Geraldine Paques

I rode the TDA in 2006 and it was one of the greatest trips I have ever done. It has been almost 10 years since that continental conquest and with my little girl almost 6 years old and happily in kindergarten I am finally ready for another great adventure. I cannot wait to exhaust myself daily with friends, see beautiful scenery and relish in the joy of a cold drink and food in little villages at the top of some monster hill/mountain or on some washboard road.

Sarah Grill

I am from Northern BC and this will be my second TDA tour. Looking forward to a sore ass and unbelievably tired legs.

Eleanor Patterson

Rode the Ruta Maya tour in 2015 and loved it. This tour looks just as challenging and interesting and with a heap of Ruta Maya riders already signed up, there wasn't an option not to register. Shame I won't be able to do the whole tour but hopefully will be able to do 1 or 2 sections.

Warren Baker

I am a rad mountain biker.

Chris Long

Looking forward to meeting up with everyone for a great holiday/adventure.

kim payne

I have realised cycling holidays let you see and experience so much more - and you can eat porridge every day and not feel guilty for all those carbs! Sign me up. I have cycled sections of Ruta Maya, Tour D'Afrique, and the last section of West Africa in 2018. Let's hope there is WIFI. I'm self employed so have to work outside of riding my bike. It's been done everywhere else so I am sure I'll be fine here too. Places I want to see before I die.. Iran, Mauritius and Alaska in no particular order. At least I’m close to Alaska I guess.

David Dennis

Hi. I've been racing bikes for 44 years. Velodromes first, then road racing and six mountain bike races in the last ten years. More interested in some adventures now. Maybe too slow to race:) My partner, Eleanor and I live at the base of Mount Wellington in Tasmania, where we can ride straight out our front gate and up onto a network of challenging and interesting trails across the face of the mountain. Looking forward to meeting all of you. See you on the trails.

Trixie Wagner

I am a German citizen but live and work in Switzerland. After having survived Ruta Maya, parts of the Tour d'Afrique and West Africa, I am looking forward to the next hilly experience!

Daniela Hofstetter

I live in Switzerland and I am working in Human Resources. In my spare time I like riding my bicycle, running, swimming, hiking in the mountains, but also less powerful things like cooking, reading, drinking wine and talking to other people or watching movies and listening to good music. I feel really exited to do this "La Ruta Maja" tour and I hope we will have a very good time, with sunny weather, exciting but also nice bike rides, good roads and - most important of all - a save trip to San José and back home.

michael howard

I have been cycling on and off since I joined a North London UK cycling club when I was 15. Since then I have 2 children one of whom convinced me to try Tour De Afrique. Due to business reasons I could only cycle from Khartoum to Addis Ababa. I was hooked, tow years later and here we are again. I am training whenever I can. Since my first TDA adventure the bug bit me. Cycled Tanzania to Namimbia and Kygrstand to Turkmanistan. I train on tollers in the garage due to work commitments. I am looking forward to Magical Mdagascar.

Michel Savoie

This will be my eighth trip with TDA. I like to travel on a bike with other cyclists like me.

Caroline Derouet

Karine St-Jean

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Marie-Christine Fleury

I am originally and live in Montreal, Canada. I crossed Canada in 2009 and I am very excited to take to road with all of you. See you in Anchorage !

Marie-Josée Vasseur

Francine Plante

ALLEZ ALLEZ ALLEZ! On n’est pas à la plage...

Wim Pauw

Born and raised in Utrecht ,NLD and moved to Canada in my early 20s. Have been living in Banff Alberta since 1971 and also have a residence in Scottsdale AZ. Me and my partner Nancy have travelled the world on our bicycles for the last 25 years but unfortunately she passed away July 2019 at a relatively young age (59). I promised her to keep on traveling with my bicycle so here I am doing another trip. Looking forwards to make new friends and enjoying life to it’s fullest .

Simon Lanyon

Looking forward to meeting everybody and especially looking forward to meeting some good friends from my 2 previous TDA trips. See you in Africa

Janice Lanyon

Cycling tours are such a great way to travel and to meet and make friends. I am looking forward to the challenge of riding Ruta Maya.

Wim Pauw

I have cycled mostly self contained or with other groups in 95 countries , with a goal of reaching 100 soon . This is my first TDA trip. I ski both alpine and Nordic.I live in Banff Canada and part time in Scottsdale AZ , USA .

Brigitte Oelert

I am married to Jürgen Willrodt and our first vacation 30 years ago was a bike tour through France. After our kids were grown, Jürgen convinced me to ride the Ruta Maya in Central America in 2015. It was my first TDA tour, which was tough but absolutely fantastic! The following year I cycled part of the Trans-Oceania Tour - from Auckland to Queenstown and in 2019 the first 4 weeks of the Trans-Himalaya Tour. Now I'm looking forward to cycling in Italy and of course the Italian cuisine.

Sharita van der Merwe

“The thing I love most about my job is watching the social dynamics unfold.”

For as long as I can remember I’ve been stripping, fixing, and riding bicycles. As well, I knew from a young age I wanted to explore, travel, and see the world—my dream at one time was to fly airplanes. However, it wasn’t long before I realized that flying in a straight line from point A to point B wasn’t for me!

When I left school I had no direction, no idea of where I wanted to be or what I wanted to do, once my dream of flying died. In 2003, I saw a magazine ad of a bunch of cyclists lined up in front of the Giza pyramids and I became hooked on the idea of doing that but I had to choose between taking a four-month cycling trip across Africa or going to Warriors Boot Camp to get educated. I chose Warriors and the programme equipped me for life by giving me a solid foundation. There, I was free to discover and explore who I was and to test physical and mental endurance. Having my attitude and my comfort zone constantly pushed readied me for all sorts of real-world challenges. I stayed at Warriors for three years, then cycled solo across Africa when I was 22 years old. In 2009, I landed the job as TDA’s assistant tour director on the Cairo to Cape Town trip—and the rest is history.

Ever since, Africa has been my baby and my favourite. I’ve worked on other tours—the Silk Route, the Bamboo Road, Ruta Maya, Magical Madagascar—but Africa is my full-time project and has lately included TDA’s complex tour of West Africa.

I’m based in beautiful Cape Town; when I’m not here, I’m scouting, exploring, problem-solving somewhere in the world and revelling in the adventure of being alive.

TDA has taken me to 80 countries and my most incredible off-the-beaten-track expedition was the West Africa scout in 2017, especially Guinea—I’d never been to a place so remote, rough or wild. I fell in love with Africa all over again on that trip. The stories are epic and endless!

There’s never a dull moment with TDA, because you absolutely never know what’s going to happen next.

Jan Knackmuss

I like cycling and traveling and what i like even more is the combination of both. So i'm looking forward to this upcoming trip.

Anmei Goldsmith

Looking forward to meeting y'all in January!

Micah Markson

“A mountain biker at heart, but bike touring pays the bills!”

Most of the time, I work at the TDA head office in Toronto as the IT Manager, but I also sometimes work on the tours as needed, either as a guide or a bike mechanic. I landed here because my uncle mentioned to me he had a friend—Henry—with this crazy bike company, the friend and I met, and the rest is history.

I studied Business and IT at university, and my previous job was at an exotic car dealership. In my own time, I do more mountain biking than touring, and usually find nice trails to ride wherever our tours take me. Outside of TDA, I’ve cycled across Europe and half of Canada.

The Pamir Highway was a peak experience for me! As a mountain biker, I always love the roughest, crappiest roads our tours travel on. My favourite day of the entire Silk Route was actually the day that most of the other riders thought was the worst—it ended with a long switchback descent on a rough gravel road.

Every day brings a new challenge to solve, whether here in the office or on the side of a road in the desert. I really value that element of my job and relish it immensely.

Joseph Lee

I love to travel, and bicycle touring is my preferred way to see the world. This will be my first tour as a 'sectional rider'. I’ve enjoyed 4 full TDA tours: Indian Adventure, Ruta Maya, Pub Ride, West Africa en Vélo. I am looking forward to re-visiting Budapest and experiencing Romania, Bulgaria and Istanbul for the first time. I have travelled lots, but my list of places to visit never gets any shorter. I became a teacher, mainly because of the holidays, and I am now semi-retired, doing occasional teaching in between travels. Looking forward to renewing old friendships and making new ones.

Dean Murray

Retired from engineering in 2015 and have been doing cycling and hiking trips since, including Newfoundland, Ruta Maya, Australia, Pub Ride, West Africa and Great Divide. Cycling trips with camping are my favorite times.

James (Jim) Raddatz

Old and slow.

Jacques Sennéchael

Hello, As cycling journalist, I have the chance to ride without the obligation to win! I am happy to participate in the Ruta Maya to tell the Vélo Mag readers. See you in San José!

William Waters

Dave Waters. Whitewater / Mountaineering expedition guide. ATD for the ruta maya tour

Douglas Percival

Flinging spanners, clicking gears. Juggling bike spares & Humans Habits to create Bicycle Tours that function in crazy locations. See you guys at the next crazy location.

Michael McCabe

I just completed the Tour d'Afrique Cairo to Capetown epic adventure this past May. I did a cross America bike trip the previous year. These trips have turned me into a restless traveler. I looked up what the next trip would be as I have become restless again. This Ruta Maya came up and there was a cancelation so here I am.

Brian Fullerton

Have done several tda trips (mostly sections) and am excited about Helena to Moab. Even more excited about having a shiny new bike. The photo was taken during the West African trip not long before I fell in the ocean and ruined my phone, my gps, my pride and of course my bike.

Charles Feaver

My first TDA ride was India in 2012. Loved it. Bamboo Road in 2013. Awesome. Ruta Maya 2015. Oceania 2016. South America 2017. Looking forward to going back to Central America.

Juergen Willrodt

I am 72 years old and have already participated in 10 TDA tours mainly as a sectional rider. I am married and happy father of three girls (42, 27 and 24) and grandfather of three grandchildren. I am partly retired working now just 1 or 2 days a week which gives me plenty of time to travel. I have studied physics and have a Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics. I have been active in sports all my life and before I started doing cycling tours I have been active in Karate and participated in World Championships 1975 in Los Angeles and 1977 in Tokyo and became European Champion in 1977. You can find more information on my website.