I Turned 40 in Africa!

On May 10th we were 5 days from completing our 10 country, almost 12,000km ride through Africa. I turned 40 years old in Felix Unite, Namibia. That morning we crossed the border into South Africa. When I woke up at 4:30am I was stopped on the way to the toilet block by Gert, one of the staff, who wished me a happy birthday. The riders sang Happy Birthday at breakfast and the birthday greetings continued throughout the day. The day was designated a non-race day (I didn't organize that but told everyone I did!) so the racers took it easy on the ride and the mood in the camp seemed relaxed and happy.

Before crossing the border into South Africa, a few of us stopped at the Wimpy restaurant for our second breakfast of the day (Wimpy has amazingly good coffee). I ordered a waffle and when one of the TDA trucks pulled in with the Canadian cook on board I asked him for Canadian maple syrup and to my surprise he went back to the truck and got me a bottle of the real stuff - now that is what I call a birthday treat!

A couple of weeks before my birthday I hinted that it might be nice to have french toast for my birthday lunch but then changed it to grilled cheese and the lovely staff obliged. The lunch time ration rules that day were "2 per person, 4 for Jenn". I did eat 4 grilled cheese that day - YUM!

When I rode the 135km into Springbok, South Africa - one of the TDA staff members took me into town and I picked up all the fixings for a pre-dinner birthday wine and cheese - along with soft drinks and about 100 beers. Everyone enjoyed the more civilized start to dinner - with apples and pears, olives and crackers and of course an assortment of nice cheeses. The assortment of goodies lasted about 10 minutes - TDA riders attack food, especially good food, like a pack of wolves!

Irish Paddy picked me out an outfit to wear - some styley glasses, and lovely plastic jewelry....a girl should look her best at 40!

It was a brilliant day and I loved the ride into South Africa - lots of rollers. I turned 40 in Africa - I am not sure it gets any better than that!