Introductions - Introduction - tdafrique-bdh

Hey y'all. Just introducing myself. Brian Hoeniger from Toronto Canada. Age 52. At present I have 2 consulting jobs, 1 for Tour d'Afrique Ltd as accountant and tour systems support, the other as International Program Director for the Professional Disc Golf Association (PDGA) where I used to be Executive Director. I also worked for many years for CPAR, a Canadian humanitarian NGO, on projects in Ethiopia and Lesotho and then as a Program Officer supporting the projects in Africa from CPAR's home office in Toronto.

My bike is a Kona Jake refitted with flat handlebars, aero bars, carbon fork, and a Cane Creek seat post. Tyres are Schwalbe Marathons for rough roads, and Armadillos for faster roads.

With relatively little cycling experience, from March-May 2008 I cycled the Tour d'Afrique from Arusha Tanzania to Cape Town. I signed up as a racer and while I was never going to win a stage I did manage to average close to 30 km/hour for the last few thousand km. I also managed to ride "EFI" (every freaking inch) except for 3 days in Eastern Zambia when I was sick. All I'm saying here is that if this character can do it so can you!

In 3 weeks I will be flying to Cairo to join the 2009 Tour d'Afrique and complete my trans-Africa ride, arriving in Arusha in early March. This I expect will be the harder of the two halves including the climb from Sudan into the Ethiopian highlands and the brutal lava road across northern Kenya.

The Tour d'Afrique and Tour d'Afrique Ltd - which offers a number of trans-continental supported expeditions and races - combine my loves of travel, Africa, and sports. With luck I will be able to see more of the world on their tours from the best seat in the house - my bike - in the years to come.

Cheers

BDH

Welcome.
How do you find good food on your world rides?

Welcome.
How do you find good food on your world rides?

Answer - that's one of the beauties of an organized tour. 1 of TdAs tour leaders doubles as the cook/chef. He's done Africa several times and by now knows where many of the best places to buy food are. For example about 1/2 day riding south of Iringa Tanzania there's a farm run by a couple of expats where the tour bought about 100 kg of top quality meat .... I had no idea such a place existed in that part of the continent. But usually it means knowing a good grocery store or 2 in the towns and cities and buying most of the fruit and veg in markets. All the way from Kenya to South Africa the predominant European language is English which doesnt hurt and by the time you reach Lusaka Zambia there are supermarkets offering what for Africa is a dazzling variety. Personally I prefer the local foods - like spicy chicken stew or grilled fish and nsima (corn meal) in Malawi, as long as it's well cooked and served in a reasonably clean little restaurant it's bound to be AOK ...

That is neat. Thanks