Some statistics for Big Ride Africa

General distance/time stuff: 

15000km mark near Cederberg, South Africa

Total kilometres cycled:  15 458 km

Total days: 176

Total cycling days: 137

Total rest days (including other travel days): 39

Average kilometres per day: 112 km/day

Countries: 19

Most kilometres in a day: 234.5 km, Egypt (100km of which with police escort)

Least kilometres in a day: 20 km, Aswan to Aswan High Dam and the ferry to Sudan

Col de Galibier

Biggest climb: Shared between Col de Galibier, French Alps (coldest too) and Blue Nile Gorge, Ethiopia (hottest)

Coolest descent:  30km descent to Bujumbura, Burundi.  

Worst road:  Sand road from Ethiopia to Kenya and road south from Lodwar, Northern Kenya.

Most climbing:  Ethiopia and Rwanda

Omo Valley, suited up ready for mozzies

Least climbing: Egypt and Sudan

Accommodation:

Nights camping: Lost count!

Best camp spots: Sudan and Namibia

Worst camp spot: Omo Valley, Ethiopia. If there ever was a good time to get Malaria this was it.

View from campsite, Nambia

Best hotel: Roma Hotel, Aosta, Italy

Worst hotels: Ethiopia 

Worst backpackers: M&J Place Hostel, Rome, Italy. Check out tripadvisor.com

Cheapest hotel: USD3 for the room, Ethiopia. Came with a double bed, a box of condoms and a bucket of water.

Worst toilet: MV Liemba ferry, Lake Tanganyika. 

Visas/passports:

Last stamp

Passports:  Two. RSA and UK

Paid visas required:  Six 

Most expensive visa: Sudan (USD50 – we got a discount down from USD100 - and USD 50 alien registration fee)

Most visits to embassy: Burundian embassy in Kampala. Three times. And we got a... letter.  No visa stickers!

Best passport in Africa: South African green mamba

South African border

Illegal entry: We got into Kenya without having our passports stamped. We managed to get an exit stamp though at the Uganda border.

Bribes/baksheesh paid: None

Most ridiculous bribe asked for: "Where is your bicycle licence? And your bike bell? We have to fine you.", Zimbabwe

Money:

Currencies: 17

Cash carried: Mixture of US dollars (post 2003 notes) and GB pounds

Best money hiding spot:  In handlebar

Cards: Two debit cards each and a credit card

Fraud:  Account debited by ATM six times but "Mark there is no money coming out!!", Gonder, Ethiopia.

Countries without access to international visa ATM network:  Sudan and Burundi

Best place to change money:  Black market money changers at border. 

Cheapest country: Sudan and Ethiopia joint

Most expensive country: Italy. African country, Botswana

Transport other than on a bicycle:

Flights:  One. Rome to Cairo

Ferries: Three. English Channel, Lake Nasser, Lake Tanganyika

Other transport: Truck through bandit country; dugout canoe; pushing our bikes through sand, tuks tuks, motorbikes, busses and minibus taxis on off days in cities.

Food and water:

Maximum water carried: 16 litres each

Most coke consumed in a day: 4 litres each (work out how much sugar that is!)

Most liquid consumed in a day: 8 litres each

Calories burnt per day: +-6000 kcal on average

Biscuits eaten per day:  3 packets each maximum

Christmas dinner:  Pasta and fried onions, Turkana region, Northern Kenya

Sprice Juice

New years dinner:  Braaied/BBQed chunks of beef with Maize bread and tomatoe and onion sauce, Sipi Falls, Uganda.

Different beer brands consumed in Africa: 50

Best beer: Primus (720ml bottle only), Rwanda and Burundi

Worst beer: Castle, Southern Africa and the mini Carlsberg beers (320ml) in Malawi.

Worst food:  Injera & Tibs, Ethiopia / Fuul, Sudan

Fuul, Sudan

Best food: Anything in France... and South Africa.

Best coffee: Machhiato,  Ethiopia

Best drink: Sprice Juice, Ethiopia.

Equipment:

Weight of equipment: 20-30 kg

Broken rim, Switzerland

Wheels used: James, both rims/spokes replaced; Mark, rear rim/spokes replaced.

Hubs serviced:  Once, James rear XT hub.  

Tyres used: One set of Schwalbe Marathon XRs each. Great tyres.

Tubes used: Two each

Punctures: 7 each (Thanks Schwalbe Marathon XRs!)

Bicycle drive chains (chain, cassette, middle chain ring) used: Two each.  James changed his at 10 500km, Mark at 13 000.

Bottom brackets used: James, one (XT); Mark, two (Deore). Shimano XT is far more durable.

Disc brake pads used: Three sets (copies bought off Ebay)

V brake pads used: Two sets

Cycling shorts: Two pairs each but we tended to use one only. They became see through.

Wheel building, Bahir Dar

Cracked rims

Bottles of chain lube: One bottle of Squirt each

Repairs to panniers:  Numerous

Spokes broken: 0

Medical:

Visits to hospital: One. James, Uganda. Bacterial infection in the blood

Antibiotics used:  Five courses total.

Jippy tummy:  At least three times each.

Heat fest, northern Kenya

Malaria: None

Random: 

Highest temperature: low fifties (degree C), Lake Turkana

Lowest temperature: Below freezing, Chamonix, France

Freezing temperatures, Chamonix

Mozzie fest: Omo valley, Ethiopia

Worst drivers: Egypt

Crashes/Collisions: None