Emily Currie

“‘Happiness is only real when shared’: I think this counts for a whole spectrum of experiences and emotions—pain, hardship, excitement, joy, for instance—and explains why sharing an adventure or journey with a group makes it so very real!”

Who would have thought that growing up on a farm and a career in rural healthcare would prepare me for a job like my job at TDA? I always had the desire to travel and even though I thought working here would be too good to actually come true when I sent in my job application, here I am, six tours and 28 countries later. I’ve learned more about the world and myself then I ever expected.

With so many incredible memories—and so much food shared, so many friends made along the way—it will take me years to process everything I’ve experienced courtesy of TDA. Highlights of my travels so far include finishing the North American Epic (NAE) in Mexico City on the Day of the Dead, cycling Central Asia’s Pamir Highway, Abdul’s pilaf in the parking lot, Colombia, pan con chicharron, Patagonia, a massive thunder storm in Zambia, Hami melon, Madagascar, Samarkand, walnut and honey spread on fresh bread and topped with whipped yak cream, eaten in a warm yurt… and the list goes on! It’s amazing to realize that everything I experience with TDA will have an impact on my life long after these adventures are over.

One adventure I don’t expect to have again is the one I had in Mexico, when we discovered Hurricane Patricia was heading right straight at us. Monitoring the storm’s progress through the night—from stage 4 to stage 5—seemed so unreal. By 5:00 a.m., CNN was calling Patricia the strongest hurricane ever measured on planet earth. A few hours later, we loaded all bikes, riders, kit and crew onto an extra van and bus … and took off, tails between our legs, because Patricia was shaping up to be a beast! By nightfall we were safe and sound in the heart of tequila country, and, as Patricia lost most of her fury at landfall, the party at our lodgings ramped up.

There are so many wonderful aspects to working with TDA but key amongst them are travelling with purpose, meeting people from all over—and the food!

Yanez Novoa

Exited to be part of the team.

Jill Cohen

Hi Everyone! I'm looking forward to joining Magical Madagascar 2019 as your Tour Medic. Saddle sores happen--I'm here to help, and we'll get through it. :) A bit about me: I'm an ER Travel Nurse and Dance Teacher, currently on assignment in the lovely little Eastern Sierra mountain town of Bishop, California. I like running amok outside on a bike, a snowboard, a boat, or my own two feet. And I love expeditions, explorations, journeys, and discoveries. If you say "Hey wanna come visit me in Siberia," I am that person who will show up on your doorstep. This is more or less how I started working with TDA. Ok, see y'all soon!

Elizabeth (Liz) Crago

There are so many interesting places to travel to, and I can't think of any better way to travel through anywhere, than by bike. I enjoy the challenge it brings and I look forward to going to the more out of the way locations and interacting with the locals. I enjoy seeing how different life is in new places and from other perspectives. I enjoy travel, and I love cycling so am looking forward to combining them both for this trip.

Stephen Owen

Cycling since school age chasing buses to school, and now aged 53, I have stepped up cycling in the last 7 years with weekend rides and endurance 300/500km rides in 24hrs, wisdom/body is now telling me that multi day riding more fun... More recently cycled across Atlas mountains North Africa and now across Sri Lanka. The Madagascar full trip will be the longest period for me, but love the challenge and expect to wrestle with inner daemons and dig deep for when the ride begins to bite; It always brings a smile to my face once I've sat down with coffee in hand and consider how lucky I am.

Rebecca (Becky) Lewis

I live in Steamboat Springs, CO. I do lots of outside activities in this mountain town, including hiking, biking (road and mountain), fishing, skiing, x-country skiing, show shoeing, and probably more I can't think of right now. I do a lot of volunteer work. I'm divorced and almost retired. I've traveled a lot of the world, and always wanted to go to Madagascar. Can't think of a better way to do it than this. I'm going with my neighbor and friend, Amy.

Amy Jenkins

I am so excited to join this ride! I have ridden in Italy, Spain, Croatia, Vietnam , Cambodia and across America. This is sure to be the coolest location yet! I am married and have 2 adult children, their spouses and a 6 year old grandson, all of whom are the light of my life! In addition to biking, I love everything outdoors including snow and water skiing and teach adaptive snow and waterskiing as well. Because I am retired, I spend my time volunteering for Hospice, for an adaptive sports program and at our local hospital with our therapy dog Mollie. Life is grand and I look forward to this wonderful adventure with all of you!

EVAN KENLEY

I have the wanderlust. What better way to do it than by bike? I have traveled extensively and recently did the SAE and Silk Route. What fun and challenging trips. I am hitting that sweet spot in age when the time, energy and desire are there to challenge myself to new adventures. I look forward to sharing this challenging experience with my fellow adventurers.

Tom Green

Steve Caithness

I'm brand new to cycling, thanks to my partner Liz for enticing me to join her on this amazing trip. I've been pretty active all my life, playing sports, fishing and diving, and especially enjoyed travelling to Truk Lagoon in 2011 and 2013 diving shipwrecks. So I am looking forward to a new challenge and enjoy meeting new people from different cultures and with different ways of life.

Alan Knight

I look forward to meeting and riding with all of you. This will be my second tour with TDA. I survived Cairo to Cape Town in 2013 and hope to survive Madagascar as well – and not get lost too many times. I retired about two years ago and currently live just outside of Geneva.

Hugh Green

Ellen Kurland

I'm a paramedic/firefighter in Washington DC who is looking forward to getting out of the city and politics of DC. Madagascar seemed as far away as I could go and still be on this planet. I am currently reading a book on a researcher who spent a lot of time in Madagascar studying Lemurs and I'm getting pretty excited about being there. I can only get enough time off of work to do the first section. Looking forward to meeting everyone and doing some cycling.

James Bowen

I am a plump 60 year old barrister who should know better

Freddie Kennedy

Charlene Cebryk

Rita Tellerman

Sonia Simard

Dehon Ninon Cedric Ainarime

Dehon ,26 years old National tourist guide in Madagascar This is always what i wanted to do and I am so blessed to be part of this trip.

Henry Gold

“Seeing the impact the tours have on participants gives me great satisfaction.”

I set up TDA in 2002 with the hope of creating a truly unique bicycle adventure in Africa, where I spent a significant amount of time in the late ’80s and early ’90s. The idea was to have fun but also to advocate for cycling and donate some bikes to health care workers in Africa.

I love seeing and experiencing the world so any new place to explore gives me great pleasure. My favorite experience has to be arriving in Cape Town on the inaugural Tour d’Afrique and proving to all the skeptics and naysayers that it could be done—because we did it.

Another story that sticks out was when I wasn’t feeling well in southern Tanzania and took a room in the Baptist Conference compound in order to be close to the toilet. I took my money belt off and put it on a chair. In the morning I put on my cycling clothes but forgot the belt. That afternoon arriving in camp I realized I’d left the belt behind. When I made my way back to the Baptist centre it was gone. Since it contained a substantial amount of money I reported the loss to the local police, who decided to investigate. They got a list of the people who worked at the centre and proceeded to go from house to house, ransacking each one. I felt sick to my stomach and asked them to stop but they refused. In the end, they took me to the police station, insisting they needed to write a report.

Afterwards, I took a local express bus, which actually stopped every couple of kilometres, loading and unloading dozens of people on and off a van that had nine seats. Eventually, the bus reached its destination but I needed to hire a taxi to get to the campsite. The taxi driver and I struck a price and off we went. After a while, the driver decided he’d driven far enough for the price and wanted to drop me in the middle of nowhere in the dark. I prodded him on and he continued for a bit before wanting to stop again; we repeated this exercise several times. Right as we neared the camp, the taxi’s motor died. I pushed the car to the side of the road and paid the agreed amount, adding a generous tip, but the driver was unhappy. It turned out there’d been a misunderstanding—I’d offered him $15 but he’d understood $50. The misunderstanding grew into a heated argument and drew a small crowd. Suddenly there was a huge bang and I felt a whoosh of air as if a bullet had just missed me—a truck without lights had hit the taxi full on. I was convinced people had also been hit but although the taxi had been demolished, no one was hurt. The next morning, one of the staff asked me if I recalled what I’d said after the bang. I didn’t so he reminded me, repeating what I’d said: “What a day I’m having.”

I love my job because it lets me cycle the world and because of the endless possibility for unique experience it affords me. I also derive immense satisfaction from seeing the way tour participants are affected. For most of them, our cycling tours are life-changers.

Niels van Dongen

Christopher Clyde

Ok, time to saddle up again....TDA 2014 rider, a few other international shorter tours since then. Looking forward to India. See you all soon. cheers Chris -now signed up for Madagascar, as well. Looking forward to the lemurs and Yanez' cooking :)