Keeping my Peace

Hello hello!

I write from a tiny internet cafe in a busy market in the town of Aswan, in Egypt. It is our last night in Egypt, tomorrow we take a chaotic ferry over to Sudan! There are cabins on the ferry but not enough for everyone so the oldest riders get the cabins, which means I am definitely sleeping on the deck - I am the youngest female rider here, and there are about 4 guys who are 18 and 19. Looking forward to sleeping under the stars and experience the chaos of this ferry, that is apparently packed the brim with fridges, oranges, tons of people and oh so much more! But it's definitely going to be coooold!!

The tour so far has been very challenging and an incredible delight! If you have been reading the tour blog you know that we've had some incredible headwinds, and even some rain, which is unheard of here at this time of year. The clouds on Day 2 stretched magestically across the sky, the biggest clouds I have ever seen, perhaps because the whole sky is much bigger here- one huge half globe. Pink lighting lit up the clouds as I struggled hard at about 8km/h against the headwinds. The distance that day was 160k, I made it about 145 before dusk and got swept (which is when you don't make it to camp before dark and the support car picks you up) - which means I lost my EFI (every "fabulous" inch) status right away on Day 2- suprisingly liberating. It's incredible to have to push hard to move forward going downhill when there are strong headwinds like this. The first half of the week was tough with long distances and strong headwinds, but everytime I looked back on the previous moment, it was all pure delight. Day 4 was an easy day, about 80k and still air - but I was so worn out, it was my toughest day! We camped at a beach on the red sea - amazing! The next morning we rode through the red sea mountains which were really neat, I really enjoyed them, although, again we were fighting strong headwinds. I love hills or different roads, these headwinds, however, are a whole different story! I didn't even make it to lunch on time and got swept about 10k from lunch. I was no longer smiling at every moment, and took the next day off and had lots of naps in the truck and at camp - a real test to maintaining my dignity. There are some incredibly talented cyclists here, they completely blow me away.
This brings me to our first rest day which was in Luxor. We couldnt get two of our support cars into Egypt so we have a local company called Emeco here with us in Egypt, which means we had local men accompany us and teach us some Arabic all along the way. We've also been delighted to have Egyptian riders join us for all of Egypt. In Luxor, the Emeco drivers took the Egyptian riders and a few of us tour riders out to a whole bunch of historical sites - the valley of the Kings which is where many many kings are burried (the paint is still so bright inside the tomb caves despite being about 8000 years old!), the Hepsheepsut Temple (not sure about the spelling... a tip for pronuncition is to think Hat-Ship-Suit) which is a huge temple that was built into a mountain... until the queen who ordered the building of the temple's brother decided to destroy it all...now only a tiny bit of it remains. It was great getting to know the Egyptian riders betterand have since spent most of my spare time with them. Sherrif and I went to watch the sun set over the Nile in Luxor, last night most of the Egyptian riders (Sherrif, Muhammad, Muhammad, and... Mushou?) and my new south-african friend Jethro and I went to an Egyptian cafe for a warm coconut drink, and just a couple of hours ago Sherrif,Muhammad,Muhammad and Dan (from Nevada) had some koshiry (pasta, chick peas, lentil and tomato sauce and vinegar -delcious!) and then took a boat to an island which was one big botannical park! There were sooo many different kinds of trees and flowers that smelled so fruity! We had such a great time!

Since Luxor we've had two fantastic days of riding. About 115 kms, which is my favorite distance so far. We've been going through small towns that border the Nile, which I love love love. There are so many kids lining the streets - they give me so much energy. Some of them spit on us or stick sticks in our wheels, which is unfortunate, but part of the reality. Many of them very persistently ask for money or pens, especially as we near touristy areas. But they are all wonderfully alight with spark and genuity, and most are simply yelling "hello! hello! hello! hello!" and delighted with a wave in return. I didn't stop smiling for a single second of the ride yesterday. Today there were some sections where there weren't many people, simply nice stretches along the Nile with a sailboat docked and lush palm trees on the other side of the river- I felt like I was in paradise. It's shokcing to see such lush countryside and such vibrant towns after a week of riding through the desert.

I've mostly been riding by myself. Every once in a while, I'll catch up to someone or they'll catch up to me and we'll chat for a few kilometers, or until lunch, or draft each other to tackle the winds. Sometimes I'll join a peloton and ride hard for a morning or afternoon. But mostly, and my favorite, has been riding alone. I don't go super fast, I soak in everything around me and return a smile to everyone I pass. I don't even think I'm thinking throughout these perhaps 5hours. I'm just riding and smiling and smelling and feeling the wind...and trying to go a little faster to enjoy the town we're camping in that night or beat the sweep. It's great. And I think I have found out that's what I'm here for. Not to race or push my absolute limits (although I dont deny or relish in the inevitable challenge that is every day.... getting up before the sun rises, packing up camp quickly, riding +100k, sleeping in the suddenly cold night interrupted by prayers playing on the loud speaker, remembering to drink lots... and then having an incredibly full bladder and either getting outof my tent in the middle of the night to go pee or peeing in a ziplock bag because it's raining and windy! And doing it all over again!) I'll push my absolute limits again I'm sure later (I'm still dreaming of Ironman!)... but here it's all about soaking in everthing and simply being.... keeping my peace :)

I could write more about lovely sparkling moments, but the internet cafe has just started blarring some music and Dan at the computer next to me and I have started lipsynching (I will alllllwaayyyss love you!!!) ..which I think is our hint to head back to camp. Sudan is a dry country which means that anyone who has bought alcohol in the past week has to drink it all tonight.. that mixed with the fact that it's our Egyptian riders' last night with us means that I'm sure there is a bit of a party going on at camp tonight. I hope there's dancing! Iwould like to say a good goodbye to my egyptian friends, so I'll say goodbye for now! I promise to write more about the food which I know some of you are interested in soon!

....One last sparkling moment to share... today we were treated to showers! And on top of that... one of the riders showed me a hidden nice shower that even had a hint of warm water! I didnt have any soap because the trucks have gone ahead of us in a different ferry so we only have our tents and some clothing with us, but another rider left a bar of soap in the sink and I used a bit of it, and oh my goodness! Did it ever smell good and work so well! I have never appreciated soap as much before!

Many hugs to you!

"May the sun give you new energy by day
May the moon softly restore you by night
May the rain wash away your worries
May the wind blow new strength into your being
May you walk gently upon this earth and know it's beauty every day of your life"