Tour d'Afrique

Well, the votes are in.

The bad news: I didn't garner as many votes as my nearest competitor. The good news: My competitor was way over the word limit. The best news: we are co-winners! Thanks, Tour d'Afrique. That's an awesome gesture on your part. "Cycling Mom" comes out of years of riding with my son. Here's a sample of some first grade art work inspired by our commuting endeavors. The project was a calendar highlighting things that made you happy:


Now I just have to keep my fingers crossed that the CHA faculty study money comes in so that I can afford air fare and incidental expenditures. No pressure, CHA. My 4 blog readers won't come down too heavily on you. Thy're a tough bunch, but not that tough.

So here are the two choices given my schedule. Please help me out here because as Dirty Harry wisely remarked, "A man's gotta know his limitations," and I sometimes overlook mine.

Option A:
Budapest to Bucharest

Start: Budapest, Hungary - June 28
Finish: Bucharest, Romania - July 07
Distance: 950km - 9 riding days - 4 resting days
Average 95km per day

Option A is a little plusher than option B. It's half as far, over 10 days. Option B is 17 days. If I'm going to make the trip, it might as well be the longer one, right?

Option B:
Rio de Janeiro to Asuncion

Start: Rio de Janeiro, Brazil July 26
End: Asuncion, Paraguay August 11
Distance: 1,800km
Average:110km per day

Option A would involve the old Allez Pro frame. Steel is real, and if the worse case scenario occurred, I still have the Tarmac so I wouldn't be without a bike, Option B would ideally involve the Fisher 29er but it's my good bike and I don't want to jeapordize in on air travel. My second choice would be turning the old steel SS Salsa back into a geared bike, but that seems like a pain. So, I'm leaning toward the felt. It has a replaceable derailleaur hanger, lightweight, and I can ride it on mountain bike terrain. The bummer is 110km on alluminum. Oh well. These are not really problems.

I am so excited I could spit.

I just did.