Tour d'Afrique 2012: per Bike von Kairo nach Kapstadt

December 8th, 2018

"Planung, Vermessung und Analyse eines sportlichen Lebensprojekt" - awesome report about "Geomatics meets Sport" published in the Christmas Editon of Geomatik Schweiz 12/2018

Article

Unglaubliches Gefühl der Freiheit

April 10th, 2014

"Unglaubliches Gefühl der Freiheit" - awesome report published in the annual publication of ProSihltal 2015 "Jahrheft Nr. 65/2015 Sportliches Sihltal" by Bernhard Schneider, Langnau

More about...

TdA Roadshow 2015

January 1st, 2015

Three years after my start of the race through Africa I still had the opportunity to present the stories about and my new Summerschool project in Ethiopia 2016.

  • November 5th 2015: Rotary ClubSt.Gallen
  • November 24th 2015: Ambassador Club Willisau

The collection of the offering of such events goes in Education for Ethiopia Primary Schools (Link Ethiopia). More about...

 

TdA 2012 Results are online again

October 10th, 2014

New TdA Organisation Homepage puts the results online again:

View pdf...

TdA Roadshow i2014

January 1st, 2014

Nearly two years after my biggest challenge in myl life I'm still requested to present the Tour d'Afrique 2012:

  • January 9th 2014: Geographisch-Ethnographische Gesellschaft Basel More about...
  • March 13th 2014: Postveteranen Volkshaus Zürich more ...
  • April 2nd 2014: Lionsclub Zürich Turicum More about...
  • July 2014: University of Berne

Every Event I collect money for Supporting Education in Ethiopia. More about...

TdA Roadshow Round 2 starts this October

August 27th, 2013

I am pleased to present the next four dates of the TdA presentation. It is my aim to spread the experiences of the TdA in cycling and to underline my commitment to Ethiopian schools. The data are:

  • October 2th 2013: Geographisch-Ethnographische Gesellschaft Zürich more ...
  • October 28th 2013: Ostschweizerische Geographischen Gesellschaft St. Gallen more ...
  • January 9th 2014: Geographisch-Ethnographische Gesellschaft Basel more ...
  • March 13th 2014: Postveteranen Volkshaus Zürich more ...

Every presentation is accompanied by food and wine from South Africa. Feel free to join, everybody is welcome!


"TdA Stop Nr. 12 in Secondary School of Baden, Switzerland at April 11th 2013"

March 24th, 2013

Next stop in another Swiss Seconday School to present

Open doors on lunchtime at 12.35 in Room Nr. 7116. Everybody is welcome!

 

"Chilestamm Langnau am Albis at January 17th "

January 13th, 2013

My Roadshow stops next Thursday January 17th 2013 back home in Langnau am Albis where I grew up. I'm invited at the circle of the Protestant church service, I refer about my experience around sociocultural objectives of the ten different countries along my trip, the face of poverty and my borderline experience of the race and basic life.

"Eine Reise ins innnere Afrika - und in das innere Ich" > more information you find on the official application.

Start is 20.00 at Kirchgemeindehaus, Hintere Grundstrasse 3, Langnau am Albis.
Local drinks and food from South Africa will be served.

TdA stop in Berne - the Capital City of Switzerland

January 7th, 2013

CSA

Next stop is Berne at Gymnasium Kirchenfeld at January 10th, where I have the opportunity to present another stories around the trip, bike and gps over my African time. A big thank to the 150 students who collected before Christmas for the Ethiopian Primary schools from Link Ethiopia. Here ist the flyer the made for this charity event.

TdA for Swiss Nationalpark December 3rd, 2012 in Zernez (Swiss Alps)

November 30th, 2012

CSA

My TdA-Roadshow goes at higher level. My next stop is in Zernez 1500 above sea level in the lovely valley of the famous Engadin. I'm invited at Swiss National Parc to present the four-month-adventure by movies, maps and the small stories. The one hour speech starts at 16.30 and takes place at the Audiorium (huge screen) of Zernez. Afterwoods people are invited for a sip of South African Cabernet and Chardonnay.

Next TdA-stops in 2013 are:

  • January 10th: Gymnasium Kirchenfeld in Bern - Flyer here
  • January 17th: Chilestamm Kirchgemeinde Langnau am Albis- reformiert-langnau.ch
  • February 7th: FGZ in Reinach / Aargau

 

TdA for Friends at November 10th, 2012 at Moveon Adliswil

October 8th, 2012

TdAforFriends

Movies, maps and music!
TdA-Roadshow stops to tell about the the "tour" in Adliswil. Food, beverage and African Special included.
Doors open at 16.00. The Show starts around 17.00. More on www.moveon.ch. Due to limited space, booking is essential on c.sailer@gmx.ch or mail@moveon.ch.
You can forward this news to friends.


View Larger Map

TdA-Roadshow's next public Events

October 1st, 2012

All event are public and for free. You are welcome to join. But please send me an Email or diectly at the event's registration. All events mapped you find here.

Radio Télévision Suisse Zurich, Switzerland: Reportage

July 15th, 2012

Langnau am Albis, Switzerland: Online publications in local newspapers

June 15th, 2012
  • Tages Anzeiger: Scan (June15th, 2012)
  • Thalwiler Anzeiger: xxx (June xxth, 2012)
  • Zürichsee Zeitung Bezirk Horgen: After the Tour (June 6th, 2012)
  • Zürichsee Zeitung Bezirk Horgen:: Before the Tour (January 11th, 2012)

Airport Zurich, Switzerland: Unexpected awesome arrival

June 4th, 2012

Just look the arrival on local TV channel TeleZüri and the arrival back home. A big thank to all guys which found the way to the airport or back home.

Cape Town: Tour d'Afrique 2012 is already past

May 14th, 2012

After four months racing through the Black Continent is done - the longest timed stage race in the world. The last day was quite impressive and emotional when the Table Mountain - representing mentally the finish flag - streched out over the Cape Town's fog. Arriving at the very last lunch, I decided to open "The bottle", because now my victory and my EFI-status were 99.9% sure!

Champagne

The winners overall the race with the five grace days included:

Men

1. Christian Sailer (Switzerland) 348:05:59
2. Raffael Schrof (Germany) 350:13:47
3. Bryce Walsh (USA) 365:52:32

Women

1. Femke Nelissen (Netherlands) 514:54:34
2. Jenny Davenport (United Kingdom) 572:59:48
3. Esther Borg (Australia) 588:56:51

And the first "Final pictures" at the white Bloubergstrand were made.

The winners

Swiss clock and the Giraffe

EFI

The riders with "every fabulous / f.. inch": the serious boys and the crazy girls:

Carlos Aleman (Spain)
Esther Borg (Australia)
Alaric Britz (Namibia)
Jenny Davenport (United Kingdom)
Herman de Grave (Netherlands)
Jana Dumas (Canada)
Alan Emerton (South Africa)
Adam Lister (Canada)
Jurgen Meijer (Netherlands)
Marita Reilly (Ireland)
Christian Sailer (Switzerland)
Miguel Teixeira (South Africa)
Bryce Walsh (United States of America)

 

Arriving at The Waterfront in Cape Town seeing my Swiss jersey wearing by another very important person, I knew - it's done, i got it! :-)

Pictures and video follow...

 

Cape Town: Beautiful countryside in Namibia along the Diamond Coast

May xxth, 2012

First impression, report coming soon

Fish River Canyon

View from the top of the Fishriver Canyon

 

Windhoek in Namibia: Rolling hills in Zambia, wildlife adventure in Botswana

April 26th, 2012

On the day after Lilongwe the border crossing to Zambia meant the beginning of the Zambezi Zone. The landscape has not really changed compared to Malawi. It was green everywhere and the roads led us the whole time over gentle hills.. The first town in Zambia where we rested was called Chipata. I already twittered and have to repeat it: I definitly drank the best cappuchino on the tour so far in a cheap coffeeshop inside of the Spar supermarket. An incredibly nice beginning in a new country! At this section our campsites always changed between real bushcamps – no showers, electricity and the famous toilet tents -  and  nice campsites with lodges where some of the riders took rooms and everybody could profit of warm or cold showers. The race followed along the border to Zimbabwe into Livingstone. Not only the stage profiles were very tough - always up and down - also the race character in the peloton was very competitive. Raffa and Bryce triedto drop me out of the peloton many times. I had to ride very carefully and alertly and I did so with success. At the end of the Zamebzi Zone in Livingstone I lost only afew minutes and the mando day bonus to Raffa.

Livingstone meant the huge Victoria Falls at the border between Zambia and Zimbabwe. We rested at this very touristic place for two days. Many attractions for the travellers are offered there. Back home I had already comitted myself to do my first Bungeebungee jump at the Vic Falls. During the last three month I always asked myself if I have to do it or not. Finally other riders argued me into doing it. It's a must-do when you are there and I did it. It was only afterwards that I found out that it's the world's third highest jump :-). To increase the adventure and save a bit of money I decided like ten other TdA-Riders for the combo-package, which includes all three crazy activities. The bungee jump, the bridge swing and the slide (zipline). But last but not least the TdA-route passes Livingstone because of the world natural heritage - the Victoria Falls. Understandably amazing was it, standing at the Vic's opposite hills touched by the wet spume of the Zambezi water. It was unique!

After Livingstone the African famous wildlife tour through Botswana began. The section itself is called Elephant highway and we had to expect many animals during riding or even racing. The first stage meant a border crossing from Zambia to Botswana by means of the Kazungula ferry over the the 400-metre-wide Zambezi River. We camped near Kasane and had the possibility to take a boat cruise to the Chobe Nationalpark on the Zambezi where Zambia, Namibia, Botswana and Zimbabwe intersect. Fortunately we did it by sunset and saw a lot of elephants, hippos, antelopes, crocodiles and many more animals. The next days to Nata were very exciting because we expected more wildlife crossing our race-route. I discovered a giraffe family and the highlight was an elephant walking next to our bushcamp after sunset. Arriving also after many more boring kilometres (average around 160 kilometres) in Maun, we had reached the next wildlife hotspot to rest there for one day. I made the popular flight over the incredibly large Northern Okavango Delta for 45 minutes and got the experience to see a huge variety of wildlife from the top. After Maun the landscape got dryer, animal sightings fewer and the stages went longer. Stage 78 was with 208 kilometres the longest stage and the peloton agreed to work togehter to beat the record. Altough we missed out on tailwind all the time, the peloton consisting of Raffa and Bryce got the record. I had probably my worst day due to a puncture after 150 kilometres riding which implied changing a tube and having to finish the last 60 kilometre alone. This failure cost me 14 minutes plus the lost time bonus to Raffa of 30 minutes. Otherwise I didn't lose more time and so at the end of the Elephant highway I have still a gap to Raffa of nearly 2 hours, factoring in the grace days. So TdA 2012 will be decided at the sandy Diamond Coast section. We are looking forward to this last two weeks with many highlights. Visit my friends zone video BOOTLEG Tour d'Afrique 2012 - Zambezi Zone
Stay tuned at TdA Livemap and the TdA-Website !

Lilongwe in Malawi: Two wonderful sections are over: Masai Steppe and Malawi Gin

April 3rd, 2012

A very short, but one of the greenest sections took only 15 days including the three days in Arusha with the awesome Safari to the Ngorongoro Crater.
Meltdown MadnessBut first we had to leave Nairobi. I was prevailed as Meltdown Madness section winner - link to the result - and was looking forward to start the Masai Steppe as race overall leader. For the first stage (number 47) tar road for 160 kilometres up to the border of Tanzania was written on the TdA whiteboard. Thus, nobody expected a 15 kilometre long stretch of road under construction after only 25 kilometres with huge rocks, gravel and sand. Actually, as the guy for the tough terrain, I managed this part very well until the last 20 meters! Then, I suddenly got a very soft front wheel, which meant a puncture again! The peloton passed me and I had to fix my flat for the next 10 minutes. The worst was that I had 120 kilometres ahead of me – alone; that meant: Time Trial! Probably this was my longest ever. Fortunately, in the end I lost only 20 minutes - puncture fixing included - to the German Raffael. The next day we crossed the border into Tanzania and enjoyed the first view to the big volcanoes of the Eastern Rift Valley. After 50 kilometres we could see Africa's highest peak, cloud covered and far in the distance with 5895 meters altitude Mount Kilimanjaro. Unfortunately, this was already all of the Kili. To get to Arusha, we went straight on in a southern direction and had to climb this towns’ own mountain called Mt.Meru. Half way updateA short but tough climb where Raffa attacked again and I had to chase after him. The heavy traffic in Arusha made it not very easy to catch him, it was really dangerous. I didn't risk my life and forfeited some minutes to him. After arriving at the finish we were looking forward to the coming three rest days in and around Arusha.

Arusha: The midway point of the TdA 2012 after 5521 kilometres is reached and it is time to show the race standings adjusted to the five grace days. ->

* Raffa missed one race day and got a 12 hours punishment. The actual overall standings on the TdA-Website still include this time punishment and ignore the grace days. So don't get confused about the overall standings. I'm in front but only a bit more than two hours ahead to Raffa. Two punctures or one sick day and my advance is lost!!

Arusha also meant that we were very close to the famous Tanzanian game reserves. I decided to go on a one and half Ngorongoroday trip to the Ngorongoro Crater. Long enough for a first impression of a safari trip and short enough to have sufficient time to recover at the campsite. Many pictures of animals and two pretty videos of the safari you will find on my livemap!
Both, expedition riders and racers were in need of this three days in order to prepare for the coming eight stages in line until the next rest day in Mbeya. Most of those eight stages turned out to be off-road - gravel and sand.
I managed them not too badly, although my rival Raffa challenged me all the time to win back his lost time. The race is still on and we are still very close together referring to the overall time. TdA Race and Expedition: For you followers and spectators very exciting!? - I think :-).
Unfortunately, I could never really stop for a break to observe or search for some animals. The focus for me is on the race – looking for the perfect line on the sandy road. Nevertheless, I saw some exiting animals such as a yellow chameleon, a big baboon family, a lonely zebra and more small animals I wasn’t able to identify. Remarkable is the dominance of agriculture and sometimes also the burning woods, which is very impressive as is the wilderness.Rice and chicken After all this Tanzania section deep inside the African bush along this unknown road is a further highlight of the TdA 2012. I'm always very hungry after the stages because we arrive rather early – usually around 2 p.m. Then, I'm searching for every possible opportunity to get some food - local food of course. Once I had a very fresh (I saw it alive) chicken with rice and coleslaw salad. Delicious food!! :-) More pictures are on the gallery.
The final two stages were both mandatory days (mando days), which means time bonuses: First 30 minutes, second 20 minutes and third 10 minutes. The first day campsiteRaffa beat me to the unexpectedly early stage end in the sprint. The second day belonged to me, passing the highest road of Tansania as first and winning the stage down in Mbeya. Much lost time of the first six stages was won back (result of stage 56).
Mbeya meant that the Masai Steppe was now over and I was the unlucky second with one minute behind Raffa (see the results). In Mbeya I stayed in the beautiful Mbeya Hotel with a local touch. I didn’t want to get caught by the first rain during the night on this tour staying in the tent. Good decision, it rained cats and dogs. however, the food in the hotel was delicious; from Indian (butter naan bred), Chinese (fried rice) to European (pasta). I rested not too badly and was looking forward to the next climate and vegetation zone in tropical Malawi.

The section's name honours the countries famous spirit, it is called The Malawi Gin. The first stage from Mbeya to the border was a long, beautiful downhill with a wide-open space of southern Tanzania and northern Malawi. The border crossing was - thanks to my expensive visa "quick and dirty" -. Some guys sold me just there a local sim-card of Airtel. Also here in this country internet access over the local network is amazingly fast and both laptop internet access by smart phone tethering and skyping are often possible. The stage ended in the so-called humidity camp, a name which applies 100% to this campsite. Tropically humid at 35 degrees during the night resulted in very wet tents in the morning. Whatever, everybody was excited about the following days at Chitimba Beach on lake Malawi where rider, gear and bicycle could be "restored" or better dried up.Beach of Chitimba Still not having been caught by any rain during riding, we continued our journey towards Malawi’s capital city Lilongwe. A short Mountain Time Trial , a longer, very hilly Mando Day and then in the end a half race day concluded the fabulous Malawi Gin. Pictures of Lilongwe can be found on the gallery!

Nairobi: End of hell or The Meltdown Madness

March 10th, 2012

The stages after Bahir Dar in the Highlands of Ethiopia were again up and down on rolling hills on an average altitude of 2500 metres above sea level. A nice but tough experience to race all the stages even the landscape was awesome and I simply enjoy it very much. On the 18th February, after 60 kilometers of riding a 20 kilometer long mountain time trial from the river bed of the Gorge (1050) to the top edge of the valley (2500) with 1500 metres elevation were to do.TT_Profile The Norway Section Rider Pal made it in 1 hours 17 minutes and beat the old record of 2009! I began to fast and got a crazy hanger after 10 kilometers and finally needed over 1 and a half hour for the climb. But recovering goes fast at TdA and next day the 19th February, the peleton reached together with a high climbing speed the roof of the TdA on exactly 3122 metres above sea level. A nice camping site around a bird observer area on top of the Gorge concluded that stage. Next day, the arrival in Addis Ababa, the capital city of Ethiopia, was again in convoi where local riders (more ladies than men!) joined us and accompanied us all along the awesome downhill. Visit my videos on the Livemap. After two relaxing nights and a huge brunch at the five star Sheraton, I was prepared in shape and mind for the next adventure: the section number three called Meltdown Madness from Addis Ababa to Nairobi.
The first stages always ended in very beautiful but dry bushcamps. It must be the dryness as reason as to why every morning tidying up the tents a lot of beetles, insects and spiders are found in our bags. The beginning of madness? No, not the camping issue, it was rather the road conditions whiche became increasingly corrugated and rough. We definitly had to change the road tires to off-road tires. I took my simple off-road choice, the 42 mm Schwalbe Plus Tour. Reason: corrugation (washboard), rocks, dirt, sand - sometimes individual and sometimes everything together. Here my custom made TdA-Bike made THE big difference for the first time to the rest of the competitors. Thanks to my titanium frame with the customized back suspension, the tough 29er-wheels packed with the 42 mm Schwalbe Plus Tour tires, I really rocked over those off-road stages and won me back a lot of time I lost to other racers earlier! I won all three stages before Yabello - the last Ethiopian rest day - and reached meanwhile first rank in the overall time. The border crossing in Moyale into Kenia was fast and uneventful. We had time to eat, relax and always important in a new country search for local prepaid cards for our cellphones.

Northern Kenia; the true Meltdown Madness began now! No one could believe that after the corrugation stages in Sudan and the Ethiopian off-road stages it could get even worse. EXTREM-corrugation and lava rocks in Norhern Kenia made it a very hard, tough riding. Now, there was the time for my mountain bike tires - the 2.2 inch Bontrager. My cyclo-cross bike was now definitly transferred into a real mountain bike. I rocked over eveything that was underneath on the first two stages in Kenia and it was a big, big pleasure to ride this bike Meltdown Madness Winner altough my arms were hurting badly. Results on MY stages you find on 39 and 40. Thank you Dennis Kipphardt for the accurate advice and thank you Sheriff Roger for the excellent design and set-up of this bike! The third Kenian stage was a Mando day - mandatory - where I didn't really take enough care of my tires. I was sure I wouldn't get a flat as everything has worked for the last two stages.
The story is short: My moving time was 4 hours 20 minutes and my down time 50 minutes. Again leading the race, after 12 kilometers the sad story began by a snakebite in the front tire. Fixed fast like a Pro - 5 minutes inlcuding the hand pumping :-) - I continued the race from the third position. But, then the bad story went on on the rear tires. Five punctures due to spikes, nails and again snakebites with only another two spare tubes in my pocket? I had to wait for the large Dinner-Truck, where I got new tubes from other riders not doing the whole race. Great thanks to Rob and Ian! Then again I took up the hunt to Raffa who passed me at the third puncture thirty kilometers before the finish. At the water refreshment 15 kilometres before the finish, I stopped and was told that he was seven minutes ahead of me. It came the last steep uphill and I tried to catch him. But, a further spike or nail of the tough corrugation road which the Chinese are rebuilding hit my rear tire. Okay, what should I do? Altough one spare tube was left, I didn't change it and only pumped the tire up again. And it worked! On a semi flat rear tire I reached Marsabit at the Catholice Diocise camp only four minutes behind the completely dehydrated Raffa.
We all - racers and expedition riders - were ready for a rest day.
Tasks for Marsabit Rest Day: First Bike cleaning and fixing the tubes, second laundring the red dirty cycling clothes and third relaxing, shopping and searching a free network for uploading photos. The day after a new mandatory day was due. 97 kilometers, heavy downhill with extremly rough corrugation (it rained during the night), heat and again sandy corrugation: Time to pay back my lost stage two days before to Raffa. Again with the large tires I flew down the first 40 kilometers. Did I rediscover my old Mountain Bike skills? Anyway, I made a gap to Raffa and the rest the first 50 kilometers and reached the finish in Laisamis as first. Warm cokes and beers completed that perfect day. Due to security issues, we had to ride the 173 kilometers stage the day after in a bus - called the Marsabit Express. See the pictures on my gallery!
EquatorEverybody was happy with this further rest day and even more as we arrived at the pretty Range Land Hotel camp in Isiolo, where some of us rented a room with warm shower (me included :-) ).
Ready to climb the Mt. Kenia, we did the next short stage to Nanyuki! At top of the stage on 2500 metres above sea level, we had a good view to the snow covered peak. The awesome downhill with tail wind made the stage very short, only 2 1/2 hours long.
Then in stage number 45 it was the time to cross the Equator! Great feeling and we took individual photos and of course a group photo which you can find on the TdA-Website!
Due to heavy traffic towards Nairobi the last stage was again a non-race day and ended in convoi to the camp site for a long 20 kilometres. The camp site is pretty nice. Electricity, warm showers, grass ground for tenting, fine food in the restaurant and very close a shopping mall in western standart. We are back in civilization! :-)

Gondar and Bahir Dar: Rest days, donations and many coffee ceremonies

February 15th, 2012

Gonder was the first city in Ethiopia on our schedule. It was once the old imperial capital and the capial of the historic Begemder Province. The city is nicknamed "The Camelot of Africa" due to Donatethe presence of a group of royal castles. But before visiting the most famous one in town, our first rest day on Saturday stood for a donation ceremony of uniforms and school supplies at a basic school called “Link Ethiopia”.This is a charity dedicated to supporting education in Ethiopia. more on http://www.linkethiopia.org
I have published a video and some images of this affecting ceremony.

On Sunday the topic was a tour of the Fasilides Castle and some traditional Ethiopian Orthodox Churches and a try to participate in a church service. Unfortunately, all this was a little stressful as like many other riders as well, I was sick with a stomach ache over the whole weekend. Our bodies realised that the rest days were time to recover and to cure sicknesses, not unusal at all after eight tough stages with varying conditions in the kind of surface, the climbs, the altitude and more!
But the more serious and unexpected incident was the day before on Saturday afternoon, a visible accumulation of water in my legs! I never had this before!?! And I felt very tired! Consequently, I stayed in my hotel room for resting and keeping my legs up on as many pillows as I could possibly find and this for the whole afternoon and night.
Eventually, on Sunday afternoon my body (especialy the legs) recovered and I felt only a small ache in the region of my stomach. Just on Monday morning when the TdA startet to move, I felt to be healthy but not really strong to get back and particpate the next two stages up to the next rest day.
bikeArriving in Bahir Dar next to the Lake Tana we were welcomed by the local cycling club with red roses (yes, it’s Valentines Day). The same day we had another bike donation for the cycling enthusiastic town. Then, on the rest day we made a boat trip to an island in the lake Tana with a traditional monastry. A great day ended with another Ethiopian coffee ceremony together with members of the localmcycling club.

Coming up next are five difficult stages to Addis Ababa along the famous Gorge where the second section of the TdA with this name will end.

Pharao's Delight is over, the Gorge has begun. Gondar, the first station in Ethiopia

February 12th, 2012

In Khartoum, "Pharao's Delight", the 1st of 8 sections of the TDA ended. However, before that after Dongola, we had to accept a number of camping nights in the really sandy desert. The yellow sand made it relatively easy to put up our tents and it felt awesome to walk through it with bare feet towards the evening when it was not so hot anymore. Rimini feelings… Arriving in the capital city of Sudan, Khartoum, we first passed sometimes exciting (bath tub Male) and sometimes not so nice neighbour hoods to finish the stage in a camping ground.

From there a bus took the ones who had booked a room to the hotel about 5 km away towards the center of the city. The rest day I and a collegue spent sightseeing in car with a driver. On this tour we visited the post office, the now inoperable railway station built by the Britsh, the Nile street where most of the ministery buildings as well as the President's house are and finally the awesome National Museum which showed that the Sudan has a long, exciting history, Christian before the Islamic era. When you visit the gallery you can see Sudan on a large map with its many political regions.
Then the cycling went on in a new section called "The Gorge". There were 8 stages to do: 2 paved, 3 off road and again 2 paved in Ethiopia. The two paved stages – the second was a Mando-Day - took us more and more in areas with vegetation (dry savannah) away from the sand. After Sennar we biked off-road along an old rotten railway track. This sounds easy but it was the opposite. A washboard like road surface all 3 days long. shook the bicycle but even more so the rider on it in an aweful way. Raffa and me adapted to this new situation rather well and finsihed the stages almost always toghether more on TdA-page.
On 8th February we crossed the border into Ethiopia and enjoyed our first beer after a long time. Ethiopias roads were once designed by Italian engineers, something I noticed right away because of the way the are built. The first stages were only over some ramps and the last one ended in a original Ethiopian village 1200 above sea level. Then the eighth and last stage was again a Mando-Day and I had my first puncture after 10 km. Shit happens! I didn’t check my tyres the evening before after I rode through the dorny terrain the last 50 m of the seventh stage!!! My fault and I had to pay for it with a considerable loss of time. The leading group was away and I tried to persue them for the next 100 kilometres over a pass with an altitude of 2500 metres all the way alone! Finally, I passed the finish line behind all the favorites more on the top of a hill (2350 m) at the nice Hotel Goha overlooking the city of Gondar. We are now staying here for three nights and we like it very much (Donation ceremony, Castle sightseeng and relaxing). More at a later date...

Dongola, the first rest day in the Nubian Desert (Sudan)

January 27th, 2012

Together with the two Egyptian riders, we had - after Luxor - two tough and highly paced racing days until we reached Aswan, the southern most city of Egypt. The road was paved but many pott holes and ungulates made it necessary to always maintain the highest possible attention whilest riding. In Aswan we had another nice dinner with our Swiss crew at the renovated "Old Cataract" hotel. Then, the next adventure began as I already twittered. The trip from Aswan to Wadi Halfa began with a short 17 km bike ride to the landing site of the ship on Lake Nasser.Aswan landing siteThis was followed by an 10 hours bording procedure of first the TdA-group with the bikes and our stuff and then the local people with it seemed 100'000 or more boxes. It was an unbelievable, unique and very loud experience and more then once we wondered wheter the vessel would really take it all.
After another 18 hours including one night we knew that it would, as we arrived safely in Wadi Halfa. Some spent the night in the cabin and other on the crowded deck. The going around was not easy as one had to be carful not to step on carpets, boxes or sleeping people. Fortunately, there were no animals on board! Now, the border procedures began after we had filled in another three forms on the ship, almost identical once we had to use for the visa application back home. The checking or better the inspection of our bags reminded me of my military service, except that it was rather with African efficiency and Sudanese kindness. Finally everything was okay and all the riders proceded as a convoi to the desert camp just outside Wadi Halfa. Africa has began! We had to look for our dinner ourselves that evening. We decided to go to a typical Sudane restaurant. We ate lamb, chicken, beef, local bread, lentil soup and everything was great – served by very hospitable, friendly people! What we didn't finish the cats got from the next table where the waiter had put the plates.
The first three stages in Sudan were on a perfectly, newly built road and always ended at desert camps, except for Dongola where we found ourselves to camp in the zoo. However, no animals, no water for showering, rudimentary toilets, no electricity, but a reasonably nice lawn to put our tents. What a nice change to the rough, hands damaging, dusty sand. Since Wadi Halfa TdA provided their own trucks which were driven up earlier from South Africa.Crew in kitchenWe now had lockers at our disposition to stow our belongings. Many of us had by far to much equipment and clothing. The tour managment gave us the chance to re-organise. They were very strict and would not allow one single cubic centimeter space over and above the capacity of the locker. This resulted in many things having to be disposed-off including entire travel boxes. And I was not excluded :-( from this. I also tried to fix my bike as it makes an unusual noise somewhere (you can hear it in some Youtube videos). So far I was unsuccessful to fix it but the positive that followed was a very good meal in a Sudanese restaurant for lunch which could possibly not have been more local. The standard of living generally here is very low but "We were looking for Africa and now we have Africa" as Heiner, my Swiss colleague always reminds us.
The next four days to Khartoum will be long racing days on paved roads always ending in desert camps. The first section of the tour will end in Khartoum. As we can see from the road map, there will be some quite heavy off-road parts after the Sudanese capital city on the way to Ethiopia.
Uploads: Videos, Pics for the Livemap and Gallery are coming soon...

Arrived in Luxor after 750 km in 6 stages

January 19th, 2012

Yeaahh, we have our first rest day! Everybody really needs it to recover from the first six sometimes long stages.
Today we woke up from a terrible cold. It felt below zero degrees, which our measuring instruments confirmed. The start for the race was like every day at 7.30 a.m., which we didn't really like especially today because of this terrible cold. Everyone wanted to reach Luxor with the rest day as fast as possible. The race started already on the first 100 meters, when Jurgen, a German rider, attacked from the beginning. 20 km later(!) we caught up with him.... and we had to concentrate on the very busy Qena traffic, the first city back at the Nile. Not very amused we saw a terrible accident in which a local motorcyclist happened on a hectic intersection. So we focused even more to reach the remaining two hours to Luxor accident-free. The race ended 40 km before Luxor and ended as in the other stages with a final sprint. I was impatient, had attacked too early and lost everything :-) Place 5! Hilton LuxorAfter another particularly fine lunch, we traveled the road between Qena and Luxor together with the Egyptian ProRiders. The ride wasn't too funny because of boys throwing small stones at us. However, we made it to Luxor to enjoy the relaxing afternoon.
We had the possibility to rent a single room, what I preferred over camping to charge up all my electronic devices and to reorganise my gear for Sudan. Last but not least, I and my two Swiss colleagues were dining at the Hilton next to Nile river at sunset. Little bit luxury compared to the basic TdA-life :-). Tomorrow, we have another nice breakfast at Hilron, further cleaning our bikes and finally we are going to visit the local market to buy my Hibiscus-tea with a funny carriage-ride.Ride at local marketstreetI will visit the famous temples another time..
About the story around GPS-Tracking:
It gives me a lot of work the way I designed it! I will continue to upload my GPS-Tracks, where every 120 seconds a point is captured, but the whole statistics per stage, I will no longer upload as CSV-File. The problem is web access and accu energy. So, the new link at the map menu is called on Holux-GPS-Track you can follow my trip in the most accurate possible way.
If you have questions, please put them on my guestbook. Thank you for all the comments on Twitter and on Facebook. Next updates I will put on the internet in Dongola or later in Khartoum depending on the availibility of internet connections.

The Tour d'Afrique 2012 has begun...

January 17th, 2012

For four days now we have Cairo behind us - the noisy and overcrowded city of 25 million people, which from a western point of view is only "semi-built" - and are now passing the red sea on our northwestern arm.
We sleep every night in windy and very sandy desert camps and the temperature drops to +5°C. Especially in the early morning it doesn't feel like you are in Africa. But it will change, the staff always promises.... Link to Livemap My plan is to put every seven days some videos of your ride, several pictures of the landscape and of course the daily Tweets, you get every lunchbreak and at the nightcamp live!! on the the Socialmedia-Map: Link to Livemap!
About the race results: The material will publish the current results of the individual stages every three to four days. The first day (~ 140km) was not measured as a race, although the second stage was already a Mando day (obligatory) with nasty 168km, the third and fourth stages were again shorter with slightly more than 100k.
. You can see the individual stages as GPS files with statistics about speed, altitude etc. on further maps. CSV and GPX Uploads.
Last but not least the gallery with all pictures: As with the Youtube videos, I also need it for the fast Internet, which is getting worse and worse..... So I give my best.
Visit also the official Tour-webpage of the TdA! They blog every two days news, pictures and so on..
Take a quick look at it. More to come soon!

Züriseezeitung publishes article

January 11th, 2012

On the day I started my journey to Africa, local newspapers in Zurich published an interview I had in the old year......
ZsZ more..

Ready to go

January 10th, 2012

Two huge bags just 46kg... and the cycling case! Scared about the insepction :-)
Take off tomorrow 09.45am: Flight

Arrival at 3pm and further with bus transfer to Cataract near the Pyramids! Com

Tweets from my Thuraya

January 4rd, 2012

Just added my old thuraya ascom 21 phone to my Twitter Account! Plan B for messaging comes true! :-)
How does it works? Read more

Workflow of Messaging
ComZoom!

Thank you!

January 1st, 2012

Thank you for joining this very cold farewell-event in the previous year. I hope that I was able to provide you with sufficient information about the project and planning, and the explanations for tracking on the interactive SoMe maps. You can follow me on Livemap !
farewell

If you are interestet about my farewell-slides you find them here or my concept in german you can find it here !
I wish you a prosperous new year an hopefully we see us next summer!

Farewell-Event

December 30rd, 2011

After a wet and stormy start with snow clouds in the morning, a dry break from the west will arrive in the afternoon, which will make the Openair farewell tonight at my home cold but at least dry.

Time: 19.00 - openEnd
Adress: Neue Dorfstrasse 20a, 8135 Langnau
Beverages: Hot wine punch, punch and tea

You will find me at Google Maps

First Bike-Trip Launched

December 3rd, 2011

A new bicycle is born, made for expedition, race and strength
Read more

New Website Launched

November 28st, 2011

After varios alternatives of blogging, I decided to hardcode everything by myself.
My old blog you can find here.

Camping

November 15st, 2011

Tent, sleeping bag and further articles, I decided for Transa, Switzerland.
Read more

Bike

July 26st, 2011

Decision to buy a Moods; a long build-up story beginns...
Read more

Registration

November 16st, 2010

Registration of TourdAfrique 2012 for a cycling expedition with Tour d’Afrique Ltd.
Read more