jonnywhite

And that start is going to be a sight worth writing about: 40 riders from all over the world in full racing regalia, in the sand, below the behemoth pyramids - surrounded by desert extending a 2 week camel ride to Libya in one direction and with Cairo's clay huts and skyscapers further off in the other direction. There will be camels, horses, press, cameras, cars, donkeys, kids asking for money, beggars selling headdresses and beads, tour guides selling information, and sweaty, stinking, filthy cyclists in the middle of it all. I can't wait.

I visited the pyramids yesterday by camel, known as Mr. Hiccups to me. These beasts, though perfectly adapted to the desert, have forcefully uncooperative personalities. They lumber over horses, gurgle what looks like half chewed grass mixed with mud and sand and saliva, and spit at you. To exacerbate the conflict based on our personality differences, Mr. Hiccups was, to my great dismay when riding 8 feet in the air, clumsy. He tripped over rocks and ledges that the other camels had no problems with. I was on a horse for the first five minutes of the ride while they pulled Mr. Hiccups either from retirement or from a school for delinquent camels; In the spirit of adventure, and having been on the horse which was easy enough to control, I told the guide I wanted to control the camel myself. We had our differences at first, but by the end of the ride I was able to make him run, stop, kneel, turn 360's, and to our great amusement run him into other camels that were lead-tied to each other, when the guides weren't looking. I say 'to our great amusement' because I am assuming that Mr. Huccups was laughing when he turned around and gurgled at me bearing his teeth, but then again I'm not a zoologist, I suppose he could have been trying to tell me he was hungry or that he liked me or something else for that matter.

I have met about half our riders. Great people. Outgoing, open mided, generous, and there is a great sense of camaraderie, even just in meeting someone for the first time who is taking on the same journey when you both have the same knowing smile that says "what the hell have we gotten ourselves into?" just as much as "nice to meet you". You might think that there would be little other than biking for strangers from all over the world to discuss but we have entertained ourselves greatly with insults, feigned infighting, nationalism, stereotypes, and similarities. One fun and frequent conversation has been talking about how everyone reacts at home when we told them about the trip... endless amusement. Everyone thinks we're crazy, taking on 10 countries and 11,900 countries, and we think they're crazy, staying at home in the 9 to 5. I suspect that neither side is really correct or that both are, but if nothing else it is a common bond we share. Whether these conversations will solve the mystery of life or not remains to be seen, there will be a lot of spare time in the evenings once the tents are up and the bikes are clean.

I put the bike together yesterday and replaced parts that were damaged in shipping. It felt great to ride today and any intimidation has drained away or transformed into excitement. I have much to be thankful for and much to look forward to.