The day of the TdA Apocalypse
Soccer Field Camp to Ruze Chalets 181km. Monday 2nd April
Last night there was a plan hatched to corrupt The Steam Train. Neal has been struggling a bit to keep up with them recently, and has been spat out the back a few times. Aedo decided that Tom, himself, Allain and David would pick up Neal today, and carry him into camp, overtaking the train in the process.
Alistair, Jenna, David and I were still having an unofficial break from The Party Bus. So our cycle group has been temporarily disbanded. I have come to the conclusion that The Party Bus has an open relationship, and therefore sometimes messages get misconstrued and people get the wrong end of the stick. The Steam Train has a strictly monogamous and hierarchical relationship, invitation only, and therefore no lines get crossed and there are no grey areas.
Anyhow. The day began with an unusual exit from camp. Usually Marty, Craig, Neal and Richard are wheeling out while everyone else is finishing. This morning, Marty, Richard, Craig and Alistair rolled out. Shortly followed by Allain, David, Aedo, Neal and Tom. In fact there was a bit of a hubbub of men beside the road for a while. Aedo led out at a cracking pace, and Allain and Tom just missed the boat. Unfortunately with Aedo pace, if you're not on the wheel when he leaves, you're unlikely to get there.
Steph, Jenna and I then cruised out of camp with the agreement that we would 'ride together if we were together, and ride apart if we seemed to be cycling apart’. It was to be our longest cycling day yet. There was a gradual climb up to camp all day. Nothing of note at all. No left turns, right turns, roundabouts, not steep ups, no downhills. In fact, the whole cycle was pretty monotonous. We caught up with Tom and Allain about 10km out of camp. Allain had been in such a hurry to leave that he hadn’t had time to brush his teeth - they were pulled over at the side of the road and he had his toothbrush out! A man after my own heart! I refuse to leave without brushing my teeth after breakfast.
I cycled at the front for the first 45km, we passed Anton, Alex, Moolah and Jean, and went through a small town with some silo bins, but other than that it was a steady, monotonous road. There weren’t even good views, just long grass either side of the road.
The whole day progressed in this way. I dropped to the back at 45km, as I was getting tired. It was nice to cycle at the front, with the company of the others behind, but also able to ride at a pace I was comfortable with. At the beginning, Alistair had talked about perceived rate of effort, I hadn’t really understood it at the time, but now I am a subscriber. Essentially it is being aware of how hard you feel your body is working during exercise, based on physical feelings - ability to hold covernsation, heart rate, respiratory rate, muscle tiredness etc. Through being aware of these parameters you are able to regulate your exertion and ensure that you ride at a pace which you can sustain for the while ride. Maybe I have just become more aware of these feelings, or maybe I have learnt what parameters are comfortable for me to be able to cycle at that pace for the whole day, but the rate of perceived exertion has definitely started working for me. Essentially I ride at a pace which enables me to sustain conversation, and doesn’t make me out of breath, but at which I still feel I am holding a good pace, and pushing myself slightly.
Lunch was between 85 and 90km. All three of us were getting hungry by the time we hit 75ish. I am not sure if it is hunger or if we have just trained ourselves to expect food and a break after about 3 hours of riding. We were blessed with a swirling tail wind for most of the day. We pulled into lunch and there was only Tom and Allain left. The whole day felt bizarre. Usually we would at least see David or Allistair, or sometimes Neal on the road. They were all absent in a puff of smoke. Apparently the pull team had caught up with, and overtaken the Steam Train. The Steam Train had sped up and pulled it back. Some people had been spat out the back. There was a brief interlude for lunch before play had resumed. The whole affair and upside down feeling to the usual social structure was somewhat unsettling. Steph, Jenna and I joked about the TdA Apocalypse and came up with various twisted scenarios for the remaining few weeks. There was some local entertainment at lunch - a man across the road with a chicken which he was trying to sell, a passing woman selling a large bunch of bananas (of which Ryan bought half) and a man with a pair of oxen pulling a cart.
After lunch we continued in much the same way.
Along with musing about the apocalypse, which we decided was testosterone fuelled, we started planning our three rest days in Victoria Falls. Three days off is a significant amount at the moment. Usually we only have the one. Vic Falls is the ‘adrenaline capital’ of Africa. I am anticipating touristy town, clean, well kept, expensive, but comfortable and entertaining.
Once again, it was refreshing to be in only female company, and was nice to be cycling in a relaxed manner with no pressure to push. That is not to say I don’t enjoy, and get alot out of the riding we have been doing, it is just interested the difference. And the boys obviously wanted a blast too.
We passed through a town at about 140km and saw a sign for ‘Mugg and Bean’, a coffee shop. Looking forward to coffee and tea we pulled in….only to find that it was a ‘coming soon’ advert. We satiated our beverage desires with cold drinks from the petrol station instead.
As we have moved south through the continent our interaction with the locals has diminished. It is something I miss. As a consequence we all feel that we aren’t engaging with, or getting to know, the culture of the regions we are passing through. It is likely multifactorial. Firstly the distances we are covering are alot greater than before, meaning we are all more focussed on cycling and getting to camp with enough time to recover. Accordingly coke stops are now brief, 5-15mins, where as previously they could be up to 45minutes. Secondly, the nature of the refreshment establishments has changed. In Sudan they were small rooms with chest fridges and freezers and some plastic seats, usually with small congregations of men. In Ethiopia they were tea and coffee rooms, with one or two women brewing and serving the drinks. On Kenya and some of Tanzania, the hot drinks became less frequent, but there were women cooking and selling chapatis, and the shops often has plastic chairs outside. Through the following countries the small shops have lost their plastic chairs, become more like shops in the Western world, and there has also been an increase in service/petrol stations. All these establishments provide a much clearer cut, faster, and anonymous transaction…with less engagement by both parties. It is more what we are used to in the ‘developed’ world, but it does beg the question as to if efficiency is superior.
Only another 40km to go. 40km is an afterwork cycle, or a Saturday morning cycle for me…not the remainder of a ride. I can’t imagine cycling this distance, and then running a marathon, as Richard does when he does Ironman events. Even training for that distance seems mind-numbing.
Shortly after leaving the town we passed Tallis and Sophia (a new intern who joined in Lusaka), they were doing an afternoon drinks bottle run. Tallis often does this the afternoon of long rides, when we might run out of water. Today he had even brought soft drinks and chocolate bars! He informed us that the racers were already at camp… There is a bit of a new fixation with ‘average speed’. I do not subscribe to this, but some riders have been known the say ‘Let’s get the average speed over ….km/h. That’s all everyone is interested in anyway.’ There is also a big strava crowd amongst the males. I am glad the tour is no longer a race. Not sure I would have enjoyed the social impacts of it.
Nevertheless it did please us all that we were the first females in to camp, albeit 2hours after the racers. David had kindly laid my tent out so it was all dry. We were camping at a basic lodge, with long grass and cold showers. Tent pitched, clothes drying and cold showered we went to join the others under the canopy of the truck. Most of the crew had gone off to the bar, but a small contingency remained drinking tea and coffee. I really look forward to my coffee in camp. I try and limit my morning coffee as I find it mean I need to stop the bus within an hour to and hour and a half of cycling for a toilet break. If I don’t have a coffee this desire seems to disappear. It;s a bit like my 10am toilet time at work (Paige and Liisa can tell the time by it!). David insists the caffeine dose isn’t high enough, and in reality it is a mental obstacle rather than physical, but i beg to differ. I also like arriving in camp between 1-2.15pm as i feel this gives optimum time to sort out the tent, and gear and wash and have some down time, without providing too much hanging around and sitting on a camp chair time.
Dinner is usually at 5pm, after a brief rider meeting. Then bedtime is anywhere between 6.30 and 9pm depending no campsite facilities , sunset and temperature.
Today’s long day of monotony gave some time to reflect on Zambia. There were the good roads initially, like cycling on silk, the gentle whir of the tyres - The Great East Road, linking Chipata (town near Malawi border) with Lusaka (the capital city). This road has recently undergone development in the North, funded by the EU, European Investment Bank, and French Agency for Development. The project was intended to improve the potential for growth and development of the rural communities in this Eastern Province. It has been speculated the 'Rural communities can effectively drive the socio-economic development of the country and feel more included in national level interventions, but they are being hindered by limited access to good roads connecting them to the larger society. Eastern Province is a hive of agricultural activities ranging from groundnuts production to cultivation of bananas, among other crops.
Therefore, a well-designed road system would help farmers to take their produce to urban markets quicker, more safely and efficiently.’ http://www.times.co.zm/?p=79987 This certainly makes alot of sense, and leads into the next observation about Zambia.
Tom described it as very agriculturally green. When expanded on, what he meant was that he was surprised by the amount of cultivatable land that wasn’t being utilised. Unlike many of the other countries we have passed through, Zambia appears to have arable farmable land. It is relatively flat, has adequate rainfall, and appears very fertile however, it also appears to be a very under utilised resource. Perhaps this is due to previously poor road systems. We have passed some areas of crops, mainly sunflower fields, maize fields and some coffee and sugar cane fields. There is also obviously some local smaller scale tomato, banana, potato growers as this produce is available at the side of the road, and one would assume is locally grown. In fact, Zambia is 75million hectares, of which 58% is classified as medium to high potential for agricultural production. In reality, only 15% is currently under cultivation. (www.zambiainvest.com/agriculture). There are alot of signs for seed production. I had thought that these were simply adverts for seeds, sponsored by the seed suppliers for that farm; Pioneer, Zamseed, SeedCo to name a few. The zambiainvest website has shed some light though - turns out Zambia is one of the biggest seed exporters in Africa, exporting 17,891 tons of certified seeds in 2011.
Other observations - land of shopping malls, petrol stations, increasing selection of chocolate, liberally (read less conservatively) dressed women. On the subject of supermarkets. Malawi and Zambia have the most inefficient check out system known to man. I thought NZ was bad. This is a whole new level. Yet, I canot work out what makes it so inefficient. One is invariable;y waiting at least 10minutes in the queue, even if there are only 2 people infront, and one has a basket. There are at least 10 check outs open, and the bottom aisle in the supermarket is always filled with people waiting to pay.
Maybe it is just a lack of urgency.
Only four days left in Zambia, despite observations I don’t feel I know the country, once again because there has been limited interaction with the population. Not taken by the cycling so far, the first 4 days were good, however it has now become very monotonous, with long days in the saddle. We will have done 500 in the three days to take us to Vic Falls. Thoughts are turning towards the end of the tour, perhaps that is why apocalypse has been occurring. The other thing I forgot to mention, which may play a role, is that we have had quite a number of people not riding this past week. Agnes and Maurice have had the flu, and taken three days off and gone ahead to Vic Falls. Karen is having tests down for weightless and fatigue, and has now been transferred to Jo’burg. Dylan and his dad have taken a break and gone to Vic Falls early too. It could be a reflection of fatigue, it could be a resurgence of illness. Maurice and Agnes are said to be on the improve. Hopefully the unrest within the group, and the banter between the boys settles down too. :)
