Continental Championships Yaoundé Cameroon: Team Rwanda delivers its best performance ever in an International competition. The organizers, UCI and other countries witness a country come from a non existant cycling entity to a serious contender in a mere 9 months. Rwanda has become an example to all developing nations of Africa.

Guess which cyclist is thinking about kicking butt?

We had one important race left in the year and we were pretty much out of budget so I scheduled a meeting with Joseph Habineza the Minister of Youth, Culture and Sports. Team Rwanda had already made its mark up as high as President Kagami so Minister Joseph was well aware of the growing importance of cycling and of Team Rwanda on his country. I explained to him the event and the costs involved in attending the race. I would be the only support to save on expenses and we as Team Rwanda had only enough budget to cover the expenses at the race itself. We did not have enough money to cover the $1100 each airfare. If we needed to cut the amount of riders attending the event I had three that would represent the country well - Abraham, Nathan and Adrien. He agreed and informed his secretary Alice to insure that the Sports Ministry would cover our airfares. The race would be in two months and my contact was Alice his assistant.

Relieved and happy that the government was keeping with what the President had insured would happen - more government support for cycling, their fastest growing national sport! I left Minister Joseph's office with the good news that we were going to Cameroon in November, only two months away. In two days I was headed to the States to regroup and get ready for the missions to come. The riders had to be assembled, informed of the decision and instructed on what to do in my absence.

Three were to go. I had already made the selection in my mind so we all met at the Bourbon Café where I made the announcement. Though not visibly disappointed in the decision, I am sure they all wanted to be part of this event, especially since it would be the last important event of the year. I knew that they completely understood the decision and were already very appreciative of what they had done and where they had been this racing year, there was not a peep from any of them. They were very excited for their "brothers" to be going to Cameroon.

I left Rwanda knowing that they would be diligent in their training and be serious in their lifestyle. They had just come from winning two big events, the two most important in Rwanda. They were in their best shape of their lifetime. They had dined with their President. Their lives had been changed forever. This was not a dream, this was Team Rwanda and they were proud, appreciative ambassadors.

In the States my follow-up with Alice was not much different than my typical African experience. I don't think that even one of my e-mails was responded to but somehow I thought that mine were being received and something was happening. Finally a call to Alice revealed that indeed tickets were signed for and that "somebody" would be sending me the details. Weeks later I finally did get a confirmation, though the tickets had us returning on Dec 4th instead of November 12 the day after the event.

When I returned to Rwanda I was not sure if the change had been made, but a quick call and I found Aloys to be my contact person from the Ministry, a very capable person I had met at the Wooden Bike Classic. Aloys assured me that all was ready and that "all" we needed to do was get a signature for the tickets and pick them up at the travel agency the day before our departure; never a good idea in my book, but hey this was way out of my hands so I resolved to be ok with whatever way it went.

I had all the riders come for the Sunday/Monday before our departure on Tuesday. They all rode in together from Kigali, stayed at the St. Jean Batiste Center. We spent the afternoon getting all the mechanical issues resolved - new bar tape and cables where needed. Monday we all rode back to Kigali, our few packs we traded off between us making it a bit over 4 hour hard ride. I could tell the riders were fit and as ready as they could be for the Championships.

I was not surprised that I was not able to get the tickets the day before our departure but the morning of the departure! They were all there. Wow, even a ticket for Tom Ritchey. Somehow they ticketed him for the trip thinking he was coming but it was Maggie Ritchie, not related to Tom, who is the daughter of one of our biggest supporters and sponsors. Maggie lives and works in Rwanda and was coming back from the States and asked to be part of the Team in Cameroon. I was very happy to have added help who knew the riders and Rwanda. She was a welcome addition to Team Rwanda.

I had been assured from the organizers of the race (GSO) that our visas were to be at the airport in Yaoundé; hah I would believe that when I experienced it!

Our flight took us to Nairobi first where we met up with the South African, Kenyan, and Eritrean contingencies. They were in the same situation as us, "visas at the airport" so I figured that it was probably a go.

Indeed they were at the airport, BUT, only one detail that they did not mention prior to getting there, they were going to cost us $120 EACH paid in cash, whoa that was $480. before we even got out of the airport! Ouch"there was an export tax in addition that was payable on leaving of $22 each = $88. Wow I was hoping that the hotel took credit cards otherwise I was going to be a bit "short"

It was close to midnight when we got out of the airport, all of our bags made it, a miracle in-and-of itself. Aside from the cash expenditure this trip had gone smoothly, no delays, all our bags, vehicles and people waiting at the airport and plenty of time to get acclimated to the surroundings and atmosphere. Cameroon was completely Francophone; I was at home here with the language. It was distinctly Africa though; the underlying chaotic disorganization was there despite the structured appearance of our French (GSO) group putting on the event. Our now small field of nations headed off to Yaoundé, 35kms away with its line of beat up vehicles piled 10 feet high with bike boxes and bags strapped down with cut up tires and tired rope on the roofs. The Meumi hotel was our destination.

Yes, the Meumi Hotel, our home for the next 8 days, single rooms with full pension was about $50/day. It seemed reasonable at first but as the days wore on and as each meal went by with its poor quality and no variety it became less and less reasonable. By the time we left it would not be on the list of places to stay if we ever had to come back to Yaoundé for some reason. But we were not there for sampling the food, or critiquing the accommodations. Maggie's trips to the market and store supplemented what was lacking with the necessary calories and variety. Daily rides along the course with the other nations were effortless, no hassle and we were getting the right amount of pre-race riding, calories and sleep. There were some that were starting to get plagued with intestinal "issues." Two of the women riders were down and out, I felt badly for Linda all the way from Zimbabwe with her own money and a very good chance for a spot on the Olympics. She never even was able to go on a training ride, sick in her bed, she eventually was able to leave early, she was not getting better. Aurelie from the Mauritius Islands was at least able to get a third in the TT before she got sick and our Maggie spent the last two days barely able to get out of her bed. One walk around the neighborhood revealed evidence that this place was not a clean place. Matter of fact it was really filthy, it wouldn't take much to get something really nasty so extra vigilance was importance. Team Rwanda was intact, careful choice of foods and resilient systems were paying off. They were healthy boys. I was relieved.

Fourteen Nations, 56 riders were at the start, 18laps of a difficult 7.5km course, 135km total. This was going to be a selective circuit; South Africa, Eritrea and Cameroon the organizing country were the only countries that entered the maximum 8 riders. The South African and Eritrean riders were the same top riders we had already competed against at the World Championships in Cape Town and at the African Games in Algeria. Cameroon had their best riders present and were on home turf. They wanted to have a good showing. There was Morocco too that had won several Africa Tour events including the Tour of Morocco. Our riders, confident? Perhaps not quite, they had the experience of the other international events they had competed in and grimaced as they were reminded of the pain they suffered hanging on for dear life in the pack before eventually being spit off the back. Their previous results were respectable for their experience and exceptional for their first real races of their lives. Now with more experience and training they started this race not unawares of what awaited them.

The organization needed a race experienced driver for the third "neutral" vehicle so asked if I would be willing to volunteer. This was my chance to see the race up close so my "yes" was immediate. Maggie was to hold the feed station down. I gave her a short demonstration of how to feed. It was to be on the hill so the riders were not going to be going fast and she would be next to the South Africans so she was in good hands. I left confident that she could and would take care of her important task. With her beaming personality and warm character she had already made friends everywhere. She had quickly amassed a full team of friends that would go out of their way go give here a hand if needed in the short time she was here. She also volunteered to feed Dave the lone Zimbabwean who Team Rwanda had adopted and who was very grateful.

From the get go the race started fast. Between the South African and the Eritrean riders it was attack after attack. They wanted to get away and were going to attack until they got away. From lap one riders were being ejected off the back. The pack was getting smaller and smaller. There were a few accidents at the roundabouts, Abraham, Nathan, and Adrien down. They were back up pretty quickly and were the only ones that actually caught the pack again. By the halfway point the pack was already decimated. I think only 22 were left in the front group, 8 nations represented. The pace was still being pushed by the Eritrean and South African riders, the two Moroccan riders hammered away; Adrien, Nathan and Abraham were even closing gaps. Adrien started having some mechanical issues probably due to a crash, he kept dropping his chain and having to catch until finally he couldn't, the pace was already hard enough to follow let alone having to catch after stopping to fix something. With about 8 laps to go there were two South Africans in front followed by a Moroccan and South African then two more Eritrean riders. Abraham instigated a break from what was left of the pack of him and two other riders. They were not helping much so it was Abraham pulling who eventually caught the two Eritrean riders; they were now 5 riders with the two groups of two in front. The Eritrean riders were wasted by this time and could not pull through. Abraham spent the good part of the last three laps pulling in front with the South African with them pulling through when he could, and they were to be sprinting for 5th place.

The South Africans swept the race, 1,2,3,5, the Moroccan 4th, Eritrea 6th and Abraham pulled off a stellar 7th place with Nathan close behind in 13th. Adrien was forced to retire. And though there was not a "country" classification, Rwanda was the 4th nation over the line! This was by far the best performance ever for Team Rwanda and Rwanda as a country in an international competition! The organizers, UCI and the other countries had witnessed a country come from a non-existent cycling entity to this in a mere 9 months. Rwanda has become an example to all the developing African nations of what a country with modest goals and budget can do with a vision and will. From this one race the riders were given a new level of confidence that they never new possible. They knew they had trained more than they ever had in their lives, competed more and were as a result stronger than they ever were but this was real tangible proof that they could reach levels that they never before imagined possible. This race was a significant step in their future and the future of Rwandan cycling. The hope of success was something they now could grasp in their realm of possibilities; they all shared in each one's excitement. I watched as the other riders came up to each one and congratulated them on their remarkable performances. No one had expected Rwanda to occupy the places they did, for most it was, "where did these riders and this nation come from?" For others, who had already witnessed their emergence at the World Championships and African Games, they were astounded at their progress, me included as I watched them in the race could only think of how far these young men had come in such a short time. Even off the bike as a team at the table or interacting with others their composure and comportment reflected a humility and kindness that was so evident in the Rwandan's that I have come to meet. Their awe and appreciation of their new lives as Ambassadors for their country is apparent in every step they take. They are young men to be proud of.

I now faced the task, in Africa almost every step is a "task", of extracting ourselves from this country without any additional mishaps. With each day lived here the contrast to Rwanda became more and more stark. Vehicular mayhem was a minute to minute experience as we rode along avoiding the cars pulling in front of us, cutting us off or just plain stopping in front of us. I don't think I have ever been in taxis in more of a state of disrepair, they run on vapors so you are always the verge of running out of fuel. They contest that a full tank of fuel is probably worth more than the vehicle so why risk a full tank with a broken down vehicle? If you do not fill your taxi they will stop and pick up more passengers, you can forget about doors, windows or anything functioning. It was advisable not to travel alone, you could feel that anything could happen; it was definitely not a safe place to be. Even the police could not be trusted, coming home from dinner the last night our taxi got stopped by the police 500m from our hotel and insisted to be paid off because the two South Africans in the car were not carrying their passports. We were detained for about 30 minutes before I reluctantly paid their next round of drinks, ugh. I relented only after they were threatening to pull Marissa the South African out of the car to the police station. If I had been alone or just with guys I think I would have stayed put. It's a crap shoot too, do you bring your passport and risk getting it stolen or leave it at the "safety" of the hotel and risk traveling without papers? Something like this would never happen in Rwanda, the level of security one feels in Rwanda is incomparable to what we experienced in Cameroon. Rwanda gets the bad rap too when in reality I felt so much safer in Rwanda. Even driving to the airport with our bikes and bags tied to the roofs we had to travel in caravan to insure additional safety, we even had a police commissary travel with us who by the way was infuriated by our experience with the police the night before. I wished I had had his number at the time.

We endured our Cameroon airport exit experience which just emphasized our collective decision not to choose Cameroon as a future destination. We went through at least 10 check points which seemed to serve as ways to try to find some additional way of extracting some sort of fee from us which they did, some of which we were able to stay off after much protest.

Leaving Yaoundé at 21:30 got us into Douala which got us out of Douala at 00:30 and into Nairobi at 04:00 (06:00 local). We had a 4 hour layover and happily boarded our Rwandair flight to Kigali.

We all sighed a sigh of relief as we touched down at the Kigali International Airport! It was even more satisfying when we were met by the Minister of Sports Gaspar, the President of the cycling federation, Charles and the media including newspapers, TV, and radio who had found out about Team Rwanda and Rwanda's stellar performances. Minister Gaspar was emphatic to me about getting to him Team Rwanda's 2008 cycling program so that they could already start planning for their support of the team! The overall excitement of those awaiting these weary but worthy warriors made the already successful trip that much more worth while.

Now remained the task of sorting through the 2008 racing calendar and the invitations already coming in for Rwanda's National Cycling team, Team Rwanda, and choosing what is best for the continued success of this remarkable team.