Tuesday 19 January 2010

DAY 4 WE ARRIVED TO SAGAFA


Last night during our evening rider meeting we had a basic Arabic course. We have local Egyptians riders that are cycling with us and they gave us a first lesson.


The chef preparing dinner, vegetable broth with chicken and potatoes.



 The South Africans putting their tents, Jos and Peter from South Africa



This is my hight tech set up, in my tent sending the day's picture via internet from my laptop. I have a local sim card that I use on a USB modem stick and it works fine. I also have an international one that can roam in case the local one does not work. I will buy new ones in each country, or at least where available.




Today was a very fast day, we rode 94 km in less than 4 hours and even stopped a few times for taking pictures, we had some more flooded roads from that storm of day 2 and we finished the stage at 11h00 a.m. at a resort along the red Sea in a small town named SAGAFA. The first few lucky finished early and managed to book themselves a hotel room. I was one of them and really happy about that.



Having a hotel room not only means getting a shower (not a bad idea after 4 days in the desert and 550 km on a bike) but it also means laundry...




We used the rest of the afternoon to clean our bikes with the Red sea as a background. The chains and cassettes are full of sand and need attention. We have been warned that tomorrow is a tough day with 139 km and serious hills. We are leaving the Red sea and crossing the montain range to reach the Nile.



This is my room, with my cycling pants drying, I also lend extra balcony space to fellow cyclist who did not have a balcony...



2 comments:

Adrian Kirsten said...

Hello, Gerald,

Have a great time and good luck with the race!!! Don't lose you EFI status!!!

Anonymous said...

Allez Gerald!
It's so fascinating following you in this trip from the snowy Pennsylvania.
Good Luck,
Tibor