Happy New Year! I wish everyone much health, happiness, laughter and love in 2012. I hope all your dreams come true.
My dream will be starting in 2 weeks when I’ll be leaving Cairo on 2 wheels. It’s incredible to me, as well as a little surreal that the departure date is so close. From January 14 to May 12, my bike and I will be as one and I’ll be experiencing life in a completely different way than I’m used to. It’s safe to say I’ll be way out of my comfort zone
I arrived in Dubai on Dec. 22, and l’ll be here until January 10, when I’ll depart for Cairo. We’ll have a few days of rider meetings, warm up rides, and hopefully some sightseeing before we cycle from Cairo. The weather in Cairo right now looks perfect for cycling – sunny with highs around 18-19 C and lows of 11-12. A little windy, though, but you can’t have everything!
My packing job for Dubai was rather haphazard (I just stuffed everything into my bags), so in the next few days I’ll be sorting through it and putting it into some sort of order. With the exception of the bike, I have to get everything I’ll want or need for 4 months into 2 duffel bags, not weighing more than 45 kilos. The lockers we are given measure 45 cm x 60 cm x 85 cm. It sounds like a lot of space, but things like the tent, sleeping bag, mattress, bike parts, spare tires, electronics, take up a lot of room.
Here’s my bike when I unpacked it – I still have to re-assemble it and ride it to make sure it’s working smoothly
Here’s my rather large bag of medications. I normally prefer to avoid any meds and prefer to treat things as naturally as possible. But I reckon I’ll have enough to deal with just cycling for hours every day, so I want to deal with anything that might happen as quickly as possible and I don’t want to leave anything to chance. Here’s a partial list of things in the bag:
anti-malarial pills (107)
mosquito repellent
sunscreen
sunburn treatment cream
chamois butter (to prevent saddle sores)
zinc ointment (to treat the above)
small mirror to check the status of the above – there are some things you can’t ask even your closest friend to do…….)
Immodium (you know what it’s for)
Cyproflaxin (in case the above isn’t effective enough)
topical pain relief cream
Alleve & Robax Platinum (in case the above isn’t effective enough)
rehydration tablets
Well, you get the picture. And here it is:
Here’s my new home for the next 4 months. I’ll be living the high life…….
NolaOn2Wheels 
