jonnywhite

A pretty good road in the Sudan. There are no pictures I can upload of the bad ones as we are all to hot and sandy to take them, and when there is a dust storm the camera has to stay away. I have some great video to share later on.

I'm sitting in my tent after the second day in the Sudan, writing this down to send later. I have decided that the name 'Tour D'Afrique' is deceptive. It should be changed to something more descriptively accurate like 'Tour de Suffering'. While we do see 'Afrique', you hardly notice it because you are suffering so much. Sudan so far is hell – actually more literally like Mordor (for LOTR aficionados). There is nothing but sand, rock, and dust. The rocks are lava rock formations and broken pieces of them, which have their own beauty when backed just by desolation, for a little while… but then it's just hot, dry, and sandy and you get thirsty, sandy, and angry. The roads we are on are not roads. About 3 trucks have passed us in two days, 2 of which I later passed when they were broken down. The sand and rocks that make up the paths take on a washboard texture at from the wind. So we either get jackhammered on the washboard or ride in sand all day (90km today) or both. Some parts are smooth and the sand is somehow better packed but these make up about 1% of the ride. When I say the roads are not roads I mean it – there are actually frequent side roads where a truck decided that the main path (whom we call 'Mr. Lumpy') wasn't good enough and just drives alongside it through the desert wherever they think the ground might be firmer or less corrugated. Oftentimes these secondary paths are better for us, sometimes they are much worse. You will often see cyclists ahead or behind just walking across the desert because they were on a path that turned out to be crap, only to find that the new path they took instead is also crap.


Typical desert camp in the Sudan. You can see our two support vehicles that lug our tents and food, traveling slower than the bikes over the sand and rough stuff, and the tents.

The desert camping is OK. I sleep more than I ever have and could use more. I am out like a light at 8:30pm for all the night until 6:30am except for 3 or 4 bathroom breaks. The food is getting better with our cook working now instead of the Egyptian goons. While I am exhausted and often disgruntled on the rides I am sure I will make it because I did it yesterday and today and barring any (more) major health issues, I should be able to keep it up.