“Well done lads, now for the ride home...”

REAL RIDER Nick Bourne, The Tour of Wessex sportive organiser is a world record holder after crossing Africa by bike in just 38 days...

ired? I’m absolutely smashed to pieces. We have ridden 10,600km from Cairo to Cape Town, experienced all manner of trials and tribulations, and it’s a huge relief to make it here with the record in the bag.

‘We’ are the CAROCAP team, six guys who embarked on a team trial from Cairo in Egypt (the CARO of our name) to Cape Town in South Africa (the CAP).

We’re proud of our world record, but it was just the means to the real end of raising funds for the Safari Simbaz Cycling Academy in Kenya and the provision of 1,100 bicycles.

Covering 10,600km in 38 days meant about 10 to 12 hours of riding a day. The rule, basically, was that if it was light, we were in the saddle. It was a pace that saw only three of us make it all the way to Cape Town.

On the best days – the tarmacked days –

The rule, basically, was that if it was light, we were in the

saddle

Twe could ride 350km. On sand, rock and gravel, our progress would be checked. Our worst days, in Egypt, saw us cover just 175km. It didn’t help that our Egyptian rider had to pull out at the border with Sudan, as he’d been called up for national service and couldn’t get dispensation to continue. Riding through the desert (there’s a fair bit of it in Africa) was the toughest part of the ride, and I don’t think any of us could have completed it without the others. We all got sick at some point, but luckily on different days. We’d ride on regardless – the rest of us would work hard while the struggling rider sat at the back recuperating as best they could.

One of our number, David Martin, really was on his last legs in the final few days and I’m still not sure how he made it. We strapped him to his bike and made him follow our wheels. It was evidence of the kind of team spirit that existed the whole way through.