This, however, sounds downright depressing.  I like some grit and dirt, but I also like latte’s, good food and some clean sheets on occasion.   I suppose, like on a lot of tours, fond memories may grow after the discomfort recedes.  However, at the moment, it just doesn’t seem like that is going to happen.  You can read for yourself and make your own prediction:

Tour D’Afrique Update: Africa is Not Easy | Junk Mail Blog.

For starters, Rick Wasfy and some others crashed in a paceline:

“How do you turn what is supposed to be an easy 123 km day into a terrible day?   Well you get into a 2 line peloton coming out of camp and when you are in second position you touch wheels with the person in the front and go down bringing down 4 other people behind you…..I guess the lessons learned would be to not follow quite so close and also to always have your hands ready on the breaks and not on the airo bars where you have no control”  

Amen, to the “no aerobars” in a paceline conclusion.   That’s never a good idea.   Fortunately, nobody was seriously hurt.

Ricky’s blog is back in business, but I don’t get the sense that internet access is all that easy in the Sudan.  You can read the whole post on the crash here: 

http://rickwasfy.wordpress.com/2010/01/29/the-crash/

Here is another blog with some great pictures.  There are a lot of bloggers on the TdA.  It’s actually a great tour to follow.

Cairo to Cape: AMAZING SUDAN.

Great pics on this TdA blog!!!

Ricky Wasfy at the start of Tour d"Afrique

I think I’m going to track Ricky’s adventure on Tour d’Afrique from the friendly confines of this blog and the Far and Away Cyling Facebook page (at least until I head to our own Tour d’ Indochine).   Why not?  It looks like a mega adventure to me.  If we can cheer for Lance and others in the Tour d’France, we can cheer for Ricky on the TdA.

Incidentally, I don’t know Ricky from Adam.  He just caught my attention when I was looking  at some TdA photos.

He’s young at 27 and seems to be going well at the moment:  2 EFI days and escaped serious injury when some kid threw a big rock at him (fwiw, I hear this is favorite pastime for kids in Ethiopia).

The Tour d’Afrique is about to pass a milestone:  leaving Egypt on an overnight ferry for Sudan (apparently some of the group spends the night on the deck with the locals).  I don’t think there are any Maharajah-style accommodations in Ricky’s immediate future.  I’m sure that’s fine with Ricky.  You don’t go on Tour d”Afrique for that.

http://rickwasfy.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/made-it-to-aswan/

The Tour Down Under is not the only race/ride to have kicked off this week.  Tour d’Afrique did as well.  We have a few customers that have tackled at least parts of it.  It looks to be part race, part tour, and all survival.  It’s 12,500 kilometers in total from Cairo to Capetown. I tell people that our tours are challenging and, for most people, they are.  But, it’s all relative.  I don’t know what the attrition rate will be for this, but I bet it’s pretty high.  I do like this photo.  This is a great one.

The TdA website says the event is a test of  “mind, body and bike”.  There actually is a fourth, five letter word that popped into my head as I refreshed my memory on what this event entails.  Best wishes and safe journey to the entrants!  Quite an adventure.

News in pictures on Sunday