Long Distance Competition/Ultracycling, Randonneuring and Endurance Cycling - You think you ride far

These guys rode 11,900 km in 120 days. Set the Guiness record doing it.

http://tourdafrique.com

I'll post the story I wrote on them for a local community paper after it publishes.

Less than 100km per day?

I find it hard to believe that establishes any kind of record. On the UK Audax list, there was a link to their honor roll for this year. The cyclist with the most distance rode approximately 30,000k. I think I saw a recent posting congratulating Ken Bonner for riding 30,000k+ this year.

The record was set for 'The fastest human-powered transport of Africa.' While others may have travelled further in one day or even travelled greater distances in other countries and continents, no-one had ever done it by bicycle.

And, as was pointed out above, they rode approx 120 km per day, they were rarely on usable roads. The terms issued from Guiness were that the entire trip must be completed by bicycle, so in spite of heat, sand-storms, elephants and other wild animals, the fact that one rider died, two others quit, two others being hit by trucks, two brreaking their collar-bones, another breaking his hip, several infections and even two burns, they traversed 11,900 km mostly over rock, sand, mud and rutty dirt roads. Fortunately, they didn't have to deal with much traffic, just daunting natural conditions.

The record was set for 'The fastest human-powered transport of Africa.' While others may have travelled further in one day or even travelled greater distances in other countries and continents, no-one had ever done it by bicycle.

And, as was pointed out above, they rode approx 120 km per day, they were rarely on usable roads. The terms issued from Guiness were that the entire trip must be completed by bicycle, so in spite of heat, sand-storms, elephants and other wild animals, the fact that one rider died, two others quit, two others being hit by trucks, two brreaking their collar-bones, another breaking his hip, several infections and even two burns, they traversed 11,900 km mostly over rock, sand, mud and rutty dirt roads. Fortunately, they didn't have to deal with much traffic, just daunting natural conditions.
I believe Machka's mentioned the Tour D'Afrique before, and it certainly sounds like it'd be a pretty hefty challenge (along with the proposed Silk Road tour). However, for balls out adventurous effort, my hat's off to Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei (http://www.nationalgeographic.com/adventure/best-of-adventure-2007/achievements/colin-angus-julie-wafaei.html), who recently circumnavigated the world by bicycle and rowboat.

Yeah, I read about them. That must have been an insane trip.

...they rode approx 120 km per day...
Is my math off or is yours?

...maybe this accounts for rest days? I guess you'd be right if they had 20 rest days.

Is my math off or is yours?

Your math is correct. I was going by their quote to me when I interviewed them. Some days they rode only a few kilometers, due to terrain, illness, injury or mechanical malfunction. On other days they said they usually maintained 120km for a daily average. From what I understood, they rode everyday, taking no rest days, as the terms of the crossing and to actually make it fast they needed to ride every day, but some days they likely would only do 10-20km before stopping for the day.

The following is the story I wrote and had published yesterday in a local community paper in Toronto. Please excuse any Toronto-specific references such as Yonge St. (the longest street in the world, incidentally, at approx 1900 km---a distance I managed in 1981, my one and only long-distance ride) or travelling between Steeles Ave. and Front St. (the northernmost and southernmost boundary streets in Toronto).

From Canada to Cairo to Cape Town.

By J. L.

So you think riding a bike on Yonge St. from Steeles Ave. to Front St. on a frigid January day during rush hour is tough. Try riding almost 12,000 km from Cairo to Cape Town.

From their Spadina St. offices, The Tour d’Afrique has been organizing races and tours of monumental scale for four years now and have introduced new courses recently, most notably Paris to Istanbul (The Orient Express) and Istanbul to Beijing (The Silk Road). Riders complete the four month journey, enduring blistering heat and chilling desert cold, sandstorms and elephant crossings. But lucky for them they don’t have to deal with aggressive Toronto cabbies, speeding tow-truck operators or business folk distracted by their Blackerries and cell-phones.

“We did about 120 km a day,” explains David Houghton, when asked about his 2005 expedition chronicled in his book ‘The EFI Club,’ an acronym for Every Fabulous Inch. And each inch was a struggle. . “We didn’t have roads much of the time.” As a result, they used sturdy mountain bikes rather than road bikes. “A mountain bike stands up to the terrain much better. The important thing is to have a lot of tires, because we dealt with great roads, bad roads, volcanic rock, mud, everything you can imagine.”

During the four month adventure, one rider died, three riders quit, two broke their collar bones, one broke a hip, two riders were hit by trucks, a total of 39 stitches were sewn and 9 infections and 2 burns were suffered. In addition, Houghton survived 33 punctures and had to replace 2 chains, 3 seat bolts, 1 set of brake pads, 2 gear cables, 1 derailleur cable and countless other components. Not your average, every day commute, eh.

“I underestimated the difficulty of the trip,” Houghton wrote in his Blog. “But I even more vastly underestimated the exhilaration that comes with an adventure of this magnitude.”

Henry Gold, a Toronto engineer and avid cyclist who sold his car several years ago, started the company in 2002 and has committed his life to the tours and races that attract intrepid cyclists from all over the world, managing the complicated and complex logistics that take riders through several countries and many cultures. 32 riders completed the first crossing of the continent in 2003 and set a Guiness Record for the fastest human-powered crossing of Africa in only 120 days.

“Some riders wanted to ride every single day no matter if they got sick, no matter if they had a mechanical problem, they were going to get on their bike every single day,” Houghton expounded. In fact, Guiness insisted that every inch had to be traveled by bicycle to qualify for the record.

When asked why he would embark on such a daunting journey, Gold admits it was a dare. “The first crossing of Africa by bike was in 1956,” he explains. “But they ended up taking a train for part of the route. We wanted to be the first people to do the whole thing by bike. There’s something in human nature that says when you’re hiking, what’s around the corner?”

But it’s more than just the challenge, he continues. It’s about promoting bicycling. Gold advocates cycling as a sustainable and viable mode of transportation. In fact, upon arriving in Cape Town in 2003, they discovered it was ‘Car Free Day’ the next day and he was asked to address the crowd where he expounded on the virtues of human powered transport. “If we proved anything in riding from Cairo to Cape Town in 120 days, 12,000km, it was that you can take a bike to work in half an hour, save the planet, help yourself, be in better shape, be healthier.”

Gold, as well as a number of other officials from the Tour hosted a reception at The Art Square Gallery (334 Dundas St. W.) on January 31 where they presented stunning photographs from the 2006 expedition in a fund-raising effort to encourage investors for the 2007 series that started a few weeks ago on January 13, and the images were startling and striking. The available prints chronicling the daunting conditions encountered by the brave and determined riders, while artistically compelling, didn’t seem to capture just how grueling the trip must have been, however. Even still, possessing a few of the pictures is the closest most city commuters will ever get to such an arduous journey. Steeles to Front is too long a ride for even the heartiest among us.

For more information, visit http://tourdafrique.com