Take a deep breath South America, here we come.Tales from the saddle.: Lusaka to Livingstone and the mighty Victoria Falls.

This was the schedule for the last 3 days of riding.

Lusaka to Oasis camping ground. 158kms. HAPPY 23^RD BIRTHDAY MATTHEW.

We all know I love my bed and sleeping is one of my favourite pass times. Last night was not a good sleep. I was still awake at 11.30pm and Luke had set his alarm for 5am, which does not give you a lot of time to sleep when you have to ride 158kms.

With breakfast devoured and the silver bullet all ready for another long day on the African roads it was time to clock in and hit the tarmac. We commenced at 6.10am and rode down the Great East Road to the centre of town and Cairo Road. We rode straight through the centre of town at an hour that was pretty safe with traffic. There were still hundreds of people getting on and off minivans and heading to work and these vans would turn and stop straight in front of us. They didn’t give a damn about the cyclists. There were lots of pot holes for the first part of the morning and plenty of trucks and buses as we got further away from the madness of Lusaka for the last time in my life.

Once again I rode with Luke and Peter, joined by Jorg, Carie and Kendra and some other guys. We rode at a good pace looking out into the fields of corn, wheat, sugar cane. We had 850metres of climbing today so later in the day we should get some good views of the valleys behind us.

There were plenty of towns along the way but they were getting smaller and smaller. The amount of kids calling out for money was decreasing and the small villages with 1 or 2 huts were no longer to be seen. It seemed that the small villages were to the east of Lusaka the way we came over the mountains, but the area we’re riding in now appeared to be more prosperous due to the huge amount of agriculture and light industry. Even the small villages we passed had sought of modern homes.

Our first stop today was at the Kafue River Bridge, I was told to stop taking photos of the bridge by the military but allowed to take photos of the river. Jorg had worked in this area dealing with water resource management, river flows and stuff too difficult for me to understand. I’m told there’s an abundant supply of tiger fish in the river. They’re the ones with the huge teeth and fight like a crazy woman.

After the photos and pee stop it was back on the bike for the ride to lunch at the 80km mark for the day. We had to climb a 3km climb before lunch and by the time we got to the summit there was only Luke, Carie and myself remaining in the group. The rest were all scattered over the mountain. I was so glad to have a rest now. I was tired when I started today and I’m still tired at lunch.

The summit is quite famous in this part of Africa and the plague we found just down the road from the lunch truck stated;

The Munalli Pass, just outside the town of Kafue and the Kafue River, tradition states that it was from the summit where Peter and Luke stand that the famous Dr David Livingstone obtained his first view of the Kafue River on the 14^th December 1855. He crossed these hills during his great Trans African journey from Angola to Mozambique. The pass is named after Dr Livingstone, Munalli, meaning the red one.

This is pretty interesting because in 2003 Josh and I stood at his statue at Victoria Falls and later on went to a place in Tanzania called Kigoma to see some more Dr Livingstone history. It was in this town on the shores of Lake Tanganyika that Stanley and met Livingstone and uttered those famous words.

‘Hello David where the F… have you been, I’ve been looking all over this place for you’

History states that he actually said, ‘Dr Livingstone I presume’. Not sure on the correct version.

So lunch was over and it was back on the bike for the ride to the Oasis Camp. The road was rolling hills, majority long flat fast roads and some short sharp pinches that were brutal when Scott and Luke decided to put the hammer down and put me into some trouble. I never did get dropped but I was suffering.

The fields were now covered in sugar cane for as far as the eye could see. The beautiful flat green land that went all the way into the horizon. On the other side of the road were acres and acres of corn. I can’t see how people could go hungry in this part of the world.

We rolled into a small town about 30kms from the campsite for a nice cold coke and more importantly a rest. We went down to shoprite to see if we could buy some gear to help us dress us for the challenge tonight. Once again we have to dress up before dinner and parade in front of the other cyclists. It’s a competition and we all know how much I love to win, and cheating is OK.

We got what we needed and hit the road again with a strong tailwind pushing us all the way to the finish line at 12.50pm. Now that’s not bad riding today.

As soon as I got off the bike I gave Matt hew a call and wished him a very happy birthday. Matthew turned 23 today. I have a couple of birthdays I have to celebrate when I get home.

The rest of the day is taking it easy for the long 182km ride tomorrow. We have to get dressed before dinner and then go to bed early and get a good night’s sleep. I will need to be fresh when the circus hits the road for another exciting day on the road in Africa

13^th April 2011. Oasis Camp to Ruza Chalet. 182kms.

Today was a sleep in as we now get breakfast at 6am. To have breakfast earlier would mean that some mad cyclists would be on the road in the dark if you gave them a chance, and without lights.

I was suppose to ride with Luke, Scott and Peter but by the time I got back from going to the toilet they had gone and I only caught up to Peter after about 30 minutes of riding. For the rest of the morning we had to make sure we ate and drank plenty because 182kms is one hell of a day on the bike. It’s the longest ride I think I’ve ever had since I was a very young boy.

The scenery was similar to yesterday so I won’t bore you with the details other than to say, a long day passing through small towns not villages, some with good shopping facilities and some we could stop at for a coke when we got tired.

Our small group got bigger as the day went on, with Carie, old Kim and Martin joining for the ride to lunch at the 75km mark. Although we had 870metres of climbing today, the road was beautifully paved with rolling hills, not steep ones.

From 6.40am to lunch at 10.20am, we had one stop at this motel where we had a nice cup of tea at a table, now that’s a change for Africa. We rolled into lunch for a huge meal of sandwiches, fruit, and drinks to make sure we could get through the remaining 107kms.

We still had the same group for the rest of the day and just enjoyed a nice leisurely ride over nice hills with some small villages in the distance, the Livingstone to Lusaka railway line following us all the way to the end of the day. We did stop at the 140km mark at the town of Choma. Like usual we found a ‘SPAR’ food store and bought water, pepsi, chocolate chip muffin and a tub of ice cream. Now that mightn’t seem a big deal, but when you don’t have access to these treats very often, you must take advantage when the time comes. I do.

I arrived at the camp at 3.20pm. After a quick bucket shower, it’s time to do the blog update, send Matthew an sms, eat dinner in ½ an hour, and go to bed about 1hr after that. Then I’ll get up at 5.15am tomorrow, eat breakfast at 6am, on the bike around 6.40am, ride 152kms, get to Victoria Falls, get my shit out of my locker, lock up my bike at the campsite and then make my way to the Royal Livingstone where Mr Rodney Hilton Sander and I will be sunning our fat asses around the pool. You should check out this place and see where the rich and famous stay, it’s a palace. So that’s enough for today, Tomorrow is the mighty Zambezi River and the town of Livingstone. Until then, goodbye Australia.

Another competition which we love to take part in. What a strange bunch of men??

14^th April 2011. Victory. Final stage of section into Livingstone, Victoria Falls. 151kms.

As the heading states, I got my victory in the Tour D Afrique bike race on the final day of the section Lilongwe, Malawi to Livingstone, Zambia. This section is proudly sponsored by Cottonwood Lodge, Snowy Cycling, located in the Snowy Mountain region of Australia.

After riding 158kms and 182 yesterday, I was concerned whether or not I had chosen the best day to try and crack a victory in this year’s Tour D Afrique. It was only going to work if the serious racers decided to have an easy day. I was aware that the section was going to be won by Paul Wolfe so he had no real reason to thrash out the day. I took a punt and discussed with Luke, Scott and Horst to give me a hand out on the road.

The first part of the day was 75kms to lunch. The race bunch rolled along at 35-45kms over the many gentle rolling slopes. I kept doing turns because if I sat on from the start no one would have been happy if I sat on and then tried to win.

About 10kms before the lunch stop Luke came up to me and suggested we should ride straight through lunch without stopping, and catch the other racers by surprise. Well this caught me totally off guard and I was seriously concerned that after 2 huge days, I wasn’t sure I had enough food and water on me to make the next 80kms to the finish line. Well no glory can be obtained without a risk. This was a calculated risk. I had raced so much over my life I well aware about going hunger flat.

When Paul Wolfe and all the racers pulled into the lunch stop the 4 of us put our heads down and powered on. We didn’t look back for over 60kms, and kept going as hard as we could. I didn’t hit the front at all, but this was already discussed between us prior to the race. I sat on Scott’s wheel and never moved myself from that position. Remember I’m on a shit heap mountain bike with fat tyres, although my position on the bike is exactly the same as my race bike.

Scott, Luke and Horst did all the work and just gave everything to help me win the stage. With about 10kms to go we got caught by Paul and the rest of the racers. They came bye at around 60kph. We thought they would never have tried to chase us down but they had other ideas. We chased as hard as we could by the amazing work of 3 guys. They got me back onto the bunch.

Paul said if you want this win you’ll have to work for it. So Luke got on the front and did some big turns into the main street of Livingstone with people and cars everywhere. I knew the area well as I had been here plenty of times before, but never racing through the place.

As we turned into the street that leads to the finish line, I was helped by Anthony and then I hit the front. I powered on through the pothole road around the corner is to the dirt section and never looked back. I hit the finish line FIRST. I buzzed on with my timer and the rest is history.

It’s been a long time since I pushed myself so hard over the past 3 days and was surprised I could go all the way today. I would like to give a huge thanks to Luke, my terrific mate from Australia, Scott and Horst. I would not have achieved this win without their help.

After showering at the Zambezi Waterfront, packing my bags, doing some washing, getting some food into me, I waited for Rodney Hilton Sanders to come in. Rodney had booked a room for the next 3 nights at the Royal Livingstone right on the Zambezi River and a stone throw from the mighty Victoria Falls.

We arrived at this amazing place and just sat in our room and recovered from a very tiring day at the office. You should have a look at the place on the internet, it’s truly spectacular. For the rest of the afternoon is to take some photos around the place, eat more food and get to bed early. So I achieved what I set out to do before I left home and that was to win a stage in the longest bike race in the world.