On May 10th, 2008, at approximately 2:00 pm, we, along with our fellow TDA riders, rode into Cape Town and crossed the finish line. There was music, reporters, photographers, champagne, award ceremonies; a flurry of activity and celebration. After 4 months, 9 countries and thousands of kms, the 2008 Tour D’Afrique is now officially over. Cairo to Cape Town is done. Wow, what a ride it has been!
The end is truly bittersweet. We’re happy to have made it, sad that this incredible experience has come to an end. Mostly, I am overwhelming proud of Spiros. He had a much tougher road then most of us, and yet despite the many setbacks he kept getting back on the bike. He didn’t give up and never lost sight of what was important. I knew he wouldn’t. As Ursula and Rae said, “he did it the hard way”.
Without a doubt, we are incredibly fortunate to have been able to see and experience what we have in the past four months. There are so many images in my head, so many memories and people to draw inspiration from, so much we want to say, but we need time to process it all. To be honest, I’m still half-expecting to wake up tomorrow morning, pack my red box and get on my bike.
We’re taking the next few days to say good-bye to good friends, repack, plan the next few months, and get used to life without our little red box. We’ll update again in a few days with some final thoughts about the TDA and hopefully a review of our equipment (for future TDAers). As we mentioned on the home page, our adventure does not end here. We still have many more places to see, things to experience and kms to cycle before we return home to Vancouver. More details to come on that as well.
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