a typical day on the ride
Given that we have not had that many days on the ride, am not sure that I can accurately describe a typical day. But, I will take a fairly well-informed stab at it.
People start to wake up around 5, typically courtesy of a nearby mosque, and the official “”alarm clock,” music coming from one of our 2 trucks, starts to blare around 5:45. We get up, pack our tents and organize our stuff, get breakfast, wash our plates, use the desert facilities (involves digging one’s own hole), and get organized for the ride.
In the desert, there is not much room for privacy, and so when folks are doing their business and others are passing nearby, each person has a silent pact to look straight ahead and completely ignore the engaged person. It is not so much a privacy issue as a goal to avoid “tmi.”
The ride starts at 7, and we tend to take off in a pack. At this point folks tend to have their natural order, the guys that want to race head up front and roll hard, and the succeeding groups tend to form. I have been in the 3rd group, who tend to average 30-35 kph on the flats in a paceline, but who chat it up a lot and have a good time Given our history of headwinds and needing to cover some distance, we usually ride fairly hard the first half of the trip, which takes us to lunch. After lunch the ride can sort of dissolve into stopping for drinks, taking lots of pix, and just being a very casual ride. On average, we ride 80 miles per day, so we need to have some focus to get the ride early reasonable early to have some relaxed camp time.
When we arrive to camp, we collect our gear, set up our tents and get organized, hang out and chat or do whatever, and wait for our group meeting to sort out the day’s events and to give us the next day’s route. We then have dinner, wash our plates, and typically head to bed, in no small part cuz it is cold in the desert and we are tired. I usually am asleep by 8 or so, and sleep most of the nite.
Given that there are over 60 riders, there is a lot of waiting. We have 2 big trucks with lockers on them, and our stuff has to fit into the allotted space. Easier said than done for some, including me. In the morning, there is a line to pack your gear in the locker. That can be the most physically daunting task of the day cuz the lockers are small and have some design issues. Then there is a line for caffeine. And another line for food. And another line for cleanings dishes. And of course, there is another line to put your dishes into your locker after you eat. There may also be a line to get a shovel to dig a hole in the desert. Similar lines exist at lunch, and again when we hit the next camp. There is a need for patience, but everyone is in the same boat, and there is a fair amount of humor and helping each other get on and off the truck that builds a good vibe for the trip.
So far, the ride has varied from being in the desert with few people and fewer places to get a drink,to riding along the Red Sea with hotels everywhere, to riding along the Nile river basin, which is well-populated and plenty of drink opps, in the Sudan I suspect that it will be hot and more deserts, but as we hit Ethiopia and continue south, more people will populate the counry-side.
