Ahhh, A Rest Day at Last

Hola Amigos, I'm in Luxor.

Well after six hard days of riding, we have earned our first rest day. We are in Luxor, Egypt, situated right on the Nile. The first day was extremely brutal because of a nasty head wind, the next five days have been quite nice. We've been riding appx 80miles a day with one day of 110miles.

The scenery has been beauiful. The first day we rode to the Pyramids. We were able to see the Pyramids at sunrise, and the Cairo smog only made them more majestic. From there we rode out of Cairo (Cairo traffic makes NYC traffic seem suburban). Out of Cairo we rode to the Red Sea. We were flanked on the left by the Red Sea, and on the right by the desert and mountains. We pretty much followed the Red Sea down to Safarga, Egypt where we headed west over a mountain pass to get back to the Nile. As tough as the riding has been, equally difficult has been the camping. We get up at 5:30 in the dark and COLD, and set up camp by 5:30 when the last bits of daylight remain. Packing up in the morning is definitely stressful. Everyone seems to have one eye on their own gear, and the other eye watching the progress of the other riders to make sure you don't fall too far behind in packing up. I could write a whole 'nother blog post just o the dynamics of crapping, but I'll spare you for now.


The temperature is very difficult to gauge. It gets down into the high 30s at night, but during the day if you are in the sun it is easily in the low-to-mid 80s.


By mid next week we will be out of Egypt and into the Sudan. Most of the riders are a bit nervous about Sudan. We will be riding in the desert and the roads (when there are roads) are in poor condition. The thought of riding in sand with 4liters of water has me a bit nervous. The Tour Guides have told us that Sudan and Ethiopia are the toughest countries to get through . . . so if I make it through the next three weeks (which should have me out of Sudan) then we will be good to go!

The body is holding up OK. It is a little shocked. I'm definitely one of the weaker riders, but the riding legs are coming back slolely but surely. Other than general soreness, my bigggest issues is that four of my fingers have gone almost completely numb (which makes typing a bit difficult). One of the cyclists is a doctor, who says that this is a common effect. Common or not it sort of sucks.

Well I don't know when I will be able to write next. It may be a while. I will try and text my friend Bonz, who along with Dain and Sara, are maintaining www.gogoswami.com. I will try and send some pics but it takes about 10 min per pic to upload. For less alak-specific updates, you can go to www.tourdafrique.com.

Finally, get your checkbooks out. As you may or may not know I'm raising money for Charity:water http://www.charitywater.org/water/charitywater_why.htm which is an organization that provides sustainable water sources in resource poor African villages.

Sara or Bonz will send an email when the donation link on gogoswami.com is up and running. Give early, Give often.

Until next time . . .

Goose