The 2013 Tour d’Afrique marked the 11th time we had cycled from Cairo to Cape Town. And each year the TDA Foundation has donated bicycles along the way. Initially the bikes were given to health-care workers to assist in the battle against HIV/AIDS but in recent years the focus has expanded to schoolchildren and other worthy individuals and organizations. In 2012 the Foundation lent money to a Kenyan organization, Wheels of Africa, so that they could set up a bike shop that re-furbishes donated bicycles shipped from the USA & other countries and sells and services them in the Nairobi area. And the loan was promptly repaid this year. In addition, 5 bikes were given to SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise, Kenya) to assist them in setting up Nairobi’s first bicycle hire business.

In Nairobi, Kenya 50 bicycles were donated. Details here.

In Arusha, Tanzania, 30 bicycles were donated. Details here.

In Livingstone, Zambia, 50 bicycles were donated. Details here.

Finally, in Cape Town South Africa 15 bicycles were donated to Songo, a local organization striving to improve the lives of children living in townships by providing them a safe place to play, grow and develop.

If you are interested in helping out the Foundation, please consider making a donation of any amount here. 100% of monies received go to the purchase of the bicycles. Tour d’Afrique Ltd covers all administrative costs.

Having spent the past few days working a sports event in Denmark, I have joined the countless others who have been wowed by Copenhagen’s cycling infrastructure. Not only do all the main roads have dedicated cycling lanes, most of which are segregated from the traffic, but many residential side streets do as well, not to mention the network of paved paths that criss-cross the city’s green areas.

The result is cyclists and bikes everywhere, by and large old fashioned single speeds (which work great since the land is flat), plus every kind of kids, pets and groceries carrier imaginable. The commuter trains and subways also have dedicated areas for bicycles. Moreover all this infrastructure appears to have been completed years ago.

Compare this to the so-called world class city of Toronto, home to the TdA office, where relatively few streets have bike lanes, and every proposal by advocates to enhance cycling infrastructure is turned into a bureaucratic quagmire by the decision makers at City Hall.

Small wonder that the Danes are one of the healthiest nations in the world. Maybe we should start a Tour of Denmark and waive the entry fee for our local politicians…

And that’s a wrap! The incredible journey is over for yet another year. The cyclists have arrived at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town and the celebrations are about to begin. Congratulations to all the riders and staff. This is an experience that you will never forget! See more pictures of the finish here.

And now the dream starts for another group – the riders signed up for the 2014 Tour d’Afrique. Want to come along? Register now.

Last Friday & Saturday, I was honoured to man our booth at the 2nd Annual  Bike Expo New York which is part of the immensely popular 5 Boros Bike Tour.  Over 32,000 cyclists take part in this event and most of them had to walk by our display to pick up their 5 Boros registration packages. It was hilarious to watch them glance at our display map from across the aisle and then do a double take. Then they would talk amongst themselves and start pointing out the various tours to each other. Finally, they would walk over and usually say “Those aren’t all really cycling tours are they?” Over the two days we fielded any number of questions and ran out of brochures. The people who stopped by were completely intrigued by what we do and where we cycle although the occasional one would simply shake their head sadly as if we were completely insane…

We had some alumni from the New York area stop in to say hello and even had someone drop off 2 registration payments. I was staying with friends in Brooklyn and each morning would hop on my bike and follow some of the many bike lanes in New York filled with commuters and cross the Manhattan Bridge into the city and the Bike Expo location on the East River. Unlike my cycling life in Toronto, New York is most certainly making an effort to encourage cycling.

We look forward to returning to the show in 2014.

As our great expedition comes to an end, it would be impossible to say that we could have done this alone. Not without the help of each other; not without the help of the staff; and without a doubt, we would not have moved an inch without the fearless leadership of Sir Ciaran Orion Haranahanyahan Powers.

Like any true leader, he refuses any fame, any glory, nor any special treatment and, in fact, specifically requested that I kindly not write any blogs about him whatsoever. Right. Here I have for you – a summary of what we have learnt about Ciaran over the past 4 months in Africa.

For starters, this is this trip will officially mark the longest stretch of his life that he has spent OFF (Off his bike). While many cyclists turn up to the TDA having never ridden a bike or very little in comparison, Ciaran has spent nearly all of his life riding a bike, working in the cycling industry and following cycling events worldwide – only for all of that to grind to a halt in Cairo, Egypt.

Being tour leader unfortunately means spending most of one’s days behind the wheel of the Toyota Hi-Lux checking in to make sure everyone is more or less still alive. It’s a rough life. I mean the air-con is half-broken from a previous trip across the African continent and only comes out of the vents by your feet. The hardship. The suffering. While everyone else is sweating their brains out of their ears, half dead across the Sahara desert, Ciaran is there – rustling around in his back pack for his wool socks, reaching across to the drink holder (found only on the passenger side, ugh) for his diet soda water, while checking his smart phone for live stream updates on Giro d’Italia bike race. The multi-tasking is impressive.

The man runs a tight ship however. You can tell by the trim of his neck beard or more accurately, the laser-beams carved into the side of his head. Cleanliness IS a sign of godliness and Ciaran doesn’t let Africa get in the way. Did you know that this man has gotten himself a roadside/ally-way/ backyard hair cut in every country that we’ve gone through? That’s right. With the ease of cross language communication we’ve seen just about  everything from the tour-leader bowl cut to tour leader buzz cut and every other creative expression as to what a ‘good’ hair cut should look like. Out latest addition was a camp-cut done by a rider who shall not be named, the result of which was a request from Mr  Henry Gold himself to please “fix that” before Cape Town.

Now I know what you’re all thinking by now, the ladies must be a-running. You’re right, they are. The ladies have never run so fast and so hard, in the opposite direction. But hey now, he’s actually the perfect catch.  Listen up. He’s highly qualified in listening attentively to any complaint you might have about absolutely anything. I mean, even if there is nothing within his power he could actually do it change it, he will try. Why?  Because he has to. He will wake up hours before you every day and make sure your days starts as seamlessly as it did the day before. He will even drive you thousands of kms in any direction to deal with your personal problems. The only catch is that at the end of the day, you’ll be living in a blue Marmot tent with half broken zippers and, if he’s anything like the rest of us, sleeping on a theramarest with a slow leak.

Luckily if you haven’t had the pleasure of meeting the one and only Ciaran HP on this African adventure, perhaps you’re one of the fortunate few joining the Bamboo Route this fall where you will be charmed by this guy’s endless zest  and obsessive-compulsive tour leading.

If eating is the prize for long distance cyclists then you haven’t really won the race till you’ve cycled in Mexico. Imagine cycling 120km of rolling hills through the dry near desert climate and as you pass through towns along the road you see these…

You continue cycling and enter another village where a street vendor is serving up some impossible goodness…

With 50km still remaining in the day you cycle on though through a street market and smell the divine chilies that are the complex heart of Mexican cuisine…

Arriving to camp you find yourself dreaming of…

you look for a chair to put in the shade here…

and you start devouring this…

If you want to experience one of the grand cuisines of the world from the seat of your bike then don’t miss out on the North American Epic’s 2 Mexican sections – Baja California & Conquistadores.

Your soul will be happy.

Last day in Namibia, last border to cross, last rest day, last mandatory race day. For a seemingly endless expedition, the finish line is for the first time a beckoning speck on the horizon. Sitting in the setting sun on the shore of the Orange River looking across to South Africa, the vanishing light is all too symbolic of one long story about to end.

As the tour comes to an end, it’s the best of days and the worst of days that stand out as the defining moments of tour. As for the rest; it’s nothing but the best of memories that float to the surface from this point onward. The worst of days are battle scars worn proudly, the pain and suffering of the EFIers have nothing but glory to report on, and all the others are simply a hilarious story of adventure.

How the highs and lows of the tour have come and gone, traded places, and turned around are all part of a true expedition. The process of turning expectations into realities and a routine into an adventure is all up to the individual to make the most of it, and settle in to a space of personal happiness and sustainability, regardless of the adversity of it all. At the on-set, the chaos was sought out, celebrated and relished. Nothing felt routine, and the road ahead was a great mysterious adventure. By now it’s a matter of survival, “how many kms” “what does the road look like” “what does camp look like” “how far to the closest coke stop” “what are the winds supposed to be doing tomorrow” “how many meters of climbing after lunch?” and on. What now feels like an all too predictable pace of life is the very rhythm of life that was the source of joy and peace in the on set. What do you love about tour life? Asked months ago to a handful of riders;

“The simplicity”

“the fact that I don’t need to think about anything if I don’t want to”

“I can just get on my bike, enjoy the ride, and that’s it”

All bitter sweet realities ticking their way to Cape Town only to quickly jump back to the ‘real world’, whatever that might be. The one journey that we have shared is a bicycle ride from Cairo, Egypt to Cape Town, South Africa, however the personal stories of success and suffering are a separate reality on to themselves. 100 stories to be told of what brought each individual to the TDA, and now another 100 stories of what each is taking home. Holding on to the mind, body and soul to keep it together for just one more week, and if we’re lucking enough, we’ll have another great week of adventures to be celebrated, and told to those on the edge of their seat, waiting to see us back home.

The Masai Steppe and Malawi Gin sections of the Tour d’Afrique are 2 of the most beautiful to cycle but the fact that the ended and began in the Tanzanian mountain town of Mbeya may have convinced some riders to choose other, more convient sections. The reason? Previously the only way to get to Mbeya was to fly to Dar Es Salaam and then take the train (2 days week & notoriously slow – 28 hours at best) or the chicken bus (14hr ride & a mediocre safety record).

So this year, when I went to join the 2013 TDA from Mbeya to Vic Falls, I was very happy to learn that a Tanzanian Airline, Precision Air, had just recently begun daily flights from Dar to Mbeya. I am more than happy to report that the flight was great, free beers, reasonable price and took just over 1 1/2 hours – amazing. The airport in Mbeya is really just a runway in a field about 25kms outside town with a small arrivals/departure gate and no facilities but who cares! So go ahead and sign up for these 2 great cycling sections…and book your flight early.

The TDA Toronto office welcomed a new face in April. Micah Markson will be working a few days per week for the next several months helping with a variety of tasks over that time. In May 2014 Micah will be riding as a participant in the Silk Route Cycling Expedition. We asked Micah to write a blog and introduce himself and here is what he had to say.

I’m excited to be working here at Tour D’Afrique. I’ve been a cyclist for a long time.  I’ve done self-supported expeditions in the past, but I am most often mountain biking right here in Toronto. I prefer to travel by bike since you get a much richer experience of where you are. I love mountain biking partly because it satisfies the adrenaline junkie in me, but also because it’s a great excuse to spend hours or days out in the forest. Not everyone feels the same way about travel or spending time in the great outdoors, but it seems that here at TDA, they get it.

Tour D’Afrique, like most businesses, has an ever-growing list of tasks that need to be accomplished but never seem to get done. I’m here to take care of these orphaned jobs.

I’ve been helping out with a few different things around the office. While my duties include anything from graphic design to copy editing, I’ve also been given one much bigger task to handle. Over the years, Tour D’Afrique has collected tons of photos from trips around the world, including tours and scouting missions. It is my job to cull and organize this collection. The photo server already contains over 100,000 files, with several thousand more on CDs and DVDs. I have a feeling I will be working on this for a very long time!

Away from Tour D’Afrique, I’ve been working on Ride For A Dream, a campaign to end violence against women.

The problem of gender-based violence has been around for a long time, but has been getting more attention lately, both in our local community and abroad. At Ride For A Dream, we recognize that as men we have a responsibility to address this issue, and to work to end it. Our approach focuses on two key areas. First, we aim to raise awareness through our annual bike rides and other events. We had a very successful fundraising concert just two weeks ago. We also raise money for charity. Last year we worked with the White Ribbon Campaign, and this year we are fundraising for the Barbra Schlifer Clinic.

Ride For A Dream began in 2012 with a ride west from Toronto to Vancouver. This year, we will be riding east from Toronto to St. John’s, Newfoundland. The project has come a long way since last year, and we will now be followed by a support car and documentary film crew. I joined Ride For A Dream before I came to Tour D’Afrique, but the expeditions are very similar. In fact, our route closely mirrors that of the second half of TdA’s former North American Epic tour.

Ride For A Dream 2013 begins with a launch event on Saturday, June 1st at Yonge & Dundas Square in Toronto. We will be riding out with a big group of friends and collaborators, and we welcome anyone to join us.

Ride For A Dream can be found at www.rideforadream.ca, on facebook and @rideforadream on twitter. Click here to donate to the Barbra Schlifer Clinic, and be sure to designate Ride For A Dream.

For many years now on the Tour d’Afrique, the TDA Foundation Bike Donation ceremony in Nairobi has been a rider favourite. Beers, cold pop and snacks are available. Kenyans who have received bikes in previous years attend to tell our cyclists how a bike made such a difference in their lives. Children from Mazi Majuri, a local school, put on a traditional dance. It just all seems to come together so well.

Unfortunately, the political uncertainty surrounding the Kenyan National elections in March of this year meant that the ceremony could not take place as scheduled. However, the show must go on, even without our cyclists, and on April 8th 50 bikes were donated. The ceremony was attended by Wheels of Africa (WoA) who were providing the bikes & recipients of the bikes – Arrow Web Hospital, Kijiji Cha Upendo, & Mazi Majuri. Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) Kenya, who are working with WoA to develop Nairobi’s first bike hire business, and EcoTourism Kenya, who have recently formed a partnership with Wheels of Africa were also present.

Fifty bikes were donated:

WOFAK/Kijiji – 20 bikes; Maji Mazuri 15 bikes, SIFE – 5 bikes Arrow Web Hospital – 10 bikes

The TDA Foundation looks forward to continuing this fine tradition in March 2014.