TDA 2013 Cast

We have just updated the video for the final section of TDA 2013 to include the aforementioned video cast list - click here to watch it. It follows the normal section 8 video. It's worth watching for those who know people on the trip!

The TDA 2013 Song

Our resident musician on the trip, Phil Howard, was tutored by none other than Ronan Keating. He composed a song to summarise the 'epic adventure' and we have put some clips to it.

Click here  to hear it.

The final chapter...

The video for the final leg of what we have now decided to call our 'epic adventure' is finished and you can watch it by clicking here or by clicking on the Blog archive. There is a cast list at the end for those that are interested (apologies to sectional riders - we didn't have all of you)!

We hope you have enjoyed watching the videos - they have been a lot of work to put together so for anyone who has been watching them to keep tabs on the tour, please help us to support out three great charities by sponsoring us. You can do so by clicking here.

Namibia

[better late than never]

 

Of all the countries that we have visited over the course of our bike ride, Namibia is high on the list of places that we would return too.  It is a truly stunning country with some amazing desert landscapes. Whilst we did not ride much through the Kalahari, we spent a good deal of time in the Namib Desert, enjoying the harsh landscapes, surprisingly varied wildlife and the iconic sand dunes (including the world’s biggest, imaginatively called ‘Big Daddy’). Given the entire dearth of scenery throughout Botswana, having something, anything, to look at has been a treat, but the contrast meant the beauty of Namibia felt even more spectacular.

 

Namibia was colonised by the Germans originally and there are signs of this dotted around – random Colditz-esque castles in the middle of nowhere, amazing bakeries and long unpronounceable (to us) place names. Unlike some other colonised countries, the German language was never forced upon, or even really taught to, the local people, and so Afrikaans prevailed as Boers from the South moved North to settle in Namibia. However, due to the association between Afrikaans and Apartheid, Namibia chose to make English its official language, even though it is the first language of only around 5% of the population (most people do speak it).

 

The prevalence of white people in Namibia meant that we (a bunch of pasty lycra clad folk) were of little interest to locals. This, accompanied with the sheer absence of people to meet, resulted in less engagement with Namibians, a trend which began in Botswana but which leaves us feeling less intimate with a country. 

Up to the end of Zambia, locals would smile, wave, engage and be fascinated/incredulous/outright disbelieving of what we are doing.  By this stage on our journey, whilst people may be impressed, they tend to counter our bravado with the fact that they once cycled 100 miles in 1963, a feat that prevented their eyes popping out of their sockets as they have done in previous countries.

 

 

The upside of heading back towards Western civilisation has been the return of (usually) warm showers, well stocked supermarkets, efficient restaurants and cracking (in the good sense) tarmac. Long may these smooth rides continue to South Africa!

 

*Disclaimer: Given that Lizzie spent the vast majority of the time that we were in there propping up Namibia’s private health service, whilst Ali enjoyed his new found freedom on the bike, this is solely his narrow view of this beautiful country.

Section 7 Video Mark II

Apparently Bob Dylan doesn't approve of being the very appropriate backing music to our Section 7 video, hence the previous link not working. So we have changed the music, to something that still hopefully works, and re-posted the video. You can watch it by clicking here (unless you're in Germany as apparently none of the music we have used works there. Apologies for that). 

Cape Town!

Crossing the border into South Africa and seeing the first sign for Cape Town, the ending of this journey was starting to become very real.  A few days ago we hit the coast and dipped our toes (only our toes mind, it was absolutely freezing) in the Atlantic Ocean.  We hadn’t seen the sea since Safaga in Egypt, a good long four months ago.

You’d think as the miles stacked up and the finish line got closer the riding would become easier, but although Africa provides the setting for the longest bike race in the world (that’s the one that we just did by the way) apparently that’s not the continent’s raison d’etre, so unfortunately the roads and terrain don’t ease to sympathise and congratulate our arrival at our destination.  The final riding days were still demanding.

We spent the final few days skirting the coast line, and unbelievably the penultimate afternoon caught our first glimpse of table mountain (at least on this occasion geography complied with an iconic feature to demarcate our finish line).  We rubbed our eyes – in both disbelief and somewhat overwhelmed with the emotion.

The actual ride into Cape Town was fantastic.  We stopped at the beach for obligatory photos with our bikes in the air, champagne guzzling and some general jubilation – this was our private celebration amongst the riders, whilst our common bond still held us tight and before our arrival would begin the steady dissipation of the norms we had built around us (acceptably smelly clothes, rushing to queue for any food on offer, uninhibited discussion of bowel movements for example).

 

Having being truck bound for far too long due to the crevice in her leg, as you can imagine, nothing was going to stop Lizzie cycling in the convoy into town.  We gathered and rode as a pack happily chatting for the last 30kms, straight towards Table Mountain and into the waterfront where a spectacular crowd of well wishers were waiting for us.  Flags were waved, medals were given out and we clapped until our hands hurt.  

How does it feel to get to the finish line of a trans-continental bike ride?  We’re not sure that we know yet.  There is utter pride, in ourselves, in those who we rode with and each of their achievements.  There is relief – we made it, the pressure is off.  There is exhaustion, of the body and the mind.  There is sadness, for the end of the most beautifully simple life style; to leave the pleasure of the road and the sights it takes you to; to part with the friends that we’ve made; to say good bye to the excellent crew who kept us heading on the right road, nursed us, kept us fed, kept our bikes working, and generally kept us smiling.      

   

It’s going to take some time to work through it all.  And whilst we are doing that, we can dream up the next adventure…..

Wind - The Proof!

After our blog on the wind the other day, we were riding through Namibia (into a headwind, naturally) and saw this sign, which we wish had come a week earlier so we could have included it with the post!