Its Smooth Sailing; Cycling In the Sudan

Wow, What a difference a few days make.
We went from the lowest of lows to fantastic highs in a short time. After our rest day in Dongola, we had tarmac all the way to Khartoum. 4 days that consisted of 140km, 140km, 160km and 100km. We were racing down the highway with great tailwinds. We were reaching speeds of 57km/hr and that is not going downhill. We were arriving at camp within 5 hours each day and that included lunch, coke and coffee breaks.

Lonley road in Sudan

Dave and I hooked up with Joya and George and we had a great foursome working together to battle the side winds. The Barbershop Quartet was in full force. We named ourselves that because in all of our many hours together riding, we found out that George had cut Joya’s hair in Aswan and Dave had cut my hair in Luxor. Go figure!

We have to tell you to not believe anything you hear about Africa again. For instance….It is cold here! Very cold. We keep waiting for the hot weather, but every morning we wake up and can see our breath. It is really hard to get out of your sleeping bag in the dark to pack up camp and know that you have a good 3 hours of freezing on the bike. It is that weird mix of being hot from working out, but having all of your appendages freeze because it is close to 0 degrees outside.

It is Cold in Sudan

You try getting out to pee at 5:45 am and exposing your bare bottom to a sandblasting wind.
Oh yea, Did I tell you that we keep camping in desert camps during sand storms? There is sand in everything. Sand blew through the tent all night and my eyes were full of grit when I woke up in the morning. It took a lot of finesse to apply the chamois cream and keep the sand out of our shorts. We don’t want to be exfoliating our butts as we ride now. They are sore enough, thank you very much.
We are really starting to have a lot of fun. It is a crazy thing when a 140km day isn’t too bad. We have our meeting at night and say, Oh, that’s ok, we should be in camp by about 1 or so.
Dave wants to write this, so I have to let him because I am praising him all of the time…
Deb really hammered down the time trial finishing 4th at 38:50 for a 20km distance that started out with a pretty strong headwind. She is really starting to get her legs. So who knows what will happen in the next section. She was battling her electrolites throughout this section, but Janet gave her a bottle of Thermalites and she is feeling much better. Janet,s husband, Chris is bringing some more, so Deb is going to have lots of energy for those mountains in Ethiopia.
Now back to business.
Not really a lot to say, these past 4 days were a lot of the same. Ride, camp, eat, sleep. But we are getting to know the group better and enjoying the conversations around the trucks.

Sandy Camp

We are in Khartoum for 2 rest days. We are going to be visiting our Plan Project and checking out where the Blue and White Nile Rivers meet. It seem like a great city.
Today as we entered in convoy, we felt like diplomats landing the city. Police escorts, sirens and people lining the streets cheering us through 35 km of riding. It was amazing. I don’t know if I will ever experience anything like it again in my life. It is really hard to put into words the welcome that we received.
The people of Sudan are great. Friendly, smiling and peaceful. It is hard to believe that there is a war going on in Darfur. Today, as we road to our campsite, I kept thinking that western tv should be here filming this side of the country. It would make great news to see happy Sudanese cheering and going on with their everyday lives. All we ever see are the rebels and war on television. But since we have been here, all we have witnessed is kindness and their curiosity in these weirdly dressed people on bicycles riding through town.
We are sitting in a mall sipping coffee working on the wireless internet with barely a glance from the locals. I am amazed with Africa and am looking forward to seeing more.
On that note, we found out today that we won’t be going to Kenya, we will be flying over, as our trucks drive through without us. We will have about 2 weeks on our own to kill, so Dave and I are thinking of climbing Kilimanjaro and going to Zanzibar. Its a tough life, but somebody has to do it:)
Hopefully we will make it to the internet after our Plan visit, but if not, we will talk to you sometime in Ethiopia.

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Suffering While Cycling the Sudan

Sudan's Deep Sand, Bike Stands Alone

According to Rae and John, two retired Air Force Pilots who are taking part in the Tour this year, what we have been through these past 2 weeks is as difficult as basic training for the military. And I believe it! These past 4 days have been the most mentally and physically challenging days of my life.
We had a wonderful unscheduled day off in Waidi Halfa which I already told you about. Unfortunately, we had to pay a high price. Suddenly we were forced to cram 5 days of riding into 4 to make it to Dongola by Jan 27th. No problem you say?
Well, if we had roads, it would have been OK, but instead we travelled 110km per day through the Sudanese Desert. 427 km of deep sand, loose gravel and corrugated road. I had heard about this type of road from last years tour, but could not wrap my brain around what it was. It is the most painful experience on a bike, especially one without suspension. Miles and miles of constant bumps that jar your wrists, back, neck and knees. Basically your entire being feels like you were put in the rinse cycle of a washing machine and spit back out again. You spend your day looking for and easier line to follow, but you never find one.

Wandering the Desert of Sudan

Dave and I spent 9 hours a day for 3 days on the bike. At one point Dave said to me that he wouldn’t wish this on his worse enemy. And here we are doing it by choice. We had some really low lows together that day. I put everything I had into day 1 in Sudan and spent the next 3 days suffering. Sometimes we would be so exhausted riding through the sand that we would just fall over.
To give you an example of a typical day, each morning we would wake up at 6 am, pack up our tents, have a quick breakfast and leave for a long slow day in the hot sun. Then we would come back, set up our tent, eat dinner and go to sleep.

So, now let me tell you about day 2. It was really “fun” because we became nice and lost late in the day.

No Roads in Sudan, Just Sand

You see many times you are only following grooves in the sand, so it was very easy to lose your way. We spent an hour walking from the Nile, through farmers fields, back to the desert, back to the Nile, through the most rural village I have ever seen in my life. 5 huts, a donkey, 2 dogs and a group of women watching us walk through with our bikes and dirty faces. Very surreal. We made our way back to the desert and eventually came across something that resembled a path and hoped for the best. We were both extremely worried that we were going to be stuck in the desert all night, but more importantly…Lose our EFI status!
As luck would have it, we made it into camp and hour before sundown. Yeah us.

Now for day 3. Debbie’s breakdown day. I was very very fatigued and still had another 110km ahead of me. Many people had opted for the bus by this point, but I but I am too stubborn to give in and lucky for me, I had my rock at my side – Dave. So instead, I whimpered, cried, cursed and stumbled my way through the day. Everyone was hurting and suffering also, and the bonding that happened during that time was incredible. People were so supportive and kind, I really have to emphasize what an amazing group of people we are travelling with. But then, what else would you expect from a bunch of nuts who thought it would be fun to cycle the continent of Africa. The have to be extraordinary.

Deb Kissing Tarmac after days in the Sand

So this brings me to day 4. Still riding and still suffering. But only 87km. The good new is that at 63km we hit tarmac. Can it be true? It started with a grueling morning of 18km in deep sand were everyone became lost at one point. Groups were branching out and taking different tracks. It is amazing how quickly you can be with people and then they just disappear. We all eventually made it out though and once we hit the tarmac, I got down on my knees and kissed it.

We now hove a rest day in Dongola and after 6 days without a shower, we were all bathing in our red boxes as soon as we arrived at camp. What a sight. A bunch on adults playing around the one hose of water that we had. As soon as we washed off that sand and grit, it was like we washed away the pain and suffering of the past 4 days. Add a half a chicken dinner to that mix and we were very happy campers. Literally!

Dave Bathing our red box in Sudan

If we can make it through Sudan, we can make it anywhere.
Bring on the Ethiopian mountains baby. But first there is a lot more of this great big country to go. Stay tuned.

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