Adventure News: World’s Longest Bicycle Race and Expedition Spins Through Sudan

Adventure News: World’s Longest Bicycle Race and Expedition Spins Through Sudan - Ndorfin, South Africa

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Sunday, 31 January 2010
World’s Longest Bicycle Race and Expedition Spins Through Sudan

Eric Saastamoinen between Wadi Halfa and Khartoum (Photo: Gerald Coniel)

Tour d’Afrique Riders Face Scorching Desert Heat on way to Cape Town

Jan. 31 (Dongola, Sudan) – With the cool breezes of Egypt a thing of the past, 61 tenacious Tour d’Afrique cyclists offloaded their bikes and gear from the ferry at Wadi Halfa, Sudan and come face to face with sweltering temperatures and scorching desert sun. This is just a taste of what lies ahead in the struggle to pedal from Cairo to Cape Town by bicycle.

Tour d’Afrique is the world’s longest bicycle event, attracting a record number of entrants for 2010, including seven South Africans currently on tour. Riders from 14 different countries are testing their limits in this annual four-month, 12-thousand kilometer race and expedition from Cairo to Capetown.

The cyclists will spend two weeks in Sudan, one of the most remote and least visited countries in the world. Now, just under 600 kilometres north of Khartoum, they will pedal with the Nile River as their companion, passing through villages that have not changed in hundreds of years and experiencing the unparralled hospitality of the Sudanese people. From Khartoum, riders get the extremely rare opportunity to detour through Dinder National Park, an area hardly visited by tourists, let alone a pack of spandex-clad cyclists, before reaching the border with Ethiopia.

Two weeks into their epic journey, cyclists are beginning to get a sense of the enormity of the task ahead of them.

"Hygiene and health have become a number one priority," says South African rider Simon Francis, who showers twice a day back home. "That first week with six desert camps was a bit of a shock to the system. Riding 170km in the desert and not being able to shower, and then having to hop into your sleeping bag takes some getting used to, but you fall into the routine pretty quickly. Wet wipes are your best friend." Francis is one of the brave crew committed to riding EFI (Every Fabulous Inch of the tour), without having to hop on a support truck to camp. "Can I do it? Absolutely. Barring breaking a leg of course - if I break an arm I’ll still do it."

On their journey through ten African countries (Egypt, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa), the riders travel past ancient temples, through game reserves teeming with wildlife, across deserts and the foothills of legendary Mount Kilimanjaro, alongside the rugged and biblical landscape of Ethiopia’s Simian Mountains and through Botswana and Namibia’s most magnificent wilderness areas. The journey takes approximately 120 days of which 96 are cycling days, averaging 125 km each day. To follow the tour visit: www.tourdafrique.com

About Tour d’Afrique
Tour d’Afrique Ltd, (http://www.tourdafrique.com/) is named for its 2003 flagship cycling tour that annually traverses the African continent from Cairo to Cape Town (12,000 km in four months). Directly and indirectly Tour d’Afrique benefits third world countries by organizing and staging transcontinental bicycle tours and races lasting ten days to four months, today traversing four continents and over thirty countries.

Other transcontinental tours are the Silk Route (4,000km/44 days, Istanbul to Samarkand) and the Vuelta Sudamericana (12,000km/134 days, Rio de Janeiro to Quito).

Its new DreamTour concept (http://www.tourdafrique.com/dreamtours)

encourages individuals to submit their own trip of a lifetime that will then be open to other riders who may want to join in.

A Tour d’Afrique Foundation (http://www.tourdafrique.com/foundation) promotes giving back to the communities touched by the tours and raises consciousness about the many benefits of bicycles as a means of sustainable transportation.

For more information, photos or to schedule an interview, please contact:

Theresa Brown

Tel: +27 44 389 0007

Cell: +27 83 526 5145

Email: theresa@tourdafrique.com