Donation Update - 3/4 of the way!

This week I received more donations from the people here in Mensah Kumta Village, a friend in Canada and one in USA, and then a very generous donation from my good friend  of Langebaan.

An accidental typo with an extra 0... made for a huge donation. As he thought: "Well, I would have just spent it on wine" , the JAG foundation benefited a whole lot!

The funds raised for the JAG foundation are now at R25,895 and I need just less than R10,000 to fulfill my target of R35,000!

Thanks to all the benefactors so far!

Dirty Thirties, trucks and indians

8 stitches!

 Apparently I am invisible to trucks..  but luckily I am INVINCIBLE too!

A week after being back in SA, I wanted to go for a nice long ride from Langebaan to Saldanha. Just a few km's on the road to Club Mykonos a truck hit me of the road from the side..

I think I first hit the ground with my head, then my arm and then I was on my back. My helmet cracked at the side and inside. Apart from the 8 stitches and bruises I was fine.

Everything happened so fast and when I saw the wheels, I thought I was going to die and then I hit my head so hard. But when I opened my eyes... heaven did not look any different and a man removed my bicycle from me, I think..  The people who saw the accident, stopped and helped. They were so friendly and organised for an ambulance and phoned the police. I would like to know who they were, to thank them. A case of reckless driving and negligence was opened against the truck driver and until today, the company has not contacted me to ask how I am doing.

Testing out my tent for the tour in our front garden.

I bought this tent about 5 years ago for R400 (about 57 USD) at Checkers. It is nice and spacious and I had some good camping experiences in it.

And just like that it has begun.. my thirties.

I had an indian dinner party and all at Christine's Delici Cooking Studio in town with a fantastic menu and wonderful friends to celebrate it.

For the last week back home, I could enjoy cycling in our wonderful National Park again. Then we had to return to Ghana.. for the last 6 weeks stretch before I can come back

Where Are You Go - Trailer

This movie looks great! Hopefully my copy will be here within a week.

10th of the way!

Today my presentation on the tour was send, with an invitation for a cocktail evening to present this, to a group of people here in Ghana. Already I have received personal donations from these wonderful people - bringing me a 10th of the way to my target.

this and thats of life in the camp

After walking outside barefoot, my husband pointed out this little visitor, just outside our front door. It looks like a little puff adder and I was told that they are already poisonous, even when still so little. The adults get up to 2meters and can weigh 6 k's!

This man cycled with us for a while. He looked so nice and colorful in his dress. After another 10 meters he took the bus though.

It was again time for our monthly "time-trail". Here are the MKV racers, ready for action.

       Ka - boooom !!

 This is what was left of trying to make caramel. What happened - I placed the condensed milk in water to cook until it turned to caramel. I have actually done it before. It takes a minimum of 3 hours, and you only have to keep the can covered at ALL times under boiling water. This is a very important step to remember. If not, you have a bomb in the making. After my can was cooking for 1 hour, we decided to go out to the clubhouse for some beers. Returning home at about 12, this is what we found.. There was caramel everywhere, on the ceiling, on the dining room table in the adjacent room, just everywhere. We cleaned most of it and just went to bed.

 There are now about 13 weeks left before the start of the tour ..

here comes the rainy season again..

This morning we had to do a 3.5 hour ride. It rained the whole night and most of yesterday, so I thought about skipping it, But at 8:00 it stopped raining and there was no excuse. Skidding through the mud was actually fun and it left its mark.

The town, Ntotroso. It is about 13km's from our village and the first town we cycle through on our 40km loop. 

Evidence of the muddy ride and a not so flattering tan.. The gardener thought I looked very funny and couldn't stop himself from laughing at me. So I had to take a photo. He just wants to install a "nice big mud guard" on my bike, in exchange for my cycling gloves of course..

Just another few weeks

This photo was taken, while I cycled, with my new Olympus Stylus Tough-8010. The camera is 10m waterproof and 2m shockproof, which makes it the perfect little camera to take on an epic bicycle tour.

13 Dec 2010
I take this back now - the camera is already broken. It has not even been used under water or dropped!

After my "incident", I was trapped in the Village, until my riding partner returned from SA.

The incident:

Expat Cyclist harassed by youth

On the morning of 2 September, a South African lady in her late 20's was attacked by Ghanain youths. As she came up the road that leads to the township, Tutuka, 3 children jumped in her way to stop her. There were one teenage girl and two young boys. They grapped her bicycle's handlebar, which caused her to loose balance and stop. They demanded money, which she did not have. The boys then tried to take her camelbak and open the saddlebag to get money, all while the teenage girl held on to the handlebars.

"I had to kick and hit the children to get away and almost fell as the girl kept grapping my bike's handlebars. I sped away, while the little boy was throwing me with stones. I phoned the local security, which came to my rescue and to talk to the children, but they had run away."

The lady was not injured, but a bit rattled. This was not the first incident of expats getting harassed for money in the district. They are encouraged to not cycle alone.

END

On the Friday night we presented an Auction of lovely paintings like these, in aid of a local hospital. We managed to raise more than 15,000 US$ for the cause and had a very nice time doing it in our "tropical formal attire". The paintings were done by a former resident of the Village and donated to the hospital.

Back to cycling
Last night I had my first nightmare about the tour.. Me starting, with only my bicycle and the clothes on my back, nothing else. Forgot to take money, spares, clothes.. Just the knowledge of how to cover my poop. (this was the last information package we received from the TOUR - in detail, how to handle our human waste for 4 months, as we are doing it in mother nature)

Furthermore I am following my "advanced 12 week Heart Rate cycle program" tamely.

Now there are about 17 weeks left ..

Out of Africa for 3weeks

Leaving on my "Jet-Plane" from the Sunyani airport

We had a lovely R&R  for 3 weeks in Vietnam, Cambodia and Bangkok. And for a long time I have not given any attention to my blogspot..

My good friend - No37  thought he should show me how it is done again.   

So here it is:  my life in his witty words:

"The time for training is now. Unfortunately it is also the time for exams, going to South-East Asia and going home. All this means I haven’t been able to practice. Or blog.

The trip to Cambodia and Vietnam was like a dream come true. A hot, wet dream come true. The problem of training for cycling in these areas is the traffic on the paved roads is absolutely crazy. I don’t have a death wish (1) So I had to stay off the roads. The unpaved roads are muddy to liquid. So it is difficult and unpleasant to cycle on (in). I also left my bike in Ghana which made it rather difficult to ride.

Let me remind you why I am going to put myself through 5000km (it is actually 12 000 km..) of cycling hell. It is to help the foundation. For just R250 you sponsor a child to sport. That is about $35. Knowing that sport is good blah blah

Now to increase the number of sponsors, I will do the following. For every 5 new sponsors I will put up a picture of myself, in cycling gear, going up a hill. From behind. The picture will be taken from behind. I will be cycling up its front. As we get nearer the target of sponsors, the zoom on the pictures will increase. 

My training regime for the next few weeks is: 34km daily, running, swimming, swinging from tree to tree like jane (2) and studying from 9 to 11, then to the club for lunch where the ladies all discuss the new waiter’s physique. Back to the books after lunch until my dearly beloved comes home from the mine. I then wash the gold dust from his hair and put it in the small jar next to the bed. We will take it back to South Africa so I can melt it down and get that hole in my molar filled"

(1) Not for myself

(2) From Tarzan and Jane, idiot

Why Obruni, why?

"Obruni", the Twi word for White Person.

Twi is the language most spoken in this Brong Ahafo region, although English is still the official language of the country.

As I come up a hill, huffing and puffing, giving it my all, this woman hangs out of the taxi and yells at me: "Why, Obruni, why? "

Somedays I have to ask that to myself as well, why 'o why you do this? Along with all the funny things us obrunies do, cycling for fun is just one of them.

We have two favourite routes we like to cycle in the mornings. The one we named the '40K loop' and the other the 'Tutuka dam loop'.

The 40 km loop is mostly tarred road through 3 town and the other route is gravel road with loads of hills and is much more exciting to cycle.



The rainy season unfortunately also caused the dam level to raise with more than a meter, causing the dam to overflow and flooded part of the road around the dam. Part of the road on our other route also flooded.

This morning I had to take another route, so I decided to take the road to Sunyani, the nearest big town, from here.
I cycled a good 50 km, which took me 2 hours 35 min.

I must look very funny to the locals with my biking helmet and tight cycling pants, or maybe it is my red face.. Anycase it is enough for a fighting couple to stop, point at me and laugh out load. Happy I made their day.

Then there are the mothers who point me out to their children, the men who want me to stop, the friendly old man who cheers me on, never a dull moment on these roads ;)

~~ 25 weeks left ~~

Week 4 of training

Last week was a great cycling week! Did 200km in 5 days.

This weekend the teachers organised a time trail over a 40 km route. I did it in 1h53min. Our local Iron man did it in only 1h20min.
It served as a bit of a wake up call... I should focus a bit more and stop smelling the flowers along the way.

This morning I went as fast as I could over a very hilly 26km in 1h26min. Tomorrow I will do a longer route again, against a lower heart rate and then alternate the days with shorter harder and longer lower impact days.

I am now drinking a protein shake before and one an hour after cycling. This extra 48 g of protein makes a BIG difference. I not tired all the time anymore and it even lessens the cravings.

Next Monday we leave for our 3 week holiday to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. So I have to put all in this week!

glorious ghana

Michelle conquering the HILL

Our company on the road. They work for the mine and greet us every day when we pass.

The hill was a bit too much for the little boy.

exhaustion, emotions and expectations

Three weeks into training and I am exhausted and hungry, all the time.



Cycling on the roads of Ghana is still so incredible. We are so lucky to train here, expecially this time of year when the rainy season brings some coolness.



With great expectations we set off to watch the Ghana game on Friday night, on our big screen in the club house. (the club house is our local get-together place with free Friday night beers, probably to keep us happy..but that is another story and probably the reason why cycling on Saturday mornings are so difficult)

And then.. well it ended with sad tears of disappointment and disbelief. The mood of the night was spoiled and cycling on Saturday morning was great. Michelle, my new cycling buddy, and I set a new personal record on our favourite route.



Tomorrow we are going to the big city of Accra for some shopping and to watch Eclipse. I am very excited. In the Accra mall - I am usually one of 5, or the only person, watching a movie.. so at least I will not look ridiculous coming out of the cinema with all the teenagers, as happened in Cape Town.

beginnings

It has begun!
My mind is made up and my heart is set. Now my body just have to play along.
I have started with the training for my epic bike ride and have just under 6 months left to get my body fit and strong.

Strange to think that one can actually cycle for more than a hundred km's every day, almost for 4 months.. I can remember when 5 years ago I completed my first 20 km's and felt so proud of myself.

I have decided to raise funds for the JAG foundation on my ride and hope to get at least 120 new JAG Allstars Members - that is one person for every day I am on route.