The last 48 hours have probably been the most indescribable two days of my life. We have hit Cape Town at last! It doesnt seem real what we have just done, it is a bit of a dizzy feeling unpacking my locker, boxing up my bike and having to find my own food for a change. I can probably remember experiencing a lifetime of emotions in one day, it is pretty unreal. The last riding day started at 3 degrees, yes 3 degreess celsius. I could literally not feel my hands or feet for an hour until the sun rose, it couldnt have been a more contrasting picture to the previous 5 days and the proceeding few hours.
I cant describe to you how mind blowing the first view of table mountain was, i dont think I have ever wanted to cry upon seeing a mountain but yesterday was a big exception. The sky was beautifully blue, totally clear, namibian blue, we had been having rain all week and we were blessed with the most beautiful day. Everyone grouped up at lunch where we took photos and hugged and chatted with Cape Town in the back ground, it was all pretty surreal. I cant wait to show you the pictures, i am usless at describing how beautiful a day it really was. Our convoy started at around 12 oclock and we pedalled in unison along the bay in a semi circle into the city. Table Mountain kept getting bigger and bigger and the convoy faster and faster. Its amazing to think about what we have done, especially the full tour riders, the EFIers, everyone. Each day is so individual that it is easy to forget the distance we have covered until you look at a map. I can recall the feelings and emotions from each riding day, i can remember specific climbs, long roads, dirt tracks. I can still feel it in my legs, in my hands and arms. Africa has pretty much changed my body and i am going to miss being on my bike every single day.
I would like to finish by saying thank you to everyone who supported me and sponsored me. I didnt believe in myself at the start, if i could even ride a whole day, each day gave me more confidence and I feel stronger on each riding day. Thank you to mum and dad for the amazing bike which has been the best riding of my life, and for the flights to get me here. Thank you to megan and kate for all the love support and messages on the trip and thank you very much to rosie for being there for me and listening to me when i was planning the trip and worrying about everything and trying to train, and also to the Lomas family for the amazing Lumix camera which i have taken thousands of photos on!
I wish i could put it into words, into pictures, into videos but i cant...When i get back make sure i tell you some stories because i sure as hell cant describe it on here. Basically it feels like i can do anything, like i can get on my bike and keep going. I will definately be coming back after uni to do Cairo to Nairobi! Lastly I would like to thank everybody on tour (hopefully some will read this) Everyone made me feel so welcome and looked after me and made every single day an amzing experience.
Anyway, i need to find a hostel now!
See you sooon
Jacob
Sunday, 16 May 2010
Sunday, 9 May 2010
We ride for Cape Town...
Aloha from the sunny shores of the Orange River from which we can gaze upon the final country of our mammoth bike expedition. Our campsite is situated right alongside the river and South Africa is barely 50 meters away, but we will have to wait until tommorow to make the crossing into our final country. I almost wish we could sty in Namibia for another 2 weeks, it is indescribably beautiful here, each day just gets better and better. We have had 8 days of 'off-road' since Windohoek and it has been a dream, mostly hard packed but with some corrugation and sand to make it challenging. Days have been long but with scenery like this, i was not complaining. Anyway, i wish i could show you some photos but this computer won't read my memory card for some mind boggling reason, maybe i will try again later.
Without a doubt Namibia has been a highlight, 5 days ago we had a rest day in Sesrien and got a drive out to Soussuvlei in the Namib desert at 4 in the morning, scramled up a sand dune and sat there to watch the sun rise, pretty amazing!. We have meandered through mountain ranges, dunes, national parks and a canyon. The road has been bone breaking at times and my wrists, feet and knees are all aching but the scenery has more than made up for it. Also - big news, I didnt get a singl;e flat! In comparison with Tanzania i find this a pretty extraordinary fact as i had around 20 flats in my first week!
People are starting to talk about Cape Town and what we will do when we get there etc. However i just want to savour the last few days of the tour. Botswana was tough mentally because it was long, hard and boring and everyone was wet and just wanted to go home, but Namibia seemed to reawaken our spirits. It feels like i could keep riding when we get to cape town, i seem to have reached some sort of cycling zenith which i cant really explain. I will miss the people, the routine, the adventure but i am ready to lay down and sleep for a month after doing this and looking forward to seeing everyone at home.
So far my plans for Cape Town are: getting a shave (big shaving party at the finish line), climb or cable car table mountain, go to robben island, maybe do a winelands tour and do some souvenir shopping.
I have to say the last 8 days have been a real highlight of the our and i am very sad to be leaving Namibia but i am sure South Africa will be equally amazing. I will try some photos again shortly but if not then its not long until i am home and can show you some more!
Missing everyone back home..
Jacob
Also, i am stil EFI from nairobi!!!
Without a doubt Namibia has been a highlight, 5 days ago we had a rest day in Sesrien and got a drive out to Soussuvlei in the Namib desert at 4 in the morning, scramled up a sand dune and sat there to watch the sun rise, pretty amazing!. We have meandered through mountain ranges, dunes, national parks and a canyon. The road has been bone breaking at times and my wrists, feet and knees are all aching but the scenery has more than made up for it. Also - big news, I didnt get a singl;e flat! In comparison with Tanzania i find this a pretty extraordinary fact as i had around 20 flats in my first week!
People are starting to talk about Cape Town and what we will do when we get there etc. However i just want to savour the last few days of the tour. Botswana was tough mentally because it was long, hard and boring and everyone was wet and just wanted to go home, but Namibia seemed to reawaken our spirits. It feels like i could keep riding when we get to cape town, i seem to have reached some sort of cycling zenith which i cant really explain. I will miss the people, the routine, the adventure but i am ready to lay down and sleep for a month after doing this and looking forward to seeing everyone at home.
So far my plans for Cape Town are: getting a shave (big shaving party at the finish line), climb or cable car table mountain, go to robben island, maybe do a winelands tour and do some souvenir shopping.
I have to say the last 8 days have been a real highlight of the our and i am very sad to be leaving Namibia but i am sure South Africa will be equally amazing. I will try some photos again shortly but if not then its not long until i am home and can show you some more!
Missing everyone back home..
Jacob
Also, i am stil EFI from nairobi!!!
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Its all about the milkshakes...
Finally we are here in the amazingly modern Windhoek, where you can get literally anything that you want or need. I am sitting in a massive shopping mall with clothes stores, restaurants, sports and camping stores, banks etc. Okay it may sound weird that I am so excited about Windhoek but it is such a relief to be here. The last 5 days have been the toughest so far on the tour. Each day has been made harder by the previous day, legs are aching, clothes are we, stomachs are rumbling. We have covered over 500miles in 5 days and it has been relentless. Botswana gave us its best shot and we made it through. I feel disappointed though because we didn’t actually see Botswana and the weather was just dreadful which made the riding so much more grueling. In camp we had continuous thunder storms for about 3days, my tent got semi-flooded on two occasions. The second time there was a river running through the front section of my tent. It has just been unbelievable with the weather, it has been so cold and wet and now we are baking in the warm Namibian sunshine. The hardest part of the 5 day section was the ride from Windoek airport in Windhoek. After 4 tiring days we had no energy left and the wind just kept hitting us unforgiving as we tried to climb the rolling hills in windhoek. It was a battle every kilometer, we stopped so many times in the searing heat and the speeding traffic (so far Namibian drivers have been fairly ruthless).
Without a doubt it was definitely worth it, even though I am completely wiped and exhausted, we only have 14 riding days left until Cape Town! Last night we had a really nice farewell meal for Viv and Gerry the two british sectional riders from Manchester. I had a Zebra steak which was super tasty.
Anyway, in reference to the title, it is all about the milkshakes. Since Lilongwe where we first had a taste of the cold fattening dairy concoction, it has soon become the drink of choice when available. Steers does a very good milkshake but it has recently been trumped by Wimpy, which does a really good milkshake. Two days ago we stopped in a town called Gobabis, 30miles from camp and all the riders were there drinking milkshake. So after riding this I am going to get a milkshake and something to eat (quick side note: buffet breakfasts are the best thing ever).
Namibia is becoming more beautiful each day, I can’t wait to get on the dirt in the Namib desert which should be a real challenge. There is only on border left to cross and everyone is getting very excited about the finishing line.
Hope everyone is well at home and I will see you soon.
Jacob
Without a doubt it was definitely worth it, even though I am completely wiped and exhausted, we only have 14 riding days left until Cape Town! Last night we had a really nice farewell meal for Viv and Gerry the two british sectional riders from Manchester. I had a Zebra steak which was super tasty.
Anyway, in reference to the title, it is all about the milkshakes. Since Lilongwe where we first had a taste of the cold fattening dairy concoction, it has soon become the drink of choice when available. Steers does a very good milkshake but it has recently been trumped by Wimpy, which does a really good milkshake. Two days ago we stopped in a town called Gobabis, 30miles from camp and all the riders were there drinking milkshake. So after riding this I am going to get a milkshake and something to eat (quick side note: buffet breakfasts are the best thing ever).
Namibia is becoming more beautiful each day, I can’t wait to get on the dirt in the Namib desert which should be a real challenge. There is only on border left to cross and everyone is getting very excited about the finishing line.
Hope everyone is well at home and I will see you soon.
Jacob
Friday, 23 April 2010
I want to give everybody some advice: Don't cycle in botswana unless you really really love riding in a straight line on a flat road with nothing to see apart from bushes and trees. Don't gte me wrong, botswana is a really amazing country but the last four days of riding have been very mentally challenging. Therefore i have created some games to ease the boredom, such as weaving in and out of the white lines in different patterns. Ok well thats the only game i have come up with but it is pretty hard to keep riding when the road doesn't bend for 30miles!
It has been amazing to see how desolate and unpopulated botswana is, we are used to being mobbed by locals every 500meters but here we see maybe 3 people per day. You reach as sign for a town and all there is are 2 huts and a petrol station. It is very bizarre. On the map all these towns look like they should be big but they are just petrol stations and convenience stores. It is pretty clear that this road is there simply to get from south africa and namibia to northern africa and not much else. We have only seen one elephant on the 'elephant highway' so far, not that i am complaining because i dont want to be trampled. There has been alot of pace line activity which usually makes the day go faster, yesterday we were in a double train of 16 people and absolutely bombed it to lunch which we reached at 8:50 in the morning. I am glad to be in maun because the last 4 days have been very hard because there isnt enoughg variety to keep your mind or body occupied so by usuing the same muscles and riding in the same position causes me to become more and more lethargic and achey. However today has been very relaxing, there was a thunderstorm last night (i think there has been a thunderstorm eveery night in Botswana (another strange phenomenon. The htel is nice with a pool and a bar, last night it was Reiners 70th birthday so he bought everybody drinks for 2 hours which was amazing. The group is really relaxed and chilled out at the moment with Cape Town almost in sight (only 3 rest days left) which will come very quickly. I think the next 5 days will be the toughest and then from Windhoek we should return to a more varied terrain and shorter days. When i look at maps of africa it is pretty astounding to imagine how far i have ridden my bike. Its pretty hard to process in one go.
Anyway, i will speak to you again in Windhoek when hopefully i will upload you some more snaps if the internet is fast.
Love to everyone,
Jacob
It has been amazing to see how desolate and unpopulated botswana is, we are used to being mobbed by locals every 500meters but here we see maybe 3 people per day. You reach as sign for a town and all there is are 2 huts and a petrol station. It is very bizarre. On the map all these towns look like they should be big but they are just petrol stations and convenience stores. It is pretty clear that this road is there simply to get from south africa and namibia to northern africa and not much else. We have only seen one elephant on the 'elephant highway' so far, not that i am complaining because i dont want to be trampled. There has been alot of pace line activity which usually makes the day go faster, yesterday we were in a double train of 16 people and absolutely bombed it to lunch which we reached at 8:50 in the morning. I am glad to be in maun because the last 4 days have been very hard because there isnt enoughg variety to keep your mind or body occupied so by usuing the same muscles and riding in the same position causes me to become more and more lethargic and achey. However today has been very relaxing, there was a thunderstorm last night (i think there has been a thunderstorm eveery night in Botswana (another strange phenomenon. The htel is nice with a pool and a bar, last night it was Reiners 70th birthday so he bought everybody drinks for 2 hours which was amazing. The group is really relaxed and chilled out at the moment with Cape Town almost in sight (only 3 rest days left) which will come very quickly. I think the next 5 days will be the toughest and then from Windhoek we should return to a more varied terrain and shorter days. When i look at maps of africa it is pretty astounding to imagine how far i have ridden my bike. Its pretty hard to process in one go.
Anyway, i will speak to you again in Windhoek when hopefully i will upload you some more snaps if the internet is fast.
Love to everyone,
Jacob
Saturday, 17 April 2010
South by South West
We are finally here in livingstone on the bank of the great Zambezi river, in the distance we can see the 'smoke that thunders' from victoria falls. Yesterday we took the tour through the national park alongside th falls and it was absolutely breathtaking, it is sooooooooo big and soooooooo loud. There is som much spray that you get absolutely drenched. The best part was standing at the top where the river cscades down over the edge, the water thunders along so fast and we were standing meteres away from it.
Ok but, the best part of the day was doing the vic falls bungee jump (mum and dad i didnt tell you i was doing this for obvious reasons and i am very safe and well and alive!). A large group of us head over to the bridge in the afternoon to conquer the worlds 3rd largest bungee jump. I was third in the line so got my jump out of the way pretty quickly.
I have to say it is a combination of the scariest and the most exhilarating thing i have ever done. I screamed like a little girl all the way down and then lay spinning up and down for an age as they lowered a guy down to come and pull me back up to the bridge. Although i now need to tell you that i jumped off the bridge a second time! I was not planning to do this but as part of the package deal you can do the 'gorge swing' which is where you to the same 111meter free fall but then swing on a line through the gorge. This was even more amazing than the bungee because you could take in all the sights and see the falls it was absolutely amazing. Needless to say i took lots of pictures and have a cheesey video to show when i get back.
We will be entering botswana tommorow which i am very excited about - and i wont be missing the zambian currency (why do they not have any coins!!!!!). Also i may be out of phone signal so therefore i will buy a new sim card and call home via this until i reach namibia.
I cant wait for the second half of the tour to get under way - we are less than a month from cape town...
Jacob
Ok but, the best part of the day was doing the vic falls bungee jump (mum and dad i didnt tell you i was doing this for obvious reasons and i am very safe and well and alive!). A large group of us head over to the bridge in the afternoon to conquer the worlds 3rd largest bungee jump. I was third in the line so got my jump out of the way pretty quickly.
I have to say it is a combination of the scariest and the most exhilarating thing i have ever done. I screamed like a little girl all the way down and then lay spinning up and down for an age as they lowered a guy down to come and pull me back up to the bridge. Although i now need to tell you that i jumped off the bridge a second time! I was not planning to do this but as part of the package deal you can do the 'gorge swing' which is where you to the same 111meter free fall but then swing on a line through the gorge. This was even more amazing than the bungee because you could take in all the sights and see the falls it was absolutely amazing. Needless to say i took lots of pictures and have a cheesey video to show when i get back.
We will be entering botswana tommorow which i am very excited about - and i wont be missing the zambian currency (why do they not have any coins!!!!!). Also i may be out of phone signal so therefore i will buy a new sim card and call home via this until i reach namibia.
I cant wait for the second half of the tour to get under way - we are less than a month from cape town...
Jacob
Monday, 12 April 2010
The long and rolling road...
Hurrah, at last i have uploaded a collection of photos for you to look at with the help of Paul porter who kindly compressed the files for me. The photos in the first post are mainly from tanzania and the second is from malawi and tanzania. Aswell you can see the results of my ant attack in the second post where my sleeping mat is covered in biting ants also the cheesey photo of me at lake malawi :)
The last 5 days have been super tough, well they seemed to get progressively harder day after day. Our border crossing day from Lilongwe to Chipata in Zambia was amazing, the race finished at lunch which was at 80kms (50miles) so i 'raced' and managed to pull of a top ten result by coming in 6th with 2 hours 27minutes so i was extremely happy about that. Crossing the border was easy but we were met instantly with the 'rollers' that would be the main feature of the next few riding days. When we got into camp at chipata we learned at the rider meeting that the next riding day had been bumped form 178kms to 200kms (120miles) making it the second longest day in the tour. I have to say it was an easier day than expected. It was long, dont get me wrong but the terrain was easy and it was just alot of kilometeres - we had plenty of coke stops and took it easy. I think i did it in just over 7 hours so not too bad of a day.
However that evening was pretty eventful, halfway through the night i wake up to an itch which somehow keeps moving across my body. I flick on my head torch and look down. My floor is literally moving. several hundred ants have knawed their way through my groundsheet into my tent. I run around outside jumping up and down to clear the ants of. I promptly moved my tent and insect sprayed it all over. It was like in a horror film or something - some of those ants are pretty big :P
Anyways after my lack of sleep the next felt alot harder even though it was only 120kms. Also we dropped alot of altitude to 500meters above see level so the campsite was extremely humid and there were loads of bugs around and all we could do was sit around and sweat. Altough there was a water pump which you could use to wash with so needless to say i paid a few trips down there. The problem with descending whne riding a bike is that more often than not on the next day you will have to regain that descent. Therefore we had a 1700meter climb on the next day, it was mostly slow uphills with the infamous rollers which just kill your rhythm. I literally do the last 50ks on autopilot, just turning my legs and counting down the kilometers...
That night i was blessed with some more uninvited guests, however alot less than last time. Also on the brightside, it was not only me that was attacked by ants this time! there was at least 8 people who all jumped out of their tents at the same time trying to swat the ants off of them...So needless to say i am absolutely terrified of any pinch or noise when i am trying to sleep in my tent.
Time to wrap things up before the time runs out. We are in the rich end of lusaka at a really nice modern mall, there is a subway and a cinema and a hardware store where i have to by a new hammer for my tent pegs (i am sorry emma i have lost yours sorry sorry sorry) I slept for so long last night which helped me catch up with the lack of it for the last few nights. We have three riding days until vic falls and i cannot wait.
Hopefully i will write again soon
All the best and lots of love
Jacob
The last 5 days have been super tough, well they seemed to get progressively harder day after day. Our border crossing day from Lilongwe to Chipata in Zambia was amazing, the race finished at lunch which was at 80kms (50miles) so i 'raced' and managed to pull of a top ten result by coming in 6th with 2 hours 27minutes so i was extremely happy about that. Crossing the border was easy but we were met instantly with the 'rollers' that would be the main feature of the next few riding days. When we got into camp at chipata we learned at the rider meeting that the next riding day had been bumped form 178kms to 200kms (120miles) making it the second longest day in the tour. I have to say it was an easier day than expected. It was long, dont get me wrong but the terrain was easy and it was just alot of kilometeres - we had plenty of coke stops and took it easy. I think i did it in just over 7 hours so not too bad of a day.
However that evening was pretty eventful, halfway through the night i wake up to an itch which somehow keeps moving across my body. I flick on my head torch and look down. My floor is literally moving. several hundred ants have knawed their way through my groundsheet into my tent. I run around outside jumping up and down to clear the ants of. I promptly moved my tent and insect sprayed it all over. It was like in a horror film or something - some of those ants are pretty big :P
Anyways after my lack of sleep the next felt alot harder even though it was only 120kms. Also we dropped alot of altitude to 500meters above see level so the campsite was extremely humid and there were loads of bugs around and all we could do was sit around and sweat. Altough there was a water pump which you could use to wash with so needless to say i paid a few trips down there. The problem with descending whne riding a bike is that more often than not on the next day you will have to regain that descent. Therefore we had a 1700meter climb on the next day, it was mostly slow uphills with the infamous rollers which just kill your rhythm. I literally do the last 50ks on autopilot, just turning my legs and counting down the kilometers...
That night i was blessed with some more uninvited guests, however alot less than last time. Also on the brightside, it was not only me that was attacked by ants this time! there was at least 8 people who all jumped out of their tents at the same time trying to swat the ants off of them...So needless to say i am absolutely terrified of any pinch or noise when i am trying to sleep in my tent.
Time to wrap things up before the time runs out. We are in the rich end of lusaka at a really nice modern mall, there is a subway and a cinema and a hardware store where i have to by a new hammer for my tent pegs (i am sorry emma i have lost yours sorry sorry sorry) I slept for so long last night which helped me catch up with the lack of it for the last few nights. We have three riding days until vic falls and i cannot wait.
Hopefully i will write again soon
All the best and lots of love
Jacob
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