Made it to Luxor!
Six days since the start and we have arrived in Luxor: 730km cycled, 28 saddle hours, half a jar of nutella, and copious amounts of pita bread.
The last 6 days have been enjoyable, if not sometimes painful. We have been blessed with three
days of tail winds, sweeping us South along the coast of the Red Sea. We have stayed in two hotels, one beach camp (although I did opt for the hotel which owned the beach) and a desert camp. I have cycled by myself, and have learnt how to cycle in a peloton too. I have worked on my 'spinning' - dropping the resistance and allowing the legs to rotate more freely (apparently a more efficient way of cycling), and my bike maintenance too.
After our wind assisted trip down the Red Sea we headed West yesterday, into the hills. A 1000m ascent, and 70km cycle took us to lunch. I set off with Jenna, Alistair, Richard and Aedo (my cycle family of the last few days) and we actually did really well. Dropping the gears, I managed to lead the group with Richard for about 15-20km over the morning. At about 50km we stopped for a self-appointed 'coke stop'. Our police escort
(obviously very bored with the whole affair) came over for a chat, although it didn't take us long to consume our power bars and energy drink, so conversation was short. Feeling like we were on the home straight, and probably a bit more tired than we reapplied we set off for the last 20km to lunch.
First casualty was Alistair, a lapse of concerntraion, his front wheel hit my back wheel and he hit the tarmac with a smack. Quite shaken, we checked his bike over, reminded ourselves of the need to concentrate when cycling in a group and set off again. 17km left. No less than 3km later it was my turn.
When riding in a peloton the riders at the front have to callout any obstacles to the back riders, as when cycling behind all you can see if the wheel in front. The cry of 'Rock' came out, and duly the lead riders moved to avoid said rock. I was second in the peloton, called 'Rock' and moved out the way. I failed to realised 'rock' did not mean the gravel that I moved to avoid, but actually referred to the large rock (which I prefer to call a boulder) that I proceeded to cycle straight into. My handlebars were forced right, I went over the top/left side of them, and Jenna came over the top of me. All I could do was curl in a ball, and see her sunglasses fly across the road.
Luckily neither of us suffered bad injuries, a scuffed elbow, knee and two slightly swollen regions on the legs. My bike, however, was a different story :( My handlebars were twisted around like the wonky carts you get at the fair, my disk rotor bent so my front wheel wouldn't spin, the left shifter and brake handle bent, and the well thought through seat mounted drinks carrier was bent right round. The offending boulder had also jumped about a foot from where it had been sitting.
All I could think of was whether I would be able to continue riding or not. I had told everyone at home that I may be back within a week, if something out of my control occurred - like this! The cycle crew were amazing though. Aedo sorted my handlebars so they were straight. We then set to work on the front brake. Thinking it would be easiest to remove the pads, we spent a while attempting, and failing to do this. Ahmed, who had joined us a little while after setting out, suggested with ring Jordan (the tour mechanic) and asking his advice. Great suggestion. We used a tyre lever to straighten out the rotor so the wheel would spin. I was able to continue to lunch!
Lunch was a more subdued affair, and it appeared Alistair and I were 'talk of the tour'. Alistair was developing a very large egg over his left though - which is now a nice shade of purple tartan. I made myself feel better with some nutella and peanut butter on bread before setting off with Ahmed for the last 75km. I warned anyone who passed not to pull in too close in front of me as my front brakes were no longer working. Ahmed is a local Egyptian rider, who is with us to Aswan. He has a kayak tour company, and in Aswan he will pick up his kayak and return to Cairo leading a group up the Nile! I really appreciated his company. He stopped at a little shop, with our previous cycle crew and had a cold drink while I carried on.
Finally arrived at the desert camp, at about 2.30pm. There was a reception of police cadets
handing out flowers, and taking pictures, very nice but I only had eyes for Jordan. He watched my cycle in and said my bike didn't look as bad as he expected. Relief! He had about 3 bikes to work on already, but mine was in the queue. After 45mins of bending and straightening various components, my noble steed had been patched up, not as good as before, but enjoyably rideable and safe. Naturally I proclaimed my undying love to this mechanic - a frequent occurrence apparently!
Today was 'an easy 106km' - a phrase I never thought I would say. We had our first desert camp last night - at a police check point between Safaga and Luxor. Very hot when we arrived but freezing cold this morning. I was once again too lazy to put up my camp bed and so slept in my sleeping bag on the floor of my tent. We had been warned to lock our bikes up, incase of passing opportunistic locals. Having retired to bed, slightly later than usual in an attempt to sleep all night, I awoke to the sound of dogs barking and shouting. In my half waken state I imagined it was someone stealing my bike...the dogs were barking at the intruder, and the police on site were shouting at the dogs and running after the intruder. The commotion lasted about 15minutes, before I drifted back into a fitful sleep - filled with dreams about bike thievery. Conversation at breakfast suggested I wasn't the only one roused by the noise, but it was no bike thief:
Anton had decided that he needed a midnight bathroom break. He quietly took his leave, without torch so as not to wake everyone. On his return from the desert toilet, the police guarding the camp and the check point saw him. They shouted in Arabic 'Freeze'. Being from Slovenia, he did not understand and so kept walking towards his tent. One of the police then dropped to his knees, gun trained on Anton, while the other shouted again 'Freeze or I shall shoot'. Anton, hearing a gun being loaded, stopped and simply said 'Toilet'. Crisis averted.
After an exciting couple of days, we are all looking forward to our two rest days in Luxor. Luxor is beside the river nile, and the last 20km into the town were lined with green fields of sugar cane, and other produce. I cycled alone from lunch, and managed to pick up a police and ambulance escort into the city. Very much ostentasious cycling into a city with an ambulance behind you, and a police car to your left. Everytime we approached a junction the loudspeaker would crackle and they would say 'Turn right' or 'Straight on'. Would never enjoy being a celebrity!
