Under starters orders…and off into Africa!

Calf muscles have been buffed to a fine shine, legs have been shaved and lycra has been donned. We’re off on the adventure of a lifetime.

On Saturday January 10 two riders from the Lonely Planet relay team will join around forty other cyclists leaving Cairo. Ten countries, 11,800km of riding and saddle sores aplenty lie ahead before journey’s end in Cape Town on May 9.. In a possibly foolhardy move, Lonely Planet has entered a relay team to join them. Between sixteen riders we’ll ride every fabulous inch of the way, with two riders on each stage.

For the Lonely Planet team riding the ‘Pharaoh’s Delight’ stage, journeys end is Khartoum in Sudan where they’ll hand over the baton to the next members of the relay team. Sharif Rashedi, a Systems Technician based in Oakland, California and Canadian author Scott Kennedy, Sharif and Scott will be posting updates of their desert ride here.

We’ll be posting updates, photos and videos here as we cross Africa from north to south by pedal power.

Tom Hall