It wasn’t so much the distance, which we’ve done before. Instead, the afternoon was just a little warmer than before. Also as we came closer to the Nile, the flies were pretty bad. We’ve been told the timing coincides with flowering cycle of the dates and they weren’t there last year. Hopefully, this also means short lived as well.

This morning the group was up early, with unwritten rule – beat the heat. A pretty fanatical group of people to watch all the headlamps as people are taking down their tents in the dark. I joined them, got my stuff ready and was on the road by 7:45am. Once again, our ride started out well, all long as we didn’t stop (those flies again). We followed the river more closely and also saw more villages. Time for one coke stop and then lunch.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
At lunch the fly infestation continued, so didn’t linger. Also temporarily ran out of bread. So I hopped back on the bike, but to no avail as the heat came. My odometer said 41C and decided I wouldn’t look at it further in the afternoon. While we’d had more tailwinds, we also came across some curves and more diagonally into the wind. At 93km one more coke stop and then a slow steady ride to reach camp at 3:20pm. I was beat, but a quick soak in the Nile again helped refresh things.

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.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
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.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
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.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
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.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]

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.
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]
[See image gallery at bike2013.com]

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