Day 5. Safaga to Desert Camp

Day 5. Safaga to Desert Camp.  139kms

Today I rode out of Safaga with Luke and Lindsay to the base of the climb at a nice pace.  I was still getting over the flu and not 100% yet.  By about 10kms up the climb the racers came up behind and we just let them go.  It’s unfortunate they won’t get to see Africa like I will.  Am I the strange one, taking my time smelling the roses and having plenty of time for a coke or coffee stop and meet some of the local inhabitants.  

Our lunch stop was at the 70km mark and surprisingly I was feeling pretty good after the 40kms climb out of Safaga that seemed to go and go forever.  It’s the first time I climbed for 2 hours since Josh and I climbed a mountain in Kenya in 2004.  We met this bank manager in Kisii who said the hill out of town was only a small one, yeh right, 2 hours later we crested the hill absolutely stuffed.  This time I did it much easier as I had a bunch of cyclists to work with to get over the climb.  The landscape out of Safaga changed dramatically from the sandy roadside to now rock mountains that surrounded us in every direction.  The view was pretty neat all day.  Lunch was a nice pita bread, tomato, egg, mayonnaise sandwich washed down with water.

The guys I rode with like to take about 10minutes for lunch and a pee break and get straight back on the bike to ride the next 70ks into camp.  Today’s camp was at a military post, which meant we had the military looking over us all night.  I must say the security we have had during this trip so far has been impressive.  Men carrying machine guns just to guard our camps each night.  Also have a group of police that follow the riders each day ensuring their protection.

Arrived in camp around 1pm so now we have plenty of time to sit down and have one of those shitty wet ones bath, they’re not  getting the job done at all. When we arrive in camp each day we cleaned down get some dirty clothes on and have a nice cup of soup which is usually vegetable and tastes fabulous.  5pm is the rider meeting which describes what we will face the next day and because we have our first rest day tomorrow in Luxor, this will give riders the chance to go and stay at the local hotel in a nice bed, have a shower, have a shave, not dig a hole in the desert to take a crap, I’m sure you get the picture. Legs feel pretty good and now time for dinner.

Hills and Amazing Landscape

After having a head cold for the past 3 days , i am feeling a lot better and ready to smash the hills. Today i rode 139km's , first 40km's was all hills which i just held onto the wheel. It was a beautiful day  riding in the sun, listening to my ipod and looking at the amazing landscape that this country has to offer. I am really amazed at the km's i am doing each day. I have done a total of 766km's in my first week and  many more km's to come. Tomorrow we are riding to Luxor which is our first rest day of the tour. I am really looking forward to seeing the Valley Of The Kings tomorrow.

Thanks again for all comments and best wishes received so far. Much Appreciated.

2 hard days ahead.

Probably won't get on the net until Thursday when we arrive at Luxor.  Going to stay at the Boomerang Hotel which is owned by an Australian women.  The next 2 days will be really hard, tomorrow will be a hard 140ks of hills.  The day into Luxor will be 93kms which will be a walk in the park.  To all my family and friends, I really do appreciate your comments along the way.

The finish flag with the sun setting and cyclists still coming in.

Cairo to Khartoum proudly supported by the SOTO Group.

Day 4, Desert Camp to the Red Sea Town of Safaga

Today was a quick run of 100kms from the desert camp to the sea side town of Safaga on the Red Sea.  The first 60kms to lunch time was pretty fast and we did it in about 1hr 30mins due to the strong tailwind.  Even did some work on the front of the bunch, something I not accustomed too, and something I will not be making a habit over the next 4 months.

camping ground on the Red Sea, Safaga

These guys are our protection throughout Egypt.  All are packing pistols.

The beast is taking a break.

The scenery is quite baron with the same of sand hills and mountains of to our right for hundreds of kms. After lunch I got caught by the racers and stayed with them for about 10kms then got spat out the back.  When I get over the cold, I'm going to kick some serious arse. We arrived at the end of the day at 10.30am.  I rode the last 12kms on my own at a nice pace and this gave me a good chance to get prepared to tomorrow's epic 140kms over the mountains.

Day 3 Desert Camp to Desert Camp. Full Report.

Full report.  Thanks Matt for all your help with the updates.  this is a ride from hell.

Day One, Cairo, Pyramids, Desert Camp 137 Kms.

Well what a day, after getting out of bed at around 4.45am before Vitali wanted to get out at that ungodly hour, we made our way for breakfast and then meet up with all the other cyclists for a start of 6am.  We eventually headed out at 7am after everyone decided to hand in their keys or forget to pay there excess drinking bills,we headed off for what would b e one of the greate  bike journeys of my life.

With a full police escort and roads bein g blocked off at ev ery intersection we made out way to the magnificent Pyramids of Giza.  I was blown away by their size and the history surround ing them.  Once again if you would like to know more about the Pyramids, check out www.google.com   At the pyramids I took about 100 photos as this would definitely be my last time in this part of the world. 

Standing infront of the pyramids I got some sensational photos, which will live with me and my family forever.  After the periods we then made the slow progress through Cairo with full police escort to the outskirts of the town.  By the time we left the Pyramids and got through town it was now getting close to 10am and we still had 100kms to go.

As soon as the support vehicles pulled over the race was on,  I managed to stay with the leaders until the lunch break and then slowed down for the remaining 65ks to the end of the day.  I was pretty tired but still surprised how I went on the day.  It certainly drove home the realisation that for me to participate in the race would be down right stupid.  I can’t go with this racers anymore.  But boy am I good at sitting on.  I haven’t lost that talent over the years and probably still hold the world title for sitting on.

So today was a fantastic experience, and yes, I didn’t hit the front of the group once. 

Day 2. Desert Camp to Desert Camp 167kms, Mando day.

We decided to leave at 7am, but due to Peter and Andrea being late, we didn’t get to leave camp until 7.30.  By the time we were out on the road the wind was behind us and the riding was quite easy.  After about 30kms both Peter ,  Andreau and Kim couldn’t hang any longer so Luke and I decided to press on to the lunch stop at the 70km mark.  We reached lunch at around 10.15 and left about 15.  For the next 60kms it was just Luke and I going along into the headwind.  It was starting to take it’s toll on me and I was getting really tired.  I drank about 6litres all together for the day.  At the 135km mark there was  rest stop so we could top up our bottles for the next 32 kms to camp.  We arrived at camp around 2.30pm really tired. 

Luke and I then walked down to the Red Sea and had a swim in really cold water

The whole day was a hard event, with plenty of flat land surrounded by  sandy hills that stretched forever.  We made our way to the shores of the Red Sea which was quite spectacular and basically followed the Sea for the rest of the day.  Beautiful sunny day.  I think I need to ride with people in my league and not that of Luke as he’s an animal on the bike.

It’s now 7.30pm and I’m stuffed and going to sleep.

Day 3, Desert Camp to Desert Camp.  Today I woke up far too early because of this terrible head cold I picked up on the day prior to leaving Cairo because my room mate wanted to keep the bullshit air con on all night.  Because he was built like a brick shit house I didn’t feel like telling him to turn the thing off at this stage of the holiday.  My throat is sore and my nose is full of it.  This makes it really difficult to breathe easy but there’s no other option. 

I headed out around 7am for the 135km ride to the nest desert camp.  After about 15mins the racers caught up to me and usually I would be able to sit with them but with my nose all blocked up I couldn’t manage the effort for very long and soon I was off the back and riding on my own.  I think the 2 huge days prior to this one has taken it’s toll on my old body.

I cruised along for the next 20kms and came across another group I rode with to the lunch break.  Then it was a good 30minute break and back on the bike again for another 30 to our first coke stop of the trip.  Another 30minute break and again we were banging our heads against the strong headwind till we reached camp at around 2pm.  The rest of the afternoon was putting up my tent, having a ‘wet ones’ bath (useless as mens tits) and relax  and try and recover for our easy 100kms to our next stop, Safaga on the Red Sea. 

The food has been great in the evenings but the breakfast of porridge is pretty hard to stomach, but I’l l just have to get use to it.  I’m eating heaps and thankfully haven’t felt hungry at any stage of our the tour.  The first day I consumed 4500 calories over 137kms and yesterday I consumed 6100 calories over 167kms.  Today I couldn’t give a shit what I consumed too tired and now I’m going to sleep.

Let The Journey Begin!

Day 1: Today commenced bright and early at 6am.Today was 137km ride with police escort out of town. It was amazing riding past the pyramids and to know that my journey has commenced.Strong tail wind made the trip a little quicker riding to our destination.Looking forward to a good night sleep.

Day 2 : Today was 167km of pain. Many failed the cut off and had to get on the bus.Wind and sand blowing everywhere.I made the distance with the help of a swim in the red sea.Time for some tucker and off to bed to be up early for tomorrow.

D day now under 24hrs.

distances for the next couple of days.

After nice ride today the 63 full expedition riders and the rest of the support crew got together for a final briefing before heading towards the pyramids at 6am tomorrow morning.  To stand in front of the pyramids will certainly have to be up their with some of the greatest highlights of my life.  \perhaps within the top 10. \i'm really excited and will probably get a crappy sleep.

Cairo to \khartoum proudly supported by the Soto group.