For those that are interested. TJ there is no need for you to comment.

Due to working ridiculously long hours in the run up to this, my longest ride before getting to egypt was 60km…..

Blog can be found here: http://www.tda2012.com

Photos can be found here:

https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.200733756690419&type=1

I landed in Cairo a week yesterday, bikes intact and 4 new people met! We settled in to our hotel and had a couple of days where we did nothing. I was lucky enough to come to Cairo a couple of years ago so there was no need to go sight seeing! The last week in England was hectic and not everything got done.

On the Thursday and the Friday we had our first rider meetings with all the staff and all the riders, luckily most of them are friendly, however we will see how things pan out in the coming 4 months. Friday was spent replacing and double checking everything, and the only thing that was forgotten was a mug, but seeing as I don’t drink coffee there is no need for that!

The apprehension was building and little sleep was had Friday night!

Day 1 Cairo to Desert Camp 14/1/12

Stage: 1

Climb 930m
Descent 690m

The day consisted of 3 (uneven) sections. First 39 km was in a police convoy, the first 10km of which was to the pyramids from the hotel. Snacks were provided at the pyramids and race begun.

We followed the police convoy for another 29km through the centre of Cairo, traffic was chaos, but due to the police we made steady progress. The smog was atrocious and at time it hurt to breath.

Riding time 7am – 11am Distance 39km

Once clear of Cairo at the first ‘coke stop’, this time a petrol station, we were let loose on our own. People broke of in groups with the racers well out front, the climb out of Cairo lasted for 23 km all the way to the lunch truck. Since climbing is not my best discipline I found myself stone cold last. Tbh this was not surprising. By the time I got to the lunch truck I had already broken my previous longest ride record by a whole 3km and 500m of climbing, my legs burnt and I was getting serious cramp in my quads to the point if it stood up my legs seized solid and I couldn’t bend them at the knee! I was seriously considering giving up.

Riding time 11:00 – 12:45 23km

Apart from Malerie, I was the only one at lunch and again I departed on my own. The rest of the afternoon I was just riding on my own, though it was longer then the morning stint, there was less climbing and was mostly flat. This allowed me to get my speed up and I made it in to camp at 5pm. I was stone cold last and had been beaten by everyone, except for myself.

Riding time 13:20 – 16:50 72km

I got to camp just in time for the riders meeting at 5pm and then after that was straight to dinner. After dinner I pitched my tent in the dark with help from the only other brit, jenny, and went to bed at 19:30 ready for another 166km tomorrow!

Day 2 Desert Camp to Desert Camp 15/1/12

Stage 2

Climb 429m
Descent 668m

169km total distance

Woke up at 5 am and started packing the tents away, had to do some things that I hadn’t had time to do yesterday due to getting in late, such as fit a speedometer….. Cycled out of camp at 7:45 and started the day with a nice 17km downhill, unfortunately this was dispatched in the first 20 minute with an average speed of 56kph the day was looking good.

Lunch stop was at 70km today so only another 53km to go! What should of been a nice spin down the coast turned in to a slog due to the headwind. Luckily the road surface was new, probably something to do with continuos development of the coast line with new hotel after new hotel all partially built. It’s a shame they can not fit their current crop of hotels. Perhaps a new government and a few years of civil peace might revitalise the tourism industry!

I was flagging due to the headwind and general lack of fitness and with 20km to go before lunch, my average speed was dropping below 20kph, this meant I wouldn’t make the end of the ride before sunset and would be picked up. Luckily a tractor passed me slowly and I managed to draft behind it for 15km at an average pace of 30kph until a pothole I didn’t spot nearly took me off, I fought it, however my iPod fell out and a quick decision was needed as to whether the iPod should be sacrificed for an easy run up the next hill…. Unfortunately for my legs the iPod won and I let the tractor to go on its merry way. Having passed Shona going up the previous hill I decided to wait and ride the rest of the day with her.

We got to lunch at 11:30 which allowed us enough time to tackle the action stretch. The other 99km to camp! I was feeling tired after lunch, probably because this had turned in to my second longest ride after yesterday and a pick me up was needed at a petrol station 15km down the road. After paying tourist prices for a can of coke and mars bar we set on our merry way and slogged our way through the wind and straight roads the rest of the way to the afternoon refreshment stop at 139km. We got here at 15:30 and departed again at 15:45 with another 30km to camp, with me struggling and my speed dropping to around 17kmh Shona went on to ensure that she completed the day. Stopping again 15km to stretch my back out and go to the toilet I was drastically running out of time, with the TDA sweeper rider, Annelot, catching me up. Luckily there was only 15km to camp but with only around 40mins of sunlight left the sweeper rider acted as a wind break and we rode the final 15km in mini peloton style with an average speed of 30km an hour. Rounding the last corner I could see the finish line about one km ahead and Ming a Taiwanese rider about 500m away from it. I decided that I was not going to come last today, and started a one man sprint finsh overtaking Ming about 10m from the finish line. Only to find out 3 people had been picked up in the sweeper truck which arrived 5 mintues after i crossed the line, luckily i sped up with the help of annelot!

I arrived at camp at 17:00 total time on the bike today 9hours 15 minute with approx 1:15 of rest time, meaning 169 km was completed in 8 hours with an average pace of just over 20kph. Not bad for my first century ride!

Again it was dark in camp by the time the rider meeting had taken place and dinner was had. One of these days I’ll pitch my tent and get set up in day light. It’s 8pm and well past my bed time.

Day 3 Desert Camp to Desert Camp 16/1/12

Stage 3 137km

Climb 244m

Descent 242m

Comparing this day to yesterday it looked straightforward. I found it odd that even though this would be the 3rd longest ride I had ever done I was thinking it was going to be easy.

The first 16km was really quite hard, trying to get my legs working after yesterday’s long ride, however a tail wind picked up and I made lunch, which was at 70km in just under 4 hours, which was good seeing the first 16km took an hour of that. The only downer on the morning was some Egyptian hitchhiker decided to try to push Shona under a truck, luckily she fell the other away from the truck, but still had a hard landing and got concussion. The truck driver got out of his cab and gave the hitchhiker a good seeing too. Shona is going to spend the night in hospital, then spend a couple of days riding the truck, but will continue with the rest of the tour.

It is a lesson to all how careful everyone needs to be, especially those who decide to cycle alone.

After lunch the tailwind was strong and averaged 30kph to the Petrol station at 100km, after drinking a couple of cokes it was a simple 1 hour 30min spin to get to camp at 14:45. For the first time I pitched my tent in the light and had time to sit around and have a chat with the other participants. Tomorrow is another short one at 100km but there is more climbing which I despise. Though hopefully after taking today easy my legs should be in a better shape.

Good luck and enjoy the landscape.

Good stuff, don’t chat up the camels.

good luck with this, you know now that you can do the distances involved each day. It’ll get easier hopefully, just take care of your body, and try to enjoy it.

You’ll come back a changed man, in lots of ways.

Nice one, enjoyed that.

I struggle with long sentences!!

Only kidding, I enjoyed that. Sounds like an amazing experience, as well as a lot of hard work.

Best of luck.

I think you’re doing great nomatter what TJ thinks, maybe you’re doing well due to paying for it yourself lol

Told you not to waste all that money on a Nicolai and get yourself a Kawasaki 🙂

nice write up. good luck and keep them coming.

great write up, will look out for further updates. best of luck out there.

Jebus, you’re doing that for 4 months? I’d be ruined in a week…

http://tda2012.com/2012/01/20/day-4-to-6/

I blame the parents 🙁

I suspect women in non-traditional clothing are likely to be targets for hostility in predominently Muslim countries if they’re away from the non-tourist areas.

It may be that ‘someone’ had decided that the cyclists were a ‘bad’ thing and that the children were used to show this?

Awesome writeup Ian, keep us posted with your progress and good luck!

I suspect the worst is already behind you and you will get fitter and stronger the longer you go on.

Well done! 😀

Nice blog, very interesting stuff!

I blame the parents

I suspect women in non-traditional clothing are likely to be targets for hostility in predominently Muslim countries if they’re away from the non-tourist areas.

It may be that ‘someone’ had decided that the cyclists were a ‘bad’ thing and that the children were used to show this?
Playing devils advocate, you’ve got rich westerners basically using (in this instance) a poor/rural part of the country as an adventure playground, not respecting any local cultures/traditions (in fact not interacting with the locals at all, just rushing through the area as fast as possible). Can’t really blame them for being excitable/resentful/hostile/whatever.

I’ve had a similar problems in Wighthawk when I’ve been heading up to the Downs, zilog6128

I’ve had a similar problems in Wighthawk when I’ve been heading up to the Downs, zilog6128

Of course, the local yokels could just be nobs!! 😆

Two new posts

http://tda2012.com/2012/01/28/day-8-and-9/

http://tda2012.com/2012/01/28/egypt-the-ferry-and-sudan-day-1-3/

Looks like its a great adventure 🙂

Wow his is great! What an adventure in the truest sence.

http://tda2012.com/2012/02/01/day-16-18-3-hard-days-riding/

http://tda2012.com/2012/02/02/day-19-and-the-rest-day-in-khartoum/

I’m pleased to announce that Ian is alive and well, as witnessed on a garage forecourt in north-east Botswana. (Pic taken last week, I’ve been away from the internet for a while)

He had a special message: “Tell that TJ I’ll ‘ave ‘im when I get back.”

For the Facebookers among you: Ian cycles Africa