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Day 7, 116km to Idfu

Posted on January 18, 2013 by mev

Today a straightforward ride to small town of Idfu. The new rim rode well.

We again followed the Nile past small towns, the last of these being Idfu. Our first 4km was back to main canal road and then along the irrigated areas on good roads. Winds were light and folks were riding pretty fast. At 15km I had been mostly by myself and followed a tractor for another 10km. After this with the group until fell of the back. So the police shadowed me for a while.

I caught back up to the main group at 56km when Marco had a flat.

As you can see this attracted a large crowd of observers and then us watching this crowd. Not much later our lunch
stop right next to the Nile. A sign here also said “Welcome to Aswan”, presumably the province.

After lunch Daniel and I rode together, making the distance go a bit more quickly. Still it was getting hot and I said, “lets stop at the next coke stop we see”. Almost immediately, we came past a small cooler set out in hot sun. It looked suspicious but we went over and owner was glad to sell us cokes and invite us in covered awning. Just after this three more riders came past, so we becconed them to come over as well. By now a fun little conversation with owner including photo below as Tracy rode a donkey

Idfu is a nice small town, so I went out exploring. Came past a number of market areas. Clear this isn’t on the normal tourist circuit, making it all the better. Overall, a fun day and glad I got in some extra stops.

Rest Day, Luxor

Posted on January 17, 2013 by mev

Caitlin rebuilt my back wheel, certainly appreciate that. Also been in touch with Sugar Wheel Works and again very appreciative of assistance in getting a new rim. If I can find sectional rider joining in Nairobi willing to bring my rim, that would be wonderful. For now, I’ll be riding even more carefully over those speed bumps. I took things for short test ride and also decided to put just slightly less pressure in the tires (60 psi instead of 75 psi).

Also a note that Tour D’Afrique has posted race results. You’ll see that I and many others aren’t really racing (and also 12 people not timing at all, so not on the list). As expected I’m on the slower side, slow but steady. Folks clock in at different times, so this doesn’t actually mean completion times.

Below a few photos from being a tourist and our rest day. Karnak Temple is pretty spectacular.

Staff at work in the office.

The week ahead.

Mock up model of Karnak Temple, this one is big and old, dating back from the middle kingdom.

Huge pillars at Karnak (this was most impressive place to wander through)

Can you tell I was impressed with the pillars

Tourist area, unfortunately tourist economy has been down, so a lot more vendors than tourists in some places.

Also a day for laundry

In main square near Luxor Temple

Luxor Temple overview including mosque

Luxor Temple

Day 6, 107km to Luxor

Posted on January 16, 2013 by mev

Egypt has people! After the past days cycling through desert areas we spent the last half of the day cycling past more populated areas close to the Nile River. These areas are irrigated and we passed along a canal after 45km or so all the way into Luxor.

Where irrigation goes, so does agriculture. There was sugar cane including a cute train on very narrow gauge with cars filled with cane; as well as other crops. People lived along the canal and on both sides and we took the old road along this route. Every so often there would be speed bumps to keep everything slow.

The first 30km was still desert riding and I rode by myself. However as we got close to Qena, I rode with another rider until lunch at 62km. It was a little fun finding our way through middle of Qena but soon figured all this out.

At lunch we had an audience. Sometimes this group is a bit of a traveling circus complete with performers in brightly colored outfits and strange bikes. Hence, it isn’t surprising that we are a bit of a spectacle when we stop. We were watching locals with carts, donkeys and they were also watching us.

After lunch we had been advised to travel together with a group. Not for a particular dangerous situation, but instead as the circus came by, some of the kids might be tempted to throw rocks or sugar cane (there had been some incidents last year, e.g. of a “high five” and then putting rider off). So I rode as part of a larger slow crew with ~20 riders. This made a bit more of a spectacle, and while we got some shouts, there wasn’t much to be concerned about the kids.

This got us into a hotel and we had a choice of camping in the courtyard or also some rooms. I decided to splurge and get a room. Good chance to get myself clean and charge up electronic toys. I also gave the bike a good wash.

On giving the bike a wash, I noticed that my rear rim had developed a split. Shoot! Tomorrow one of the mechanics from the trip will help rebuilt a wheel using a spare rim I had brought along. However, NOTE if there is a sectional TDA rider from Canada/US who is joining the tour in Nairobi…reading this blog…I have a favor to ask (and can pay costs) to have you bring one of my extra rims with you to Nairobi. I have the rim in US and would have it sent to you. Hopefully this won’t be needed and new rim will keep me going for a while, but some extra insurance given I lost the rim so early.

Other than relaxing and getting the bike wheel built on new rim, hope to also do some tourist looking around in Luxor and otherwise getting everything ready for next stage of the trip.

Here are a few statistics from first days of riding

Date	Distance (km)	Ascent/Descent (m)	Calories	Average Speed (km)	Temperature (min/max/avg - in C)
January 11th	129.26	939 / 952	6743	17.6
January 12th	165.92	403 / 569	9023	23.8	8 / 24 / 17.8
January 13th	134.35	319 / 307	8140	24.3	11 / 28 / 22.1
January 14th	94.03	414 / 411	5299	23.8	15 / 28 / 21.6
January 15th	122.18	791 / 581	6490	19.3	15 / 31 / 23.5
January 16th	107.31	112 / 193	5759	18.2	12 / 33 / 23.9

Day 5, 123km to desert camp

Posted on January 15, 2013 by mev

Beautiful crescent moon rising over camp. Today we left the coast and climbed over some low ranges of hills. We also had our first experiences with road construction, Egypt style. In total it was 800m of climb, so still not very much.

We left the beach resort and nice to be on the road again. A few turns through town and then past a toll booth at 5km. Here we saw our first instance of road construction but we didn’t see more until closer to 24km. The road construction would start with smoothed out gravel sometimes wet down. After that they would put thin layer of tar followed by two layers of asphalt.

We cycled in all different stages of road construction since these would be shorter intervals of 5-10km of each different type. The Egyptian traffic would pick and choose their routes, sometimes riding on both sides of us. Generally still had enough room but there was less order to road than you’d see in USA.

Once I reached the top of the first climb near 40km there was partial descent and across a broad valley before another shorter climb. A descent from here into lunch. This area was still very arid, though my bike got muddy shortly after lunch after coming across construction area where water trucks had just passed.

Winds mostly calm but slight headwinds as came last kms into camp. Still made it by 2:30pm so a reasonable and not too difficult day. We camped beside police checkpoint and could hear trucks revving up and down. Still had surprisingly good sleep after full day of exercise in the sun.

Day 4, 94km to Safaga

Posted on January 14, 2013 by mev

Today we cycled to resort town of Safaga. I am still camped, but on the beach with nice view of the Red Sea. There are also some who reserved a room, but I’m fine camping for now. Today was a shorter day with only 94km. We had some cross winds and even slight ride into the wind, but overall we’ve been fortunate that today as other days we’ve had more tailwinds than headwinds.

On our fourth day, we’ve gotten our rhythm as a group. The sunrise is shortly before 7am. In principle, a wakeup toot on the horn is at 6:30, but most people are up before then. Next task is getting gear packed up, wearing cycling clothes and bringing bike and everything ready. A good breakfast of porridge, granola, banana, tea, etc and then we’re on the road.

There is a “race” as part of TDA and the racers have little device to punch in and punch out to record their times. Many of us also have those devices to clock in/clock out and technically will get listed as racing, but this is more keeping track of time. I tend to ride by myself occasionally meeting with others, though there are also groups that ride together at similar pace.

The riding so far has been straightforward, the roads are fairly smooth with only occasional flats with glass. We’ve had favorable winds. The landscape is dry desert with Red Sea appearing occasionally on our left. There are some oil derricks and signs of pipelines and pumping stations. The sun is mostly shining and good to keep chapstick and sunscreen on.

Somewhere around half way, there is a lunch stop. Pita bread with various types of spread along with a chance to top up on water. After that another check of the white board and once again on the road. Still some more riding along the highway until I come to camp.

Once at camp, first step is to click in for my time on “race”. Then find my bag and a good place to pitch my tent. Soup is on and frequently hits the spot. Depending on how long the ride was, hang around and talk with other riders or just get everything set up. Around 5pm or so, we have a “rider meeting” where we review highlights as well as the upcoming days ride. After that, dinner is served. I’m not going hungry on the trip, though burning through some calories riding. After dinner it gets dark early. Also gets cool in the desert. So get into the tent and do some reading, perhaps check cell phone for internet connection and otherwise relax and get ready for another day.

Today it will be nice to wander around this little town, see what else is here. We’ve got two days of riding from here to Luxor and a chance to be a real tourist as well as an official rest day. I’m sure our fortunate luck with winds will shift and this will become a bunch more challenging, but so far first four days a good chance to catch our rhythm and get started with the trip.

Day 3, 134km to desert camp

Posted on January 13, 2013 by mev

Not a lot of photos today. Partially since the tail winds just kept pushing us along the Red Sea. Also because some sand got into my good camera and it wasn’t functioning as well.

However, an easy and fast day that had me finish by 1pm and get into camp. We were camped beside an oil pipeline pump station and in shelter of a strong wind. The road is a four lane divided highway with good shoulder. We passed a toll booth at 24km and were able to just ride through. We’ve got Egyptian police escort and they followed me for perhaps 30km of the time. I tried stopping to see if they would pass, but they politely waited and sometimes a drove a little further back as I could see in my mirror.

I made it to lunch truck by 10am and by camp by 1pm after another easy and wind blown day. Now time to try the solar charger and see how well can load some of the electronics.

Day 2, 166km to desert camp

Posted on January 12, 2013 by mev

Tailwinds! Today was the first designated official “mando” day, where mando means mandatory for those racing to win. Tailwinds helped us along and was told this was first year in a while that everyone was able to complete the full 166km distance.

Winds were calm as I started a little after 7am and descended on the road the first 17km to the coast. From here we headed southbound on major highway. Initially the hills were close nearby and we came along many small resort areas. Some had names like “Cancun” or “Santa Claus”. I was told these were more local resorts as closest places people from Cairo could escape to the Red Sea.

However, after 50km the hills gradually left the coast. We came up to lunch stop at 70km. After lunch, the tailwinds increased and kept blowing along. A brief “coke stop” at 90km since I wasn’t certain how much I’d find after that except for a brief stop TDA had at 137km.

The Red Sea kept to our right and in shallow areas the water was almost turquoise. It was about 3pm when I showed up at camp after a surprisingly easy long day and one I had anticipated for a while.

Day 1, 129km to desert camp

Posted on January 11, 2013 by mev

The trip begins! Today was a long but fun day. Breakfast buffet was set up at 5:00am. After that, I brought my bag down and made a last unsuccessful try at hotel internet.

We started our ride the first 40km in “convoy” style with all riders cycling together and vehicles at both front and back as well as staff with us. Going through the city traffic was a slow ~10km per hour until we reached the great pyramids.

At the pyramids we had our official opening and start. It was cool and windy, but a great place to start. The local Egyptian crew even had a few refreshments out. This trip starts 57 strong.

Here is the official “Mike at start” photo. Notice the big smile still on my face.

After this, we cycled back through city traffic to the “Ring Road”, a major highway across Cairo. Both police and local Egyptian riders did an excellent job of having us shepherded along the right traffic lane, even going ahead to nearby on ramps and briefly stopping traffic from entering across our convoy. The speed went just slightly faster but we kept overall group together. At 39km we left the convoy and went to gas station stop off the highway.

From here the remaining 90km was on our own as we cycled along a major highway through the desert leaving Cairo. At 62km a brief lunch stop and then on our way again until a camp site along side of the road. It wasn’t long before sunset but enough time to get tent set up and then some dinner to end a fun but long day.

Night before departure

Posted on January 10, 2013 by mev

We leave tomorrow morning. Internet has issues so a short posting. Plan is for six days riding to Luxor. Don’t plan on updating the blog much in next days given short daylight, long days riding and no internet in the desert camps.

Night before the trip, visit to pyramids

Posted on January 10, 2013 by mev

Bags are packed and I am ready to go. Tomorrow morning we take off from the hotel in a “convoy” and start cycling. It will be nice to be on the road and in regular cycling rhythm.

This morning I did a last bit of Cairo sightseeing to visit the nearby pyramids. I initially inquired on taxi rates and tried to see how far I could bargain. However, still decided to walk to the pyramids instead (~8km). Photo above was a mosque I saw along the way.

Once at the pyramids I decided to get into full tourist mode. Unfortunately with press, tourism to Egypt has been down, so vendors are eager for customers. A man approached me about riding in a horse carriage. Decided I’d do that. Along the way we picked up a guide who wouldn’t tell me his rate up front, but instead said I should pay what I thought (though that made negotiating later more interesting).

I was pretty impressed seeing the pyramids. Wow! Even went inside one of the smaller ones to climb way down and then find the (no longer) hidden tomb.

In the afternoon we had our official rider meeting. Everyone gets a rider number and mine is 143.

Tour D’Afrique runs this trip as both an “expedition” and a “race”. I am the furthest from anyone who expects to be racing this. However, it was also explained to us that you could also pick up a timing chip and clock in and out without really racing. I decided this was still ok, so if you see the “official race results” and my name is way down on the list. That might be expected. However, don’t mind trying to clock in and out sometimes for adding to the list.

Note: The route board has been posted for tomorrow. For the upcoming week or so, we’ll be doing some long days. I don’t expect to be posting much to this blog for several reasons:

– The days are long and I’ll need to spend most the daylight hours riding
– Once we get into camp, we’ll be in the desert and no internet connection and likely no cell phone connections
– Internet when it is available (even at hotel here) can be flaky, particularly when group of riders from throughout the globe starts to stree the system.
These issues aren’t necessarily unique to me. When I followed blogs during past two years, there were often gaps of seven days to a week at a time when nothing was heard. Not quite complete radio silence but most all the blogs ended up being edited locally and posted later. I expect mine to be similar.

Footnote: This blog posting was almost launched when we had internet problems @ the Cataract Pyramids hotel. Logistic issues mean there will likely be gaps between updates similar to this. Also having some fun with one of my two cameras, it didn’t like the desert sand.