It All Began in Egypt: Cycling a Continent
As we speak, we are in Egypt speaking at a travel conference. Nearly 4 years ago to the day, we are back in the country that changed our lives. It was in 2008 that our entire adventure began and ThePlanetD was born when we flew into Egypt for the start of the Tour d’Afrique. We [...]
Snapshot Sunday: An Ethiopian Sunset
Ethiopia surprised us with it’s beauty. During the Tour d’Afrique, Ethiopia was the toughest section of the tour. With long hot days climbing mountains and dodging rocks thrown by naughty children, it was 23 days of pushing ourselves to the limits both mentally and physically.
The Tour d’Afrique: The Trip that Changed our Lives, Three Years Later
The Tour d’Afrique 2011 kicks off today in Cairo, Egypt. It was this time three years ago that we started our transformation from working class career oriented professionals to adventurers and full time travel bloggers. It started out as a New Years Resolution on the eve of 2008. We were feeling blue after 2 years of working too hard and traveling too little. We were stuck in a rut. It was just after midnight on a very gloomy New Years Eve for us. We were watching TV and luckily a profile of ultra marathon runner Ray Zahab came on the CBC. We were instantly inspired and made a pact to do something extraordinary in the New Year.
Cycle Africa Media Presentation at Intrepid Travel
Looking for a fun evening out this fall? Intrepid Travels hosts free events on Wednesday nights and we will be kicking off the Autumn season with a slide show/media presentation on our cycling trip through Africa. Have you always wanted to take on an epic journey? Have you made a New Years Resolution only to see it fizzle after a couple of months? We made a New Years Resolution on the eve of 2007 and turned our dream into a reality. Come on out to see how we made it happen and are now living our dreams.
The Week In Review
We have a guest post happening today at the fantastic site The Professional Hobo for her “Week in the Life” series. Last year we took on the challenge of cycling from Cario to Cape Town. This 12,000 km bike race was not easy to say the least.
Cycling Africa in the Tour d’Afrique – Gear List
Here is a list of what we brought with us to cycle Africa, what we should have left behind, a review of our bikes and what we should have brought. Remember, this was a supported expedition and if we were to cycle independently, we would take far less gear. Since we had trucks carrying our red boxes and all we had to carry was our water and snacks, we could bring far more than a solo rider.
New Website Design
From everything that I have read over the past two months, I should not being changing my website design. Readers get used to a certain layout of your blog and they like consistency.
We Cycled the Continent of Africa.
120 Days and it is over, just like that. How do you sum up the most challenging experience of your life on one short blog? Well, let’s try….
Last Day in Namibia. South Africa Awaits our Final Stretch
Yesterday we travelled 178km from Fish River Canyon. The world’s 2nd Largest Canyon after the Grand Canyon. 130 of those kilometres were off road on sand, corrugation, gravel and some tough climbs. When we finally hit the tarmac, we turned directly into a brutal headwind. Yipes, we were on the road for 9 hours yesterday. It didn’t help that it was a non race day, so we decided to take it easy and catch up on some photography. But part way through the morning, we decided that we had better get moving.
Let’s Bike 207 km on the Elephant Highway in Botswana
Yes, it was a very big week. 5 century’s (100 mile days) in a row with a 207 km day smack dab in the middle of it all. It was surprisingly not too bad. The winds were co-operating and the road was flat, so we just put on our I Pods and peddled the days [...]
Victoria Falls, Adventure, Adrenaline, Nature. What a Rush.
Victoria Falls-What a Rush How do you spell adrenaline? V-I-C- F-A-L-L-S. We had the most amazing rest days here in Livingstone Zambia, home of the mighty Victoria Falls. Dave has always threatened that he would bungee jump in Victoria Falls if we ever made it there. Unfortunately, I thought that I would never have to [...]
Three Months into the Tour d’Afrique; the Pressure’s on.
If all goes well, on May 10th we will be riding into Cape Town. These last three months have been some of the most difficult and challenging times of our life. Dave and I do tend to put a lot of pressure on our selves though. He is still one of the few hanging on [...]
Plan Project in Malawi
We visited Mkoma Preschool today and what an amazing experience we had. After finally hooking up with Patrick we made it out to the school that Plan built. We were greeted by a mob of children and caregivers singing traditional songs beautifully. Their warm smiles immediately made us feel welcome.
Before Plan arrived, the villages surrounding the school did not have a place to study. They crammed into a small church and had limited facilities.
Now, they are thriving with a preschool and a primary school complex, where they are taught creative arts, reading science and nature and even physical education.
Cycling in Malawi During the Rainy Season
It is a blog full of great news! First, we had another article and photo published in the Toronto Star click here to read about our Kilimanjaro adventure. Next, I am back! 9 days and a lot of pain killers and antibiotics later and I am riding again. I lost a lot of hours, but [...]
Cycling Crash in Tanzania turns Bad
Now let me tell you about Dave’s week. He road fast, hard and had a couple of baboons follow him trying to get to his water bottles full of Fast Fuel. I think it was that particular moment that put him into 4th. He probably took 15 minutes off of his time while he was being pursued by these vicious little monkeys:)
What it is like to Cycle in Ethiopia on the Tour d’Afrique
Life here so far in the TDA becomes a bit surreal to say the least. Days no longer have names, just distances and vague directions.
This will give you an idea of what we have to go through.
Needed Rest from Cycling in Addis Ababa
It has been too long since our last update and I apologize. It isn’t for lack of trying though! I have to say that Ethiopia has the slowest Internet on the planet. We had tried to post photos and blogs in both Gonder and Bahar Dar but unfortunately it took forever just to open an email connection! But now we are in Addis Ababa relaxing in the Ghion Hotel where we just may have wireless Internet this afternoon if they get it figured out. Yeah!
Ode to the African Donkey
hiopia is a country with beautiful landscapes and very bold children. We are now travelling through one of Africa’s poorest countries. Most of the population here is under the age of 20 it is also on of the most populated countries on the continent. That means it doesn’t bode well for cyclists.
Difficult Cycling in Ethiopia, Deb Loses EFI
The contrasts are really amazing, 2 days ago at the border, we camped literally surrounded by cow manure, and now we are camping on the grounds of Gondors finest hotel. Dave and I splurged on a room for our sanity.
Its Smooth Sailing; Cycling In the Sudan
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.
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