Scott's Cycling Adventures

No…really. Stage 25 got eaten by our added bus day.

Today was border crossing day. We camped about one kilometre from the Ethiopian border so we could get at the front of the line to expedite our crossing. Our briefing the night before revealed the numerous changes that will be affecting us this week. Instead of riding from our current camp the next two days, we are bussing straight to Gondar. This means we miss “the big climb” of 2500m. The six day stretch would have been tough but we were all disappointed we’d have to bus our first day in Ethiopia.

The border crossing itself was painless (for us). We processed our exit visa from Sudan in about 30 minutes and our entry visas into Ethiopia in about an hour. The rest was hurry up and wait as we waited for the TDA vehicles to be cleared. We sat around drinking Coke and beer (8am beer for some people who had gone without alcohol for two weeks!) and marvelling at the differences a border can make. Many many more people, smooth roads, women allowed to wear and do what they want. But all was not happy happy. We quickly saw the reason we were bussing to Gondar. Just as we were leaving the border on our whopping 7km ride to where our lunch and bus start was, a group of about 40 men came jogging out of a side street wielding AK-47’s and paper target silhouettes. They were all chanting something in unison. It was in no way scary, in fact, the chant seemed fun and upbeat, and made me want to hop in the middle and dance down the street with them. No one seemed alarmed and they ignored us as we cycled by. Still, it was a wake up call. All it would take to get very ugly, very fast would be one military guy with an itchy trigger finger (I neglected to mention these were all “civilians” with machine guns). 

Seven kilometres later we got to our lunch spot, ate a hastily prepared lunch and crammed into 3 small busses that had been hired to take us to Gondar. We were being escorted by the military so we were not allowed to stop. We had to drive the 200km without a stretch or bathroom break. Not having drank four beers at the border, no bathroom break wasn’t a problem for me (ask the beer drinkers how they faired…) but the tiny bus and cramped space did a number on my knees. They were throbbing and painful for most of the trip. The saving grace was the scenery. It was stunning. The hills quickly turned into plateau topped mountains. The ride, had we done it, would have been spectacular! 

Today was supposed to be the fourth day of our six day block between rest days but, as they will, things have changed. Because of more “unrest” just across the border in Ethiopia we may be bussing to our next rest day location. More news on that tomorrow as things solidify. 

Otherwise, it was a normal cycling day…except for the horrendous road surface we were riding on. We knew ahead of time they would be bad, so I added another pair of socks to the left side of my handlebars. I’m hoping to prevent any issues with my left pinky. The right pinky is still numb, but it’s not getting any worse, which after today’s ride is a miracle. My hands felt like bloody stumps by the end of the day, but no new numbness. Just a soreness that ebbed as the evening progressed. The one casualty of the day, my bottle cage. It had already suffered a fracture on day three and today’s violent vibrations finally did it in. A solid metal cage, snapped in two.

Today was also our last full day in Sudan. It’s an amazing country with incredible desert vistas. Life is harsh here, and it’s astounding that we, as humans, have managed to survive in such a difficult environment.  The people have been polite and friendly. The only English the kids know is “How are you” and “what is your name”. The phrase constantly brought a smile to my face. As I would cycle past a school, the kids would charge towards the road shouting, “How are you, How are you, How are you?”. 

Tomorrow we enter Ethiopia. Goodbye Sudan, thank you for your warmth and hospitality. 

Not much in the way of interest today. Some interesting red and white trees (bark colour). I helped a stranded motorist who’s car radiator ran dry and needed fluid.  I gave him a litre of my water.  It was enough to get him happily on his way.  

I thought I’d describe how each riding day works. Each day starts with a 9:10AM wake up call from the hotel concierge. My room service breakfast arrives at 9:30am while I’m in the bathtub being bathed by four assistants… (end dream sequence as I wake up in my tent to my 5:10AM alarm going off!)

In reality I’m usually awake by 4:30am as the keeners of group start rustling around and start taking down their tents. I’ll bumble around inside my tent for a 15-20 minutes fighting with the internet (if I couldn’t post anything the night before). I’ll change into my cycling gear and pack up my tent.

By the time that’s all done, breakfast is usually ready at 6am. It usually consists of oatmeal (every day), hard boiled eggs (every few days) bananas and sandwich making fix’ns (jams, Nutella,  peanut butter).  As we are stuffing ourselves full of calories, one of the TDA vehicles heads out on the road to flag the days route. Once we are sufficiently caloried we can hop on our bikes and start our ride. 

Depending on the length of our ride “lunch” is usually between 60-80km into the trip. Lunch consists of stopping at our lunch truck on the side of the road and “build your own sandwiches”. There are lots of fresh local fruits too. Then it’s back on the road to cycle to our camp for the night.

Depending on where we end up, camp can be in the middle of the desert with zero facilities, or in the backyard of some hotel, where we will have access to showers, power and local markets.  Depending on rider speed, people get into camp between 11:30AM – 5:30pm (I usually get in between 12:30-1:30pm).

We have a rider meeting every day around 5:30pm just before dinner. This is when we go over any issues that have, or may come up and more importantly, the route for the next day. This is written out on a whiteboard for everyone to make copies of. Some days, it’s as simple as “turn right out of camp, ride 150km turn right into camp”. Other days, it’s much more complex. Once directions are done and everyone’s questions have been answered it’s dinner time! Dinner is all locally sourced food, so the menus vary by country and region. Then it’s “happy hour” (except in Sudan which is a dry country…in many ways). Typically people are in their tents and ready for bed around 8pm. It may seem funny or lame but after getting up really early and cycling 150km in the hot sun, there isn’t a lot of “partying” going on. It’s time to rest and regenerate for the next day…and the next…and the next!