Ashleigh's Adventure In Africa: I win, and Kenya sucks

Here I sit, in an Internet cafe in Khartoum, where I am happily Canadian and my knees, elbows and head are covered at all times to avoid being stoned or shot dead, a place where I never leave home (my tent) without someone with a prostate.

My shoulder has recovered well. Not torn, I'm sure. Still slight ache but ok. No more nose bleeds. Dizziness is gone. Body feels good.

I have lots to tell you about riding in Sudan, but here's the more important news bits, of which there are 2.

1. We time trialed this morning for the first 20k. Two categories - Racers and Expedition riders (me). Headwind for 15k of it, long slight inclines met by wind. However, you are being emailed by the Expedition winner of the time trial, and 2nd woman overall! Oh yes people, only one woman in total was faster than me, and that was Janet, a certified semi-pro (who makes her living as a coach) here to train for Race Across America. She beat me by a little less than 2 minutes. I feel pretty good (20k took 37:33 -- 19.9mph avg) -- since I beat lots of the boys (YES!) and all the other girls. We left in 1 minute intervals and I passed the guy in front of me in 6 minutes. Bring it!

Plus, Team Africa 911's leading male, Josh, took 1st in Expedition riders for the boys. 2 male racers were ahead of him, and then he was 3rd overall. We ride together (when paved) everyday, so it was a nice win for the both of us.

2. Kenya is a mess. A MESS. So, the very sad news to report is that the tour director has said a very big "no way." We are riding to the border of Ethiopia and Kenya and then catching a plane -- hopping over the entire country since even the north has gone very bad. I am so upset, but the UN has declared our route zone 5 (the worst) and zone 3 (still bad) so we can't safely get through. No Uganda detour since there have been a bunch of bandits there lately. Our trucks don't know how they will get through, but the hope is the meet us in Arusha (Tanzania) 13 days after we catch a flight. That is also uncertain due to the unrest (they may have to try to out run bandits in Uganda).

This means 13 days of nothing. That means 13 day of Zanzibar for me and my peeps. We're already planning our days of drinking in the sun. Getting back on the bike after that is going to be tough. Very disappointing, but as a guy said today "we're fast but still not faster than a bullet." Excellent point.

So, Sudan. Once we got to Dongola the road to Khartoum was paved AND for 3/4 of the ride, we had a nice tailwind. That means we covered 100 miles in 4:30 hours even after cutting our speed 50% for the last hour to avoid getting to camp too early. Why too early? Because camp is a side of the road sand pit and the winds have been strong enough to blow Dorothy back to Oz. As in, my tent pole broke two night ago.

We ride down the endless highway, straight for miles, then a turn here and there for no reason -- waiting for the next truck to pass going the opposite way at 90 mph, at which point we feel the incredible sting of sand in our faces and we lose 2 mph from the wind the trucks cause. Even easy days here have brutality to them.

Sand storms took visibility down to 1/2 a mile ahead for hours. There is nothing out there. I mean nothing. We played "ID the carcas" and stopped to take photos of a camel graveyard. We tried to tame donkeys (they were not into it) and I listen to the boys (I've been the sole female representative for the past 3 days) talk about things that are so gross I cannot repeat them. We identify people by their riding style now, far off ahead we can call it out -- most of them nicknamed. I take great joy in passing the "unibagger" each day -- this guy who rides with one bag - only on the left side.

It's funny, now 80 mile rides are "short days" and anything on paved roads is "easy."

Perspective.

And finally, here is the scary near death tale of Ashleigh. Don't worry, I'm okay and if I may say, I did exactly the right thing, but it was scary. A truck followed by a large bus was racing towards us head on in left lane. A bus was racing to catch up to us in our lane. We are hugging the shoulder, totally aware and wishing the bus behind us would hurry up and pass. Crazy Sudanese drivers -- 100 mph. So, the truck in the left brakes (who knows why) and hit his shoulder. Bus behind him brakes, skids and heads into my lane right at me. Bus behind us brakes, skids and goes off right shoulder. I took the shoulder and kept peddling, Josh behind me, and we literally slid through the two buses within inches of being hit. Buses got back on road and sped off. I couldn't get my legs to stop shaking for 5 minutes. You should have seen the skid marked road. The rider behind us was maybe 200 meters back and said it was one of the scariest things he's ever witnessed. We feel happy to be alive. But I do declare, Sudan 7, Ashleigh 1. YES!

Will be in Khartoum 2 more days so hope to email at least one more time before we head east into the headwind (boo) and away from great roads (boooooo) and into the crazy world of Ethiopia, where you have to lock everything immediately (they steal like mad) and kids throw huge rocks at you all day long. Really, not even the tour director is trying to make it sounds pretty. Tough terrain. Tough people. Off we go.

xoxo

PS -- The food they cook is amazing! No one has lost a single pound. There's good and bad to that, but kudos to Miles our chef -- cooking dinner for 70 people a night with a smile and making it taste like bliss cannot be easy.