Ashleigh's Adventure In Africa: Okay, People, Settle Down.

Now listen....

Riding in Africa is not like any other riding for a number of reasons, but specifically because each time you "saddle up," you know you have to go into a heightened sense of awareness.

You have to watch your energy to make sure it lasts. You watch the salt on your jersey to see if it looks like more than normal. You watch your water because you need it but know there's no more for 50 miles.

You have to watch the road for holes, ditches, sudden terrain changes, herds of camels. You watch ahead of buses and trucks. You watch behind for buses and trucks.

You look for little orange-pink pieces of tape the Tour puts up as direction changes.

You watch for people, animals, garbage, the tire of the cyclist ahead of you. You have to know who is behind you since some people here don't ride well with others.

You watch for sudden sand storms that blind you, gusts of winds from trucks that threaten to knock you over, children with stones in their hands, dogs that want to chase, crazy men yelling and trying to punch you (yup).

All this AND you watch the amazing scenery that is whizzing by -- be it miles of smooth sand that seems endless until a blue mosque pops out of nowhere in which there is a man who bellows to the men 5 times a day, beckoning them to come to pray -- even though it doesn't look like anyone lives within 20 miles of the place, or rocky hills that actually make you question whether or not you're on the moon, or busy city streets that are so packed with people you can't imagine how anyone gets anything done.

And at the end of the day, you get to camp and get off your bike and feel good because you made it another day without getting on the bus. You made it another day without getting injured, without being hit, without being knocked off by a nut. You may be bleeding a bit from a fall or a scratch, but you're still standing. More importantly, you can't wait to get up the next morning and do it again.

And then, you sit around and talk about the close calls and the tight squeezes and the crazy kids. You compare battle scars and saddle sores and stomach aches, and you're happy to be in one piece. And you laugh because it was a hell of a lot of fun.

But you never take your eyes off the road, and you never forget to be aware of everything around you, in spite of the laughs and smiles.

And that alone is the more exhausting thing about riding 7500 miles through Africa.

Don't worry about me. This is what life should be.

xoxo