Spring Blooms in Maadi

Spring has arrived in Egypt and our suburb, Maadi, is in full bloom. Seth and I have commented more than once on how surprised we are to see so much color around. We had not imagined our time in Egypt would include such rich spring time beauty but the gardeners are out early in the mornings and every hose seems to be gushing before the midday sun reaches its peak. I took these photos during a 45 minute walk around our neighborhood. Feast your eyes on what spring brings to Egypt.















This last photo is not as "spring-like" but I came across this tree in the middle of a road that was being dug up and under construction and it caught my eye.

Dropped in Cairo

This morning, I got up at 6am to go riding with the Cairo Cyclists. This was the second time I had decided to go out for a ride with them. Last week it was just me and one other guy. Apparently there was a large group doing a 2 day ride from Taba to Sharm el Sheik, so most people didn't show up. Last weekend it was about 35 miles over 2 hours on a reasonably paced ride -- I was able to hold a conversation the entire time and despite a mild head wind the entire ride, it was nice and pleasant. (Yes, a head wind in BOTH directions.) The roads we took are some of the more major roads in the area -- 4 lanes in each direction -- but riding at 7am on a Friday means no one is on them and there is plenty of room. It was a nice way to get back into the saddle after a long hiatus.

Today was different.

Very different.

When I showed up today, there were a dozen guys at the meetup point a couple were in full kits. I normally ride in my GW kits because they're some of the best riding gear I have, but the impression I give off is that I must be serious about my riding. So I was fairly impressed to see there were a couple guys who at least used to be serious about their riding.

That's because they still are serious about their riding.

Today we took the same route out of town and the pace was initially fairly chatty as we warmed up and kind of got acquainted with each other. At the first turn off we stopped and regrouped and maybe half the group had been gapped by some distance despite the chatty nature of the ride so far. So we continued on but the chattiness started to dissipate and a pace line started forming up. I really enjoyed this a lot. It's been at least 3 years since I've ridden in a pace line with people that knew what they were doing, and while there were a few surges in the pace line as some stronger riders hit the front, it was fairly smooth and was nice to be able to sit in, ride at a tempo, take a 60 second pull on the front then peel off and return to the wind break. As we were about 1-2km away from the police check point, the pace suddenly surged hard right after my pull and I was spat out the back, but I figured there was some sort of charge for a line up front before the regroup.

Nope.

As we waited for the rest to catch up, there was a discussion about whether or not they would go farther. Some guys decided to turn around, but a large group decided that they would ride out to "the Heineken sign" and turn around there. It would make for a 45km ride out -- 20km farther than where we were already. Getting dropped already had me a little concerned but more worrisome was whether or not my butt would be able to survive that long. Other than a 1/2 IM I did this summer as a total goof, I haven't ridden that far in at least 2 years, maybe 3. I haven't been in the saddle at all since August other than last Friday and I was a little tender. But I decided to go anyway. Gotta get that butt harder somehow, right?

I should not have been worried about my butt.

As we pulled out of the check point, it was quite clear this was not amateur hour anymore. We dropped right into a paceline and it was fun. I put in some solid efforts and for the most part was able to hang just fine. But I started to get concerned by some surges that I was going to have an issue on the way home, so I decided I was going to turn around at the next option. Turns out that was 5 km away, and it was the turn around point we were headed for.

I was right to be concerned.

After regrouping at the turnaround, the slight uphill turns into a slight downhill. We started flying down the hill. And it wasn't just because we were going downhill. Even with the hill, it felt like we were charging pretty hard. I saw my computer hit 37 mph despite a mild headwind.

Hrm.. that's a little alarming. We still have 40 km to go.

Then I heard someone say something about the sprint line is the top of the next hill. I looked up and saw the top of a slight grade about 2km off in the distance. "Ok," I thought, "I'll just sit in and when they sprint for the top I'll just let them go. It's still a ways off though, so no worries."

Then I saw 2 guys starting to charge past me on the left. Seriously? A 2 km long sprint?

Yes, a 2km long sprint. Most of the field chased on. I tried but couldn't close the gap. Dropped. Seriously dropped.

I watched them pull away from me and before I knew it, they were an impossible distance ahead of me. If they didn't stop long enough at the check point, I was going to call Meg there and tell her I was a long ways out on my own. Either be patient or come out and pick me up. But they waited, for everyone and I wasn't the last guy. So maybe they had had their fun and I'd be able to hang out for the last 10 miles.

Nope. The fun wasn't over yet. Within 5 km it was just me and one other guy chasing back on again.

After a total of 94 km (56 miles), 3.5 hours, and a little kiss of sun on my arms and face the hammerfest was over. It was a very fun first half, and once I get myself into some better form, it'll be a great group to ride with. But damn. It's going to be a rough ride to get there. Of all the things I knew I could do in Cairo, I had no idea hammerfest cycling would be an option. Whodathunkit?

Global Weirding Hits Egypt

In Digital Journal, Andrew Moran writes:

In Egypt, a strong hail storm has killed at least four people and injured approximately 50. The storm has caused extreme chaos on the streets of Egypt's capital. Friday, a hail storm in Cairo, Egypt has killed at least four people and more than 50 others. Severe weather conditions have caused chaos in the capital’s streets, while traffic accidents have increased and panic among citizens. Cairo’s storms saw slippery roads and lightning consistently striking the streets. In the northern Mediterranean city of Alexandria, there have been reports of waves as high as two-story buildings. The General Authority for Red Sea Ports announced that a European luxury cruise ship smashed into a pier in the small town of Sharm el-Sheikh in the morning, which killed three sailors and injuring four tourists. Meteorologists are expecting the weather to continue into the weekend.

Our Personal Experience:

Thursday morning we were walking to the gym when I felt a drop on my head. "It's raining! Either that, or a bird just shat on my head," I said. "I'm sure it's a bird," Seth offered helpfully. Then he felt a drop. Nope, it was rain. This was only the beginning. Later that day the wind kicked up and the dark clouds rolled in. Marble-sized hail began to batter the windows and trees. I wouldn't say it was "raining" so much as "mudding." All the accumulated dust and grit on every leaf was washed down onto the roads and cars, covering them in sticky mud. From the apartment window the lightning lit up the wild scene outside, accented by occasional cracks of thunder. I was oblivious to the havoc the storm was wreaking with the city.

By 7:00 pm I hadn't heard from Seth yet to say he was on his way home, which is unusual. I picked up the phone to call him but there was no dial tone. Cell phones weren't working either. Clue #1. Thirty minutes later Seth got a text message through saying that he was on the subway platform waiting for a train. A half an hour after that he called to say he was stuck on a train that had lost power with some passengers choosing to abandon the train and walk. He stayed on and the train began to move again, slowly. Then it stopped again and this time he joined the crowd leaving for the streets. Once off the tracks and on the road he realized it was going to be one long 7 mile walk home on flooded roads as traffic was at a stand still and all cabs were full. Ugh.

The poor guy schlept himself along in soggy dress shoes for the next 2 hours. When he finally got close enough that the cars could get through I drove to meet him and bring him home.

*sigh* Rough night, but it was much worse form some others. Happily home safely.

Olympics Overseas

We're out here watching the olympics on AFN because normally we don't watch enough TV to justify the costs of satellite TV. Normally AFN does a reasonably decent job, we can see quite a few sports events that would be shown in the US, but sometimes you have to get up at odd hours because they're shown live.

The Olympic coverage however has been, well, frustrating. We get home, have some dinner, then turn on the TV to see if we can find some olympics. Every day... that's right, EVERY DAY for the last week or more has been curling. Not skeleton, not ski jumping, not even something as exciting as cross country skiing. It's CURLING.

The photo would have you think curling is a high paced sport that is amazing to watch. There are certainly a lot of tactics involved which makes it a little interesting to watch, but as one commentator called it, "a high speed sport that fans will flock to", it is not.

It has been on EVERY NIGHT at 8pm for 3 hours, LIVE. I watched the women's curling team lose against China, and I actually cheered because I assumed it meant the end of curling on TV. So the next day I sat down to see what we could get today. You know what I got. NOTHING.     NOTHING! No Olympics at all! I could have watched 24 or maybe watched some CNN. SERIOUSLY AFN?!??

So, it's 8am on Friday morning (my weekend) and I'm finally able to see some highlights.  Maybe I'll skip the rest of the work week and just watch Olympics on TV.

It's hot and it's only February...

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Originally uploaded by MTB Egypt

Today I went for a run in the Wadi. It's a nice enough place to run with lots of options for me to explore. This morning I hit the road a little after 9am and was running by 9:30am. During my hour run, I bumped into a cross country track race that was about to start. I guess the American School, CAC, was hosting an invitational and schools from Abu Dhabi, Dubai and Doha were all present. The course was going to be 5k over 2 loops and seemed to be reasonably hilly but a fun course. Races were starting at 10 and would continue until almost noon.

I was done running by 10:30am at which point temps had already hit about 80F. My core temp was already getting quite warm, almost uncomfortably so, and I had drained my water bottle during the run. (Last time I ran this, the water bottle was only half way gone when I completed.)

It's 80F degrees out and it's mid-February. What the heck am I going to do when temps start pushing 100F? Guess I'm going to become more and more of a morning person whether I like it or not.

Diving the Red Sea in Dahab, Egypt

Over Valentine's Day weekend we successfully completed our Open Water Diver certification after a whirlwind week of class work, pool work and open water diving. For a variety of reasons this class was compressed into 5 days of class and pool time and culminated in a trip to Dahab, Egypt on the Red Sea for the 4 open water dives required to achieve certification. It was a difficult week for classmates with full-time jobs or school commitments but we made it.

We caravaned to Dahab with 3 other cars across long stretches of open desert. We drove under the Suez Canal and saw wild camels and oil drilling platforms along the way. After 6 dusty hours in the car we arrived at the Hotel Daniela.





The rooms were comfortable and the food delicious. We were greeted with small glasses of mango juice as we checked in and ducked in to our room for a short rest before our first open water dive. Seth and I both had headaches (likely from a combination of dehydration and de-stressing from the busy week) and laid down for a short nap. Upon waking Seth felt even worse but managed to rally with the help of a few Tylenol and sips of Coke.



We drove to the Canyon dive site and began the process of suiting up and assembling our gear. Then came the moment of truth, going underwater in the open ocean for the first time. If you have not experienced this it is difficult to describe. The gorgeous, vibrant colors we have all seen in underwater photographs were all there...but they were moving and alive. During each dive we did we had a set of skills we needed to complete as an assessment after which we would take a short tour of the reef and surrounding area. I often found myself wanting to linger over a small patch of plants or coral and watch the fish swim in and around them. I saw two fish chasing one an others' tales in a circle and clown fish darting into the protection of their anemone. There were many lion fish as well as blue spotted rays, gray Morey eel, Napoleon fish and cornet fish.



Our instructor was excellent, thorough and clear, breaking each dive down for us before entering the water. He made diving seem easy and we had a wonderful time for it. Our final dive was at a site called the Islands, referring to 2 islands of coral reef that you descend to and swim around. This was a spectacular ending to an incredible trip. The variety and complexity of life that we explored on this dive was thrilling.



On Valentine's Day we awoke to a quiet sunrise before piling into the car for our return trip to Cairo.



The weather in Dahab had been warm as it is significantly further south on the Sinai Peninsula and we were expecting to return to Cairo as we had left it, in the cool 60s. It looks like Mother Nature got one over on us as the evening temp upon our return was in the mid-80s. Could the warm weather be returning already?

Egypt Tromps Algeria in African Cup Football, and the Party Comes to Us

In the wake of violent riots following their previous meeting, Egypt's football team headed to Angola yesterday for a rematch against bitter rival Algeria in the African Cup of Nations semi-finals. Security messages were issued by the embassy warning all to stay away from downtown areas where spectators had gathered to watch the match in an effort to avoid potential violence following the expected 12:00 midnight finish.

As it turns out a trip downtown would have been a waste of cab fare, the Egyptian football fans brought the celebration to us, literally. At 12:50 am we awoke to the sounds of a raging party outside our bedroom window. Horns blared, drums were beating and voices sang. As I drew back the curtain and blinked away the haze of sleep I expected to see a house party at our neighbor's home. Instead I saw the Egyptian version of the Rose Bowl Parade making it's way down our little street. People were piled on top of trucks waving the Egyptian flag and singing at the top of their lungs. Traffic was crawling as processions merged from all directions.

I crawled back in bed and muttered, "Egypt won."

A few moments later police sirens could be heard in the distance. "I wonder if they are breaking up the celebration or participating in it?"

On to the finals!