First Pedal Strokes

Just one week of training so far and we are a bit behind schedule — but of course we've only just begun getting into the swing of things....
Anyway, three intrepid riders rode for just over 4 hours and covered 82.3 km.

• Ride 1: Riders: Suzanne, Anna and Nana (on mountain bikes).
• Ride 2: Riders: Suzanne and Nana (on mountain bikes).
• Ride 3: Riders: Nana (solo ride).

It's a start!

Getting With the Programme...

Nana has circulated a training schedule that's cunningly constructed to get us all up to speed (and distance) for the ride, which is just 14 weeks away. He's aiming for an average speed of 25 km/h on the days of the event while we're actually riding, which means two or three hours for stops, given the short African day. We don't want to be riding in the dark. This is what it looks like, with distances in kilometres and times in decimal hours. C/T is cross training and w/o is a general workout. No free weekends for couple of months then!

Week Start	% Effort	Training	Dist/Time	Actual
14 Oct	25	Mon: Rest	100/3.50	TEST
		Tue: C/T
		Wed: 1.0h
		Thu: Rest
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 2.5h ride
		Sun: Light w/o
21 Oct	30	Mon: Rest	105/4.25	85/4.0
		Tue: C/T
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: 0.75h
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 1.5h
		Sun: 2.0h
28 Oct	30	Mon: Rest	105/4.25	100/4.5
		Tue: C/T
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: 0.75h
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 1.5h
		Sun: 2.0h
04 Nov	38	Mon: Rest	145/5.75	134/5.5
		Tue: C/T
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: 0.75h
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 2.5h
		Sun: 2.5h
11 Nov	38	Mon: Rest	145/5.75	121/4.8
		Tue: C/T
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: 0.75h
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 2.5h
		Sun: 2.5h
18 Nov	30	Mon: Rest	105/4.25	155/6.3
		Tue: C/T
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: 0.75h
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 1.50h
		Sun: 2.0h
25 Nov	45	Mon: Rest	150/6.75
		Tue: C/T
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: 0.75h
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 3.0h
		Sun: 3.0h
02 Dec	50	Mon: Rest	175/7.50
		Tue: 0.75 h
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: 0.75h
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 3.0h
		Sun: 3.0h
09 Dec	50	Mon: Rest	175/7.50
		Tue: 0.75 h
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: 0.75h
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 3.0h
		Sun: 3.0h
16 Dec	55	Mon: Rest	200/8.00
		Tue: 1.0h
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: 1.0h
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 2.0h
		Sun: 4.0h
23 Dec	65	Mon: Rest	250/10.0
		Tue: 1.0h
		Wed: Rest
		Thu
		Fri: C/T
		Sat: 4.0h
		Sun: 4.0h
30 Dec	75	Mon: Rest	275/11.0
		Tue: 1.0h
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: C/T
		Fri: 2.0h
		Sat: 3.0h
		Sun: 5.0h
06 Jan	85	Mon: Rest	325/13.0
		Tue: 1.0h
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: 1.0h
		Fri: 1.0h
		Sat: 5.0h
		Sun: 5.0h
13 Jan	65	Mon: Rest	250/10.0
		Tue: 1.0h
		Wed: Rest
		Thu: Rest
		Fri: 1.0h
		Sat: 3.0h
		Sun: 5.0h
Event	100	Mon: Rest	370/17.0
		Tue: 1 h
		Wed: 1 h
		Thu: Rest
		Fri: Travel to Basse
		Sat: 8 hours
		Sun: 7 hours

Origins...

This all really started with a nucleus of a few brave (or foolhardy) cyclists based at the Medical Research Council's unit at Fajara in The Gambia — Nana Tawiah, Peter Noble and Terry Bishop — who were accustomed to risk the wayward traffic and occasionally sandy and potholed roads for weekend rides.
Actually (traffic aside) The Gambia has quite reasonable roads for cycling, and if they don't suit you, there's plenty of opportunity for mountain biking (but no mountains), especially on off-road tracks through the bush. Or you can start out at Cape Point, on the south bank of the river mouth, and ride 60 km on the splendid sandy beaches at low tide all the way to the southern border with Senegal.
But the MRC has an 'up country' site at Basse Santa Su, a tantalising 370 km from its unit at Fajara – too long for a Saturday spin, but maybe OK for a two-day trip, especially as the South Bank road was constantly being improved.
So that became the target — not just for the (relatively) hard core but for a larger group. And of course in the hope that it would provide a focus for some much-needed charitable fundraising.

From Sand to Sea

It was the beginning of October. Hot, wet and sticky on the coast of The Gambia — the smallest country in mainland Africa, dominated by the great, brown river that accounts for more than a tenth of its area and runs for over 1,100 km from Guinea, through Senegal and The Gambia to the Atlantic Ocean.
The Gambia itself is only about 330 km long from East to West, and just over 48 km wide at its widest point. So when Nana Tawiah suggested that it would be fun to cycle from Basse to Fajara (a trifling 370 km, but rather longer than the length of the country) several of his friends and colleagues thought that it sounded like a reasonable idea.
Now read on...,