Final preparation

With less then a week left I’m entering the last phase of my preparation. Years ago I purchased a Northface travel bag, an enormous yellow monster and I always regretted not having purchased a smaller size. Now that I see what it takes to be 6 weeks “on tour” it turns out to be a great investment!

Also at home it’s sinking in that I will be gone for 6 weeks. There are many last minute requests and even Milan (our youngest) managed to pull 89 euro’s from my pocket for a gaming mouse (knowing I could not refuse :-)

As I write this TDA riders are already cycling for more than 2 months and have long crossed the equator. Every day I look for new posts on Facebook. There are quite a few posts but, typically Facebook, it is all good news with many happy events and funny pics. However, it makes me wonder if it is all sunshine out there :-)

My flight is scheduled on Friday night March 31st. It’s not a great flight but there was not much to choose from. It starts with a short flight to Vienna followed by a night flight to Addis Ababa. The final leg will be on Saturday morning to Lilongwe, Malawi with an expected arrival at 12:50.

By then the others have already arrived in Lilongwe and will be enjoying a rest day. I hope there is enough time to meet everybody, to have my bike fixed and make other preparations. Finally, it’s off to bed early because the next day the tour will start for me with a first challenge of 150 km. Pfff. The second day it will be 176 km (aauwch), the 3rd day 171 km. The 4rd day a little less with 124 km and the final day before rest in Lusaka it’s 103 km.

The best way to follow me is with this blog. There is a TDA Facebook account but this one is restricted to riders. In addition, there is a @globalcycling Twitter account but this is also for other tours organized by TDA.