Hi to you other insane TDA prospective riders. I`m a retired Florida state employee looking to complete a `bucket list`which includes bicycle tourism throughout the world. It is the only form of travel as far as I am concerned. I learned about TDA on a recent bike trip in India and immediately became mesmerized by the idea to the extent that I actually was forced to purchase my first computer. I think I was the planet`s last holdout.

I`ve done many other bike tours and traveled extensively but have never been to Africa. I`m giddy with excitment. I`ve only ridden a road racing bike in the past but I`m really getting into the off road bike in preparation for this trip. Hope to see you guys in a few short months.

Hi,

Cycling in four months from Cairo to Cape Town. Is that actually possible? I’m curious to find out! Exploring Africa by bike is just an awesome dream, adventure and privilege to participate in. I’m looking forward to it and hope to see you soon.

I did some previous trips by bike, mostly in Europe. I enjoy the pace, feeling of ‘freedom’, contact with the locals/ country and of course the fun and unexpected along the way! An article in a local newspaper of one of the previous participants triggered my interest. And here I am; getting ‘ready’ for the 2012 trip.

Greetings,

Herman

I am a recent business graduate from McGill University who has spent the last three years travelling around the world and working for non-profits in my hometown (Winnipeg, Canada).

In addition to cycling, I enjoy eating, scuba diving, politics, photography, discovering new music, watching movies, meeting new people, trying new things, reading, and spending time with friends, family and my boyfriend.

This will be my first bike tour and my first time in Africa but I’m looking forward to all the challenges it will bring. Coming from the prairies, I think I will be prepared for long boring rides, but my experience with hills is limited to city under and overpasses, so the hills and mountains will certainly be a challenge. Still, I am only dreading the cold nights (yes, Winnipeg is one of the coldest cities in the world but somehow I have yet to adapt).

I’m looking forward to staring this adventure and seeing how far I can go before losing EFI status!

Hi! I am Ming-Jiing come from Taiwan (Formosa) and I may be the first Asian cyclist to participate in TDA for past years and forthcoming 2012.

Brushing up the 22 years of my cycling career, I have recalled cycling across Britain and Ireland in Europe, around Hokkaido(Japan) in Asia, and trans-America, Arctic Ocean and latest 2008-2009 Biking across Canada through the Tour de Funds-Raising for Charity but has omitted the African Continent.

I will be excited to do this trip together with many other people from all over the world. It enables me to make new friends and have a lot of fun through these countries and experience different cultures, people and natures and eventually make a great discovery this mysterious continent. I look forward to fulfilling my dream this time after my retirement. Should I succeed in accomplishing this north-south African journey with my bike all the way, it would make my dream come true after all these years and generate it into a lifelong unforgettable memory. Amid this conjuncture, I choose to face with this enormous challenge in the peak of my life.

This biking trip is the most unique and most intimate way in which to explore these great countries. Really I am so grateful to TDA for making it possible.

See everyone in Cairo!

I was contemplating a Cairo to Cape Town drive to break my routine of long working days filled with deadlines and specifically a recent project that immersed everything of me for more than three years. One day back in February, just after lunch time, I saw lots of riders passing in Addis Ababa. It was the list of my imagination that they could be pedaling all the way from Cairo. The following day during lunch, as a coincidence, my friend introduced me to Aman and Ribka, TdA2011 riders, who shared all the stories about TdA.  That was the moment I knew I am in. The pace and intimate way of bike expedition won me.

I don’t have long distance cycling experience but I am hoping to find my legs before Cairo. I am into taking life easy with the uneasy venture of crossing the African Continent from North to South.  I can’t wait for the long days of doing nothing but cycling in the beauties of the African landscape and people with adventurous new friends.

See you all in Cairo!

As a policeman I was sent to Africa in 1997 to investigate the Rwandan genocide for the UN tribunal. After one year I returned to the Netherlands and by then I felt Africa running through my veins. I deeply respect the resilience and flexibility of African people. The continent didn’t leave my mind and heart and around 2000 I decided to make it my personal mission to contribute to the development of the people and specifically children in Africa.

Looking for possibilities to do so, I got in touch with a couple from Uden (the village I live in, in the south of the Netherlands). This couple founded and now run an educational village for children called Watoto (www.watotofoundation.nl) in Arusha/Tanzania. They teach former street children skills and crafts and make sure they get employed afterwards. 

About 5 years ago I heard about the TDA. Since then I have not stopped thinking about taking part in such a gigantic adventure.

I ’m 59 years old and will retire December 1^st 2011. I thought of this as an excellent opportunity to make my TDA-dream come true, reset my brains, cycle into this new phase of my life and collect money for the Watoto Foundation.

Together with my 4 children but especially with my wife I have done a lot of cycling in the Netherlands during our holidays. In the last 10 years we made trips from where we live to France, Spain and Italy, crossed mountains as Alps and stayed the nights during the trips of 4 weeks in a little tent.