Round and round we go

Day Total: 107 Km

Total Time: 3:10:00

Avg. HR: 122bpm

Avg. Speed: 34.0 km/h

Song of the Day: U2 – Beautiful Day

I fell asleep last night to the group singalongs executed by the stragglers by the campfire. Comraderie, fellowship, kindred spirit. Yeah, I get all that, and it’s nice, really it is. I just wish they could finish singing an entire song instead of the firs three lines before moving onto the next title. Who knows, maybe they will improve with time.

Another cool morning – 47 degrees Farenheit – greeted us as we again broke camp in the dark. The rising of the sun dictates how early one can leave camp by bicycle, and with the time shift, that has come roughly one hour later. The general masses seem to be on the old time schedule, but me, with earplugs in slept right through my alarm. No matter, I am becoming increasinlgy proficient with camp life and my daily routine. Breakfast of what one rider dubbed “Scott’s Pie” was on the menu as it is every morning. For those just joining us the recipe is some type of bread, a lot of peanut butter, one or two bananas thinly sliced, and honey. It really does present well and all things considered is an effective fuel for the day’s labor.

Paul and I decided we would not be riding with the lead group today, both agreeing that riding their pace not only hurts us, but it helps them as we would bear a share of the workload. That said, we set out on our own with the intent of picking up some of the slower riders who had set out earlier. The last 1.5km into camp last night was down a rocky, sandy, dirt road. We powered up this, knowing that other racers would not and we would get some free minutes out of the deal. Once on the pavement, we settled into a steady pace, our intention to ride this pace most of the day with only the briefest stops for lunch.

We quickly picked up two other riders, German Joerg and fellow American 3-bike Mike. Mike arrived in Cairo without a bike – it was misplaced by the luggage company. He then managed to find a real bicycle to buy in Cairo, re-ordered the dream bike lost by the airlines (that’s bike #2), and finally was notified that the airlines found his bike (bike #3). More on him in the future. In any case, we rode along nicely, comfortably but briskly. The “fast” group rolled past and we did not react. They slowed slightly, tempting us to join and share the work, but we did not bite. We rolled into lunch a couple of minutes behind them and left at nearly the same time, preferring to eat on the go in lieu of sitting down for a more leisurely meal.

Out of lunch, we picked up one more rider, women’s race leader Torrey, and the 5 of us kept our steady pace, slowing slightly now and again to ensure nobody fell of the back of the group. With roughly 5km remaining, we picked up a police escort, a lone vehicle driving 30 meters in front of us. A right turn led us to a recently constructed bridge over the Nile. The river here was much wider than in previous days, more reminiscent of crossing the Mississipi, Missouri, or Ohio Rivers in the United States. As we reached the bridge a second police escort and a media vehicle joined us. Media vehicle in Dongola Sudan means 2 guys with handi-cams riding in the back of a pickup truck. The second police escort clearly had something to prove and was intent on using his sirens as his means of communication.

With loud sirens, we entered the town. The roads were of average width which meant everyone heard us coming. We received numerous cheers, waves, smiles, and dumbfounded looks as we rolled into this smallish town, the 5 of us and our cacaphenous escort upsetting the relative peace I’m sure normally settles on this town on an early Friday afternoon. A couple of 90-degree turns, a final straight and the finish flag was before us. This was by far the most memorable finish to date as a few locals and proper media were waiting for photos and interviews.

Our campsite is a vacated zoo, or maybe it’s still a zoo that only has animals part of the year (the grounds seem to be well maintained by relative standards). The campground is as good as we’ve had thus far: open spaces of bent grass, bathroom (er, hole in the ground with a hose), and a snack stand on premise. This really is very comfortable camping and people wasted no time in spreading out and taking advantage of our first dust-free tent site in some days. We ate the entire supply of falafel at the snack bar and went through every cold beverage the guy had within 20 minutes – such is the appetite of this zoo on wheels we call the TDA.

We took a tuk-tuk, a small three-wheeled, motorized cart (seen in Thailand I’m told) into town. Being Friday, we expected some shops to be closed until later in the evening. The adherance to Islamic practice appears to be more serious here as 99% of the shops were locked up tight. With nothing to see or do, we walked back to camp and killed time doing laundry, sorting gear, enjoying the day, and planning our next meal. We headed back out at around 4pm and found a small shop where we bought ice cream and cokes. The ice cream was probably good at one point, but this one had clearly endured multiple freeze/thaw cycles and was a bit icy. Still tasted good though! We found dinnner #1 at a local eartery serving whole rotisserie chickens stuffed with rice. In a word: divine. Fueled by real sustenance (in lieu of chocloate bars and carbonated drinks) we wandered the back alleys of the town and managed to buy a SIM card for my phone. The guy was very helpful and got me sorted properly. He was asking for bits of information – most places require a copy of your passport when purchasing these services – but we were crossing wires due to the language barrier. Finally, I took out one of the 2 forms I am suspposed to carry here which contained Arabic descriptions of the bits of information he needed. That set everything right.

Back at camp, I got my first flat tire, a “sniper flat” as they call it. The bike was laying in the grass when suddenly I heard thte tell-tale pssssssssssss of air escaping. No matter, this is the best place to get a flat as there is no impact and you have all kinds of time to fix it properly. I patched the tube, replaced it with a new one (the plan is to use new tubes and only fall back on the patched tubes when necessary), and we headed out for dinner #2. Dinner #2 was a bit of a bust as we could find no proper meat. We ran into a couple of Dutch riders staying in a local “hotel” who were required to register at the police station. They were invited into the police chief’s abode which was well stocked with luxury items like a LCD TV and air conditioning. Apparently there is mass rioting underway in Cairo. It would appear our timing was rather fortunate.

Laying down tonight, I feel good. The first day in Luxor, because of its location, carried a certain sense of obligation to get out and see some of the historical landmarks, temples, tombs and the like. There is none of that here, so we will maximize our relaxation time and mentally prepare for another long week on the bike as we head to Khartoum.