Cycling to Luxor

Ahh, the lovely rest days in Luxor, cruising the Nile on a Felucca, seeing the Valley of the Kings and Queens, checking out Luxor Temple and eating a McFlurry in McDonalds as we update our blog on their free wireless internet. But time is running out and we are off tomorrow heading towards Aswan where we will be crossing into the Sudan.

Dave and I had a great day yesterday riding into Luxor. We decided to leave early (6:45 am) so that we could enjoy 2 full days here. We had our best riding day so far. All of my ailments have cleared up and I could keep up with Dave and we managed to cruise in a 95km ride in 3hrs and 15 min. I must say, at times we feel like mini celebrities as we ride. Police escorts stopping traffic for us, children yelling hello, people welcoming us on the side of the road. It really is amazing. Because we left first, we didn’t realise that if you are at the front of the pack, you get your own little police escort leading you all the way. For the first time, we didn’t have to worry if we were going in the right direction or not, we just followed the truck. They have been extremely friendly and supportive. 2 days ago we after a 140km day that started off with a 40km climb and ended with a serious head wind, we had a great experience. In the final couple of kilometers of the ride, the police pulled up beside us and chatted with us all the way to the finish line. They were awesome and took my mind off of the brutal conditions.

We are doing well with camping. We are starting to get ourselves organized and after we arrive in the Sudan, we are going to have our red box packed to perfection. We slept in a hotel last night and found our camping mattress to be more comfortable than our bed. This will probably be one of the few times that we will chose to stay in a hotel, the weather is going to be getting warmer and we are really sleeping well in the tent. Honest.

My legs and knees are finally feeling better, but the cough is still persisting. Hopefully the warm weather will clear it all up.

On the negative side, Dave fell down the stairs yesterday boarding our Felucca to cruise the Nile. He has a seriously bruised heel, but we are keeping our fingers crossed that it won’t affect his ride. But you can be sure, I will be there to cheer him on if he needs it. He is going to hate me for writing this, but I have to share a story with you…

Yesterday when we were coming in to the final 10km of our awesome ride, I was starting to bonk. Instead of letting me slow down, Dave did his best impersonation of the Tour de France commentators complete with British accent and all. We were surprisingly still ahead of the serious racers and it looked like we were going to be the first to arrive. He was joking around that “the peleton will not be able to catch us, they left it too long and Dave and Deb are coming in with an incredible finish (now, make sure to read this in a proper British accent.) “What a Cinderella story, it is the ride of the Tour” (this is all tongue in cheek of course) But it made me laugh and I kept the pace up right until the end.

It looks like we will not be able to update our site for awhile. Maybe we will get a little blurb down in Aswan, but most likely it won’t be until Dongola in The Sud

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