tribulations of our cooking duo Jon Shepheard and Yanez Novoa. Chef and Assistant Chef respectively.

Cooking for 75 hungry cyclists, three times a day, in 10 different countries, in 40 degree heat, in monsoon storms, with at times just 3 hours to cook, 30 minutes to shop, 20 languages to translate, and all delicious, healthy and ready by 5pm each day?  Cooking for the TDA circus is a culinary expedition all to itself.

Where exactly the biggest challenge lies is hard to say, as each stage of dinner prep brings a different level of challenge with the ever changing variables of the day.  Consider that the tour operates on approximately a 6 day week with one rest day in between.  On that “rest” day, the cooks are at their busiest. Making a plan for the week ahead, buying all the dry goods and staples they can, as well as all the fresh produce that won’t go bad in the African sunshine beaming on the trucks each day. As the week goes, they shop often, they buy what they find, they buy what they can, and what exactly those ingredients are, are as predictable as the weather. For any iron chef fans out there, this is the TDA kitchen on a typical day.

Between the planning, the prep, the organization, and the cooking, the shopping has to be the most entertaining of all. Shopping at markets big and small, the experience can range from a quite personable interaction with a family’s vegetable stand at the edge of their property, to a near mob of sellers, ambushing Jon and Yanez for a pushed sale of their goods. Regardless of the size of market there are two consistent challenges; language and a comprehension of basic mathematics.

“How much for this bag of charcoal?”
“35,000”
“eeeesh, no way, too much”
“OK 3,000”
“How much?”
“10,000”
“How much??”
“5,000”
“OK OK, how about I give you 2,000 for this bag right here”
“OK”
“OK?”
“OK”

Non-sense.

“How much for this pile of tomatoes?”
“100”
“OK great, I’ll take 20 piles”
“OK.  2,300”
“No, but I want 20 piles and they are 100 each”
“2,500”
“….?…. Here’s 2,000, how many piles can I get?”

And the negotiating continues.

Considering that the average market shopper is picking up supplies for one family for one day, you can understand the confusion of “How much for 20 bananas” vs “No no, 20 bunches of bananas”.  Once they find a market seller willing to negotiate and understands the quantities needed, it’s ON; 25kg potatoes, 60kg bananas, 20kg tomatoes, 35kg whole chickens, and that should last us until tomorrow.  In some of our more challenging sections, tomatoes, cabbage and onion where in fact all there was to work with to feed 100 or so hungry machines eating 2-3x as much as your average human, while preparing everything in 40 degree heat.  I tell you, sometimes it really is up-hill both ways for the TDA crew over here.

When the markets are good however, we get nothing but spoiled day in and day out.  BBQ’d short ribs, braised chickens on the beach, mustard green salads, creamy cheese noodles, ginger green beans, curried plantain, fresh fruit salad, and custard for dessert.  Now if this is making your mouth water after not having ridden a mile, you can only imagine what the ‘seconds’ line up looks like around here.

Embarking on a 12,000 km bike trip across the world’s most challenging continent is an intimidating and self-questioning thought for many. Context however is everything. Meet Mike Vermeulen.  This trip is not his first bicycle ride, nor his second, nor his 15th. In chatting with this well-seasoned world bicycle traveller, it would be safe to assume that this trip could be rounding out his 100,000th km by bike.

Seem farfetched?  If starting in Amsterdam and cycling west until the far coast of Russia, nearly 13,000 km later seems unbelievable, then sure.  Having cycled 4 of the world’s continents, this will be his 5th, taking him around the world and back again. Every 4 or 5 years, Mike takes off in a new direction, but not without exploring home first. Mikes #1 trip for anyone looking to cycle tour is simply to bike your own country first. Not only to reinforce your own culture, but to ease yourself in with something familiar. Not taking this lightly, Mike has cycled 50 US states and, if it wasn’t for the newest addition of Nunavut in Canada he would have cycled every province and territory in Canada as well. Another 8 months on the road in another corner of the globe brought him right the way round the outside and straight through the middle of Australia, another trip brought him 4,000 km through China, another 2,600 km through India another 10,000 km in Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia and now you see how the math adds up.

Having spent more than his share of time on his bicycle already, much of the TDA is no harsh shock to his system, and as a result, he does not seem to be phased by much of anything on tour. In chatting with Mike, it’s as if life is one big inside joke, which if you stop and chat for a minute, you might just get let in on the humour of it all. Whether it be first thing in the morning before the sun is up, slaving through the mid-day heat, or bumming around on a lazy rest day, the first words to leave his mouth are guaranteed to be “hey, you having fun?”, something which you can be sure, Mike is having plenty of.

You can follow the story of all the riders of the 2013 Tour d’Afrique on Twitter @tourdafrique and #tda2013

You can follow Mike’s adventures through his very popular blog – http://www.bike2013.com/

Although locally referred to as “the warm heart of Africa” this stretch through Malawi hasn’t exactly been the sun baked Africa we had all pictured it to be. Thinking that we would somehow leave the rain behind was far too wishful thinking considering the scenery remains equally lush and green over that magical country line from Tanzania. Our luck did however come in our favour for our gorgeous rest-day spent lounging on the shores of Lake Malawi. A white sand beach with the mountains of Malawi behind us (reminding us of the reality to soon hit!) and the mountainous shores of Tanzania and Mozambique off in the distance, we settled in for a perfect day of doing nothing. Dug-out canoes, rivers to hike, and naps to be had all accompanied the one and only Malawi Gin, seemed to be just the level of activity any of us were up for.

Life cannot be so easy for a cross continental expedition of course, and so reality struck once again. The first morning out, 4:30am a rude awakening was had; good morning monsoon. That cozy feeling of being tucked into your sleeping bag with the patter patter of rain outside just isn’t the same when it is immediately interrupted with the need to get on the spandex, wrestle with the locker, get some breakfast in you, and hit the road, entirely soaked by the time you’re 1km down the road. With a section of the campsite flooded and a kilometer of sand to bike through to get out, it was yet another morning attesting to the fact that TDA is not for the faint hearted.

Malawi has at least been good to us in that although we’ve had some damp mornings, and a few showers overnight, there has been a fair share of sun baked afternoons to dry us out just enough to keep the mental sanity afloat, which, at this point in the expedition can be a daily battle!

The tour has been climbing and climbing our way through with another few thousand meters of elevation behind us, and a few exhausted bodies as we approach the end. This section of the tour is short but mighty and now ends in Lilongwe where we enjoy not one but two days to restock, replenish, refuel, and heaven forbid, some resting.

It’s the kind of heat that finds you awake at 2am, still dripping with sweat from the day before.  It’s the kind of heat where you find yourself sweating from absolutely everywhere at once while trying to convince yourself that you love this.   It’s the kind of heat where while riding your bike, life is beautiful and as long as you drink enough water, the body seems to do as it should.  The minute you stop the slow creeping feeling of humidity comes crawling back from every nook and cranny, completely cocooning your skin in a sticky layer.  Back on the bike again and life again is beautiful.

Riding through coffee, banana and mango plantations with a little road side stall every 500m selling just that, getting distracted from the days ride is all too easy.  A thatched stall selling peanuts, another selling samosas, another with perfect stacks of avocadoes and mangoes and you have to think how easy life on the bike could be if the whole route was like this.  “It feels like we’re riding the Tour de France” said one rider in reaction to the endless streams of local spectators cheering us on.  “Karibu” Welcome, “How are you?”, thumbs up, smiles, and plenty of hellos as we cruise our way through this tropical paradise.

The life on the road and the number of other bicycles adds to the feeling that we must be doing the right thing. With any and every edible item transported on wheels, there’s a mutual appreciation on the road of what each other are up to. It’s no easy job riding from Cairo to Cape town, nor is it a cake walk taking your 10 kilo bag of charcoal down the road with a basket full of bananas on your head and a chicken in the front basket. Smiles all around , breaking through languages, the bicycle speaks 1,000 words.

Just when we thought life couldn’t get any better, it suddenly jumped to the next level; introducing Chitimba beach.  White sand, beach, bar, wifi (sort of), this is beyond TDA caliber paradise, this is just straight up paradise.  Now whether any of our riders will have any inclination to leave this place on the next riding day will be the question.

After many wet days, and bad internet connections, here is a belated Mud Report from late last week by Communications Officer Adele…

Every year the TDA heads for the garden-path through Tanzania, and every year the rainy season starts like clockwork, awaiting our arrival to the day.  Dark clouds loom over head, as the riders and crew await the inevitable.

The eight days between Arush and Mbeya, are a test to even the racers amongst us, but the greater challenge this week comes more so off the bike than on; aka how to live in a flooded landscape.  An afternoon of sunshine here, a morning of sun there, get out the tarps, the bikes shoes, the cycling kit, the socks, the packs, sleeping bags, t shirts, jackets and anything else taken down by the monsoon.  It’s one thing to bike in the rain all day, but it is certainly quite another to be faced with an entirely flooded camp to make you feel right at home. A few tents flooded in the after dinner rains, a time when one can only hope for at least a decently thick thermarest, or at least that your sleeping bag had dried out from the flooded night before.

Days of rain, mountains of dirt, and even some road construction thrown in meant a hard go for any drive train, not to mention the dozen or so snapped derailleurs throughout the week. With the whole tour working together lending a bike here, a pair of cycling shoes there, or a spare part at the end of the day, the race went on, and EFIs were kept, and somehow we all made it through.  Bike shop has been running double time well past sunset, and the medics have had their fill with all sorts of off-road mis-adventures.

The pavement begins again soon bringing a relief to the long days of riding, however one look at this dense tropical landscape, and we can be sure that it’s not all sunshine from here.

The TDA 2013 is back on the road and ready for another tough and gritty section. After more of a break than expected due to the political situation in Kenya, the racers and riders are more than ready to get into the true grit of it all. The rainy season is upon us and the off-road lies ahead. The cool air has been a more than welcome break to the thick humidity of equatorial Africa. However, ominous rain clouds looming over-head bring a hesitant sense of relief.

Coming back to the tour after a chance to explore Kenya and Tanzania away from the tour while living life like a real tourist, a vacation feeling has trickled its way into TDA life. With well-conditioned legs and a new lush and tropical landscape, the inclination to take one’s time, get up to side adventures, take a million photos and arrive at camp whenever that happens has been a new approach for some.

Regardless of our proximity to Ireland, March 17^th is still March 17^th, and was a perfect excuse for St. Patty’s Day antics. With an individual time trial in the morning, the afternoon was free for riders and racers to join in the fun. A photo scavenger hunt was created by ‘the instigator’ crew of riders which involved a whole afternoon of off-the-bike challenges. Each of the challenges was allotted a different number of points and the pressure was on to come in on top as the winning prize was being first in the dinner line for two whole days. Rides in donkey carts, carrying live chickens into bars, swapping cloths with locals and, of course, collecting every beer cap from the day produced the winning team of  Alex M, Freek and James Campbell.

The dirt road now begins. With the rainy season upon us, there’s another good week of mud-caked momentum before we can say goodbye to Tanzania.

The Reason

Every year the riders who sign up to ride the 12,000kms from  Cairo – Cape Town register for countless numbers of reasons. If not for the personal challenge and adventure, then sometimes the simple love of a bicycle is enough to drive someone to spend 4 months of their lives intimately invested in one. Some decide to cycle the TDA having never ridden a bicycle before, not entirely sure if they will in fact love it. Before long anyone spending a large amount of time in the saddle comes to agree that the bicycle is not solely an efficient form of transportation but a personally satisfying one as well.

The empowerment brought on by a bicycle is nothing new to the Tour d’Afrique nor any of the many riders who have completed the tour over the years. With 100% of the TDA Foundation funds raised by either tour participants or the company itself, bicycles to be donated are purchased locally. As well, all recipients of the Foundation are small-scale local charities. In this way the Foundation focuses on giving something back to the people and the communities through which the expedition passes.

In Arusha

Here in Arusha, the Tour d’Afrique Foundation partners with the Canada Africa Partnership on AIDS (CAP/AIDS). With its local partners operating in the Arusha area, CAP/AIDS has been working in Tanzania since 2004, supporting the work of local community-based organizations focused on home-based care, HIV education and awareness and the promotion of voluntary testing and counseling. Since 2010, CAP/AIDS has been supporting the improved ‘capacity building’ of its local partners in Tanzania. This effort focuses on delivering effective, gender-sensitive and responsive support to local communities through better governance and implementing finance/project management systems based on best practices.

Women in Action (WIA) is a CAP/AIDS Tanzania-based charity operating in the area, with whom the Foundation has partnered for a number of years – donating dozens of bicycles to their programme. With this help from the Foundation, WIA is able to serve home-based clients more easily as well as increase their outreach to a larger client base in the Arusha area. The donated bicycles are continuously being modified with the aim of achieving a reinforced design suitable to the local conditions. This, despite a higher initial cost, would enable WIA’s bikes to carry larger loads, a more practical and longer lasting option.

Starting in Nairobi* and continuing south to Cape Town, the TDA Foundation continues to build partnerships with ‘bike-minded’ organizations that will last for many years to come.

*Due to potential political issues during the recent election in Kenya, the TDA Foundation donation ceremony scheduled for March 10th in Nairobi was postponed and will take place later this month. A report will be posted on this once details are available. Although the riders will not be there to enjoy the bicycle hand-over in person, they will be there in spirit.

As the tour lingers in the lazy heat of the equator, anxiously awaiting the election to play itself out, there is more than enough time for reflection. Two months gone, two months to go – one can’t help but think that our time together is ever precious and ever fleeting. It feels as though we’ve just started, like we’ve just got to know each other and ourselves in this crazy place. So much has happened, so many landscapes and challenges, borders crossed and cultures traversed and yet somehow it’s halfway gone.

How do we hold on to this once in a lifetime opportunity? When the days are as full and as long as a day can be, how does the time manage to slip away so easily? With the toughest sections gone and done, does this mean the days will pass with an ever increasing speed or is this simply an invitation or an instigation to pick up the pace and make the most of our time?

With a few days to simply kick back, not pack a tent, not fix a flat, not be filthy or exhausted, our time together has turned a new page. For the first time, we have simply been able to enjoy where we are, and who we are with, with no added tasks or distractions of the pace and intensity of tour life. Heading back into another new section on tour, the trick now will be to hold on to that rest day feeling, soaking in our time together for the second half of the long road to Cape Town.

What do you do when your bikes gives out in the middle of the Ethiopian highlands with another few thousands clicks to go?  Do you throw in the towel and get on the truck?  Do you ring up your fancy bike shop back home, pull out the visa and hope for the best.  Or do you accept reality as it is and look for a local solution. Meet Andy Morrit.  With the strict time line of 24 hours in Addis Ababa, Andy was on the case. With a secret tip from a local rider as to the best shop in town, he was off in a tuk-tuk and ready to make the big purchase. The first shop turned out to be a write-off with nothing but second hand rides costing in the realm of 5,000 birr (roughly  $275 USD), which is nowhere near a deal in the local currency.  Keeping on with the mission, Andy found The Shop; local bikes, brand new, squeaky clean, kitted with every possible accessory, one set price of 3,600 birr, and sold. Although perhaps not the most high performance, the merits of this bicycle are more than meets the eye. The smiles it puts on local faces, seeing a “ferengi” ripping along on an Addis special, not to mention the delight of our riders at the hearty determination of Mr. Morrit. And from our perspective; you certainly get the TDA stamp of approval. Hope to see you on another tour soon Andy!

Two months on the road, nearing our halfway point and suddenly we find ourselves with four days of unscheduled rest and relaxation.   I can’t say that anyone’s complaining around here, in fact, some of us would argue that this might be a new discovery for this expedition.  Time off equals sanity and health. Between the shaded patios and swimming pools, the pace of life around here is getting lazier by the minute. Having lived together for two months now, and having gone through an awful lot of testing and trying situations, it was about time we spent some time doing just the opposite; party time. With only a few words mentioned about said ‘Equator Party’, and not a single hint to anyone taking the dress-up idea to heart what so ever, there was a good hour of hysteric laughter as everyone turned  up one by one, each with a new hilarious outfit out trumping the last.

There were team costumes, theme costumes, and some that were just on a league of their own. Thijs as “Equator man”.  10 points for the creativity of turning cleaning supplies into a made up superhero outfit. Mike Vermulin as Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya and the Equator.  Yes, that was a ‘costume’. Wayne, dressing as god knows what but between the face paint, the jewelry and the toga, it was amazing. And honorable mentions in the ‘team costume’ category has to go to the Kiwi’s who went so far as to make matching outfits for all three of them as, of course, the New Zealand All Blacks.

It doesn’t look any of these costumes are getting left behind in any sort of hurry, so camp life will be a little more colourful from this point on. Two more days in our happy little paradise here and then it’s back to the good life on wheels.

Like a ship that never touches the shore, the S.S. TDA charges forward through many a road less traveled. Down roads where not a tourist is to be seen to off-road sections that challenge even the toughest of 4×4’s, these tours are not named The Seven Epics for nothing. That being said, in all the fun we have in our dusty back-road camp-outs, the underlying bottom line of running a safe tour is never abandoned in the name of routine or tradition. This is not the tour of Europe or the North American epic. This is Africa, a continent that always keeps you on your toes.

Kenya. Election day 2013. After two days of hot and dusty bus rides, the tour settles into 4 glorious rest days, waiting for the results to roll in. After much consultation with a variety of local Kenyan contacts, the decision was clear – to simply get to a comfortable place and watch the election with ease.

With Nairobi just two riding days from where we are, these days come as a welcome mid-tour break. With a thick layer of dust and dirt on every piece of equipment , clothing and bicycle on tour and more than a few regulars visiting the medical truck, this is a welcome break. Stationed in a city just big enough to have super markets with ice cream, booze and pharmacies, we feel an overwhelming sense of comfort that we might just need to 4 days to get used to.

With high-fives, jumps and smiles, the tour exits Ethiopia and says goodbye to the most exhausting country yet. Having spent three weeks (the longest that we spend in any one country) in a place with more climbing and more people than anywhere else, this lot is just about ready for a change in scenery and a change in pace. On the days leaving Ethiopia, our riders were asked for the three words that would best describe this country. In their words not mine, the following is an amalgamation of their answers, illustrating their true gut feelings after three weeks of chaos:

Ethiopia: You!, Love, Nausea, Intense, Unique, Smiles, Dynamic, Vomiting, Excruciating, Beautiful, Vivid, Rolling, You!, Dense, Scenic, Money, Views, Diverse, Kids, Missiles, Diarrhea, Exhausting, Mountains, ‘Where’s-the-exit”, You!, Over-populated, diarrhea, Exhausting, Annoying, Chaotic, Spectacular, exhausting, panoramic, You!, memorable, full-of-potential, You!, exacerbating, taxing, exhilarating, hills, kids, and last but not least… “Where-you-go?”. What do all of these words mean in the end?  Well it would appear as though we’re all exhausted with a bad case of diarrhea all the while being accosted with a few hundred “YOU, YOU, YOUs”.  Sounds about right…

Kenya, here we come.

Beer is bitter.

But some days, like today, it tastes like mother’s milk.

Days where you had to get up at 5:30 to make breakfast.

Days where you had to take down the toilet tents after having beetroot for dinner the day before.

Days when the Ethiopian kids find a secret stash of rocks and their aim was true.

Days when riders are grumpy because the road conditions have worsened in a year’s time and they were riding with road tyres.

Days when the chef goes shopping and dinner is up to two clueless lackeys.

Days when it takes 12 hours to refill propane tanks.

Days when the water runs out just before dinner.

Days when the shower queue just keeps getting longer after four days of bush camps.

Today, a sip of beer has not been as sweet in a long time.

Cheers to Ethiopia!

Traveling at the speed of the bicycle, we spend much more time in the the places in between, than we do in most cities, but when we are, the country transforms.  From the pace of subsistence farming in the country, to pace of life in the city where millions of Ethiopians live, everyone transforms, man, woman and child, to a hustler. You, you, money, money, 1 birr, 10 birr, mister mister, I love you, you you, pen, pen pen, money money, and on.  Knowing the strange logic of needing to turn down the car radio in order to read the street signs, and knowing that there is no volume knob on Ethiopia, it is safe to say that a clear mind is never at hand on the hustling streets of town.

In an economy where pennies matter, everything is for sale and every sale matters.  You will never run out of toilet paper in Ethiopia, you will never go hungry, and you might as well take up smoking, for the three most consistently and persistently available items. Walk 20 steps you’ll find your tissues, candy, cookies and smokes, walk another 5, and you’ll find your socks and underwear, another 10 for mangoes, bananas, and pineapples, 2 steps for a shoe shine and 7 more for the 1 birr service of how much you weigh.  You could in fact start at one end of the street, weigh yourself, eat a cookie at every possible cookie stop, and then weigh yourself again at the other end just to know you got your money’s worth.  There’s hardly even the need to walk anywhere when a small tuk tuk ride up the street will cost you 1 birr, which in context is roughly 5 cents.  Beside the point of how easy one could become a cookie filled laze-o, the underlining story is the thin lining of pennies which keeps these city running.  Millions of people selling you one millionth of a product; one serving of soap, one stick of gum, one block in a taxi, and one plus one, plus another one, eventually, adds up to something. You can’t blame the street hawkers, and salesmen trying to make their case on you, but one million ‘you you’s’ later, and we’re ready for the country side once more.

Since our set off in Cairo, we’ve met many cyclists.  From the boys of the Cairo Cycle Club who rode with us to the border, the local riders in Khartoum, and the many locals in the villages all throughout, it is apparent here just as anywhere else in the world, that the sport of cycling is predominantly driven by men.

Here in the capital city of Ethiopia, there is another story brewing.  Not yet out of high school, with a background in running, this small handful of women have managed to find their way into a love of cycling.  There are no programs in place, or resources to bring young women into the sport, but with a background in competitive running, these few found their way.  After seeing a few races themselves and knowing they had the competitive spirit, they thought they’d take the risk.  Quickly finding that they were able to win a few races, they were able to work their way into the local cycling clubs in Addis.  With such minimal support, and bikes with repair needs visible to the most novice of cyclist, nothing stops these girls from putting a few 100kms on their bikes each week. It was inspiring to meet these girls and fun to ride with as they joined us for the ride in and out of Addis Ababa.

Nothing like a good dose of adversity to bring us all together. From the sandstorms, the heat exhaustion, the climbing, the overbearing locals, there is no end to the challenges tomorrow can bring. Like that terrible boss that everyone loves to hate, the frigid 5am wake-ups, the debilitating heat and the thousands of meters of climbing, have all become that terrible ‘other’ who is the source of our misery and delight. You could argue, and I will, that this delight in suffering, this pain for pleasure is the very source of what brings us all to this crazy adventure. To find satisfaction in a day’s work back home, an evening passed with all the mod-cons and luxuries, never feels as deserving as that barely cold coke at km 107. Just looking at the faces of all our riders as they crawled their way 20kms up a climb that never ends, and it’s nothing but thumbs up and smiles. Either we’ve all lost our minds, or if this suffering is the source of true bliss, then TDA must be the world’s newest religion. As each rider rolled across the finish line at the end of the day up the  Blue Nile Gorge, the crowd of spectators grew and grew, cheering each other into camp. As the challenges like this continue, week by week, the feeling of this day is like any other; we’re all in on it together and what doesn’t kill us, will at least be worth some strange sort of satisfaction in the end.

If pictures speak a thousand words than this double portrait is twice the story of what this young lad is all about. Telling of his adventurous ways, this portrait was painted while having dinner with some local artists he met while exploring the city of Gonder, Ethiopia. The second story, of course, being the lush and beautiful mullet which is not to be touched until our final destination in Cape Town. Like a good cheese, it will only get better with time. Having grown up a world traveller, and having spent time in Africa already, he knew he wanted to come back one day.  With family all over the world, every year he was headed somewhere new. Falling in love with Tanzania, Madagascar and South Africa, the seed had been planted to one day come back. Without revealing the age of our young star too much, Jared had another plan of what to do after finishing high school. Whilst his friends were headed off to University or thinking of backpacking through Europe, he was busy making other plans.

Having not been a serious distance cyclist before the tour, he knew he was getting himself in for an adventure, and low and behold, with a little (or a lot) of pain and suffering off the get go, he’s a strong, not to mention, EFI, rider by now. Always a smirk on his face and a sense of humour about it all, something tells me that the story of the portrait will not be the last adventure on the long road down to Cape Town.

To look at these two photos and think that they were taken just one week apart, gives perspective to the gaps which the cyclists eyes and ears take in as we traverse one landscape to another.  To cover this same distance at the breakneck speed of a bus or a car simply doesn’t compare.   The subtle shifts and changes of landscape are lost to the lull of the engine, the tired eyes of passengers drifting off to sleep to nothing but blurred vision of the distance covered. The change began early on the day to the Ethiopian border with a few more trees and shrubs until eventually the idea of shade became a possibility again.  As the elevation began to climb in the following days as did the presence of flowering trees.  The smells had change dramatically.  With the flowers came the birds, the crickets and the lush soundscape of the mountains.  Our camp spots have become increasingly more eventful as the population density rides, as does the livestock.  If you haven’t had a donkey nibbling on your tent by now, you’re just missing out.

Up in the cool of the mountains now, the tour relaxes in Bahir Dar, a town where the air is cool, the people are friendly, and just to make us feel right at home, there seem to be equal numbers of cyclists on the road as cars. The tour now charges ahead to the infamous Blue Nile Gorge, stay tuned for more tales of epic TDA adventure.

This rest day is really best put into perspective to appreciate what a beautiful thing this is.    First, picture the closest you’ve ever been to total physical collapse.    Picture that the time is 2pm, in the middle of  the Sahara, it’s 50 degrees, there is dust and dirt all over your face and body, your legs are burning from the previous 600kms of off road, your stomachs feeling weak, you’ve already drank 8 liters of water and can’t seem to get enough, the road is made of sand and corrugation, add some saddle sores and  bicycle which, due to all the sand, is also not working it’s best by now, and you tell  me if you feel  riding another inch, let along an entire week in these conditions. Just as the light appears at the end of the tunnel ; the day into the rest day has come, there is just another 2,500 meters of climbing before you get there.  I’m certain the TDA is cited on a Wiki article on ’What is Pain’.

Riders pile in one by one, collapsing into our glorious hotel camp, mentally and physically bankrupt. What first; the shower, the beer, or to simply not move from this very position?  Out onto the vista overlooking the city of Gondar, the air is cool, the beer is cold, and a full menu of not-so-camp-food is available at the drop of the hat.  After a good 24 hours of this the lobby of the hotel still resembled that of out-patient lounge at the hospital, but all is on the up and up by now. The picturesque city of Gonder is a place where many could simply retire from the life of TDA and live in what feels like a mini-heaven already.    For one there is beer, which really just makes  everything ok, add fresh blended fruit juices, the best coffee yet, delicious local food, and more than a few night clubs.  Let’s make a deal, if someone’s getting kicked off the island, you can kick me off right here.