Claudia Dippold

Hi, I am Claudia and - YES!! - I will start to ride through Africa just having become fourty on the second day of the tour! I will for sure NOT be the fastest rider, since one of my biggest hobbies is photography. I am sure that one of my problems will be lack of space on the hard drive.. To be honest, my even more favourite sport before cycling is inline skating. Yes, I did already skate in Africa. Egypt. Luxor. The Valley of Kings... but since the streets of Sudan are said to be worse than in Egypt, I will also bring my bicycle! Looking forward to meet you all in Cairo!

Jennilea Hortop

Seeing the world is one of my passions in life. I have been living in Bangkok, Thailand for the passed four years. I could not resist the opportunity to tour across one of the most amazing, inspiring continents in the world. I am taking a year off from teaching to travel and bike through Mongolia, Tibet, Nepal and across Africa. Let the year of adventures begin!

Mark Lake

I am a 60 year old retired geophysicist, living in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. I have been married to Katie for 33 years, and we have 4 kids and 4 grand kids. I was born in Tabora, Tanzania, and this trip will be my first visit to the country in 50 years.... My experience in extended mileage bike touring is limited, although I have been participating in Triathlon for the last 20 years.

Erwin Attenberger

Hi, I´m Erwin, already 69, retired. My first long tour was TDA 2014, where I went from Khartoum to Nairobi and on my own through Uganda, back to Kenia and from there down to Southafrica, Lesotho, Swaziland and Mozambique. Meantime I´ve been on several TDA-Tours including South America, Silk Route and Trans-Himalaya. Looking forward to meet you on the next tour with TDA.

Steven Coventry

I'm Steve. I live in Vancouver, Canada, and try to spend a lot of time on my various bikes - mostly mountain biking, with some road riding and a healthy dose of commuting/puttering around town thrown in for good measure. I first heard of the TdA early this year, and immediately put it into that 'wouldn't that be awesome to do some day' category. As I thought about it more and more, I decided that there is no time like the present, so 'some day' morphed into 'right now'. I'm ridiculously excited about this upcoming adventure, and can't wait for January!

Michel Hendrix

I am 68 years old and in summertime I do cycling together with my wife and friends in winter speed skating. In 2014 I was participant 0f TDA from Nairobi to Cape Town. I enjoyed it very much, all those impressions and the nice people I have met on the Tour. Cycling through some beautiful countries of central America will be my next goal.

Mike Jakeman

Bike and travel.....it's a retirement thing.

Amanda D Cowley

Ina de Visser

31 year old Dutch living in Germany. Fanatic road cyclist. Enthusiastic but inept mountain biker. Looking forward to combine my passion for cycling and my love for Africa!

Ross Mallinson

Australian living in England. Slow plodding cyclist - falls off mountain bikes - quite good at getting lost.

David Crane

I'm a student from Lawrenceville, NJ. I'll be biking this year to raise money for Conservation International.

Birgit Hermann

I am an enthusiastic, active and adventure-seeking individual. I will leave the corporate rat race for a while to cure my long running travel bug - by the time we cross the finish line in Cape Town, I will have travelled, lived and worked in some 50 countries. It has been a childhood dream of mine to spend an extended time in Africa and I can't think of a better way to start this journey than by bike. Originally from Germany, I have lived in New Zealand for the last 8 years, enjoying the great outdoors. I am a keen surfer, runner, snowboarder, rock climber, scuba diver, mountain biker and photographer. A mtb-er by heart, I will have to get used to the long daily road distances of the TDA - but can't wait for the challenge! Look forward to celebrating my birthday with all of you like-minded, similarly-mad people in Khartoum on Day One on 10 January!

Peter Hargreaves

In 2014 my wife ,Anne, & I having been married for 30 years .in celebration,(desperation) undertook the Tour d' Afrique , on the basis that if we deferred the trip we might never go. We completed some 4,700 kilometres through Sudan, Ethiopia & Kenya, when just over the border into Tanzania I was hit by a truck resulting in 6 cracked ribs & unconsciousness, which meant I was forced to withdraw from the ride. I have decided to join the 2017 TDA in Arusha , where my TDA ended in 2014 . So assuming (fingers crossed) I complete the journey to Cape Town this will complete my personal TDA . Anne hopes to join us at Victoria Falls & ride from there to Cape Town. .

Ian Wright

Hi, I'm Ian and I'm a British veterinary surgeon. My family are South African and lots of them are still based there, so I've been lucky enough to visit a few times. I've only ever seen the bits in between from the air though, so the Tour should be the ultimate trip to see the cousins!

Jessica Morris

Hi Everyone! My name is Jess Morris and I am from Toronto, Canada (but born and raised from Vancouver, Canada). I have been working in finance for the past two years after graduating from business school in 2011. I needed something exciting to look forward to and my colleague mentioned Tour d'Afrique. I have never been to Africa but have traveled quite extensively across North America, Asia, Europe and South America. Africa has been top of the list for me for some time and biking has been a recent passion over the past couple years. I am really looking forward to this trip

Michael Lazzara

Hello everyone! My name is Michael, and I am from Florida. Just finished up college at the University of Miami with a degree in Neuroscience. I love traveling and adventure as I'm sure you all do. I had the opportunity to do the race this year, so I won't let it slip by!

Alessandro Mauri

Hey! My name is Alessandro, I'm 22 years old and I'm half german and half italian. I study mechanical engineering in germany and I will ride with you from Cairo to Cape Town. My motivations vary from the search for adventure to the need of a time-out from my exhausting study path. I'm looking forward to get to know all of you and I'm more than happy to participate in the Tour d'Afrique 2014 with you! P.s.: I'm racing the Tour d'Afrique just for fun :-)

Leah Ellis

I'm 23 years old from Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. I just finished my Masters in chemistry, focusing on rechargeable batteries. I heard about the TDA as a teenager, and always thought back to it as the coolest adventure possible! I love cycling (my feet barely ever touch the ground), but I am in no way a cycling purist. I started out riding a fixie, then an old English three-speed, then a few vintage road bikes. The bike I ride now is a rusty POS, but hopefully fixing it up over the summer will give me lots of practice for what's to come:)

Sally-Anne Dunn

After riding Nairobi to Cape Town in 2014 I'm coming back to finish it all off. Much less physically prepared this time, but I'm really keen to get started!

Erica Otten