Tour d' Afrique Start Day!

Greetings from Giza - yes I am still here! But not for long. After two days of rider meetings and a fun ride through the streets of Giza (followed my the local police for around 6km - I think they were bored!) out to a "little" pyramid - I am ready to ride.

The rider meetings updated us on the ins and outs of the tour - the race rules, camp updates and toliet details (seriously that part is not going to be fun - pretty much find a "private" place, dig a hole and go. Too much information? Well I think everyone here's going to know all my business - quite literally - yikes! Having said that we are all excited and the groups seems great.

At the hotel this morning the bike mechanic, Chris set up shop and we tweaked out bikes and checked for problems. I have already ripped two values out of my tubes (which isn't great because I only have 5!) so I have been practicing changing my tires to avoid problems in the future. Jake seems ready to go but I have to admit the value problem gave me a little scare and knocked my confidence a bit. I am feeling better but tire problems are most common and I would like to avoid flats as much as possible.

Tomorrow morning we are up at 4:30 am and heading to the big pyramids as a convoy with an escort for the first 38km and then we are off and on our own. Day one is 132km and then over 150km the next day....and so on. Desert camps for 4 days (no showers) and we should be in Luxor in 6 days for our first "rest" day - I have been told to think of rest days insteads as "none riding days" because there will be no resting - it will be all about laundry, eating and finding an internet connection.

I am registered as a racer (there are a lot of us) so if you are interested you can check out the Tour d'Afrique website and check my race times......but you should know that I am reluctant racer which means I will be trying to go fast but will be stopping along the way for a coffee maybe, a coke and certainly spotting for lunch. I am not in this to win but it might be fun for you all to check out our times online.

So until Luxor then. Sorry no pictures - it has been tough to get an internet connection here in Giza.

Stay tuned.....!