My Ritchey breakaway is still assembled so I climb in back of the Toyota, stuff as much as I can in front and proceed to disassemble my breakaway amidst the hills, turns, breaking for people and goats and to pack it in to its bag. Foreseeing a mess looming ahead as we hit the airport and not wanting just another bike to assemble when we got to the airport. I holler to Saidi above the rumble of the diesel and tyres humming that I would be surprised if I actually get on the plane with the riders.

As we start entering Kigali I call Rafiki and tell him we will met them at the airport, we would be there soon, we had not much time to spare or to waste. He tells me that we must stop by where they are so we could go together. What he did not tell me on the phone was that they had no ride to the airport and no way of getting there. I had told them earlier where the additional bike boxes were for the two bikes that needed them, I did not find out he had no way of getting them until I arrived. Saidi pulls in to the riders compound which was part of the Red Cross compound with 70 minutes to departure, we had just regained 25 minutes, yes! No riders were in sight, I call Kiki and they all were having their leisurely lunch! No bags or bikes in sight to pack, no vehicle and nobody seemed to feel the pressure of a commercial plane leaving now 60 minutes from now and we were not even at the airport! I try to calm myself and try to get through to everybody now present that the plane will not wait for us if we are late and we have to get moving like NOW. A quick survey told me that the bikes and people would not fit all in our vehicle but they had to so I climb on the roof and am able to tie two bikes there, the others piled all they could in to the back of the vehicle, Abraham''s breakaway was already packed, done, Nyandwi's breakaway in pieces so it was quick to pack, done, Adrien's bike already in a bike box, done, Rafiki's bike already in a bike box, done, Obed''s bike, hummm lets see no box wheels off and tied to the bike with a cut up inner tube, interesting, done, Nathan's bike just like Obed's done. Then a discussion started, few had tickets and passports, where were they? They weren't moving just discussing, "hey gentlemen can you at least discus all this on the way to the airport?? It's now 13:15 we have now 45 minutes before the plane LEAVES..."

They pile into the car and we are off, we pull into the airport and its now 30 minutes to departure, they pile all the bags and bikes off the vehicle while I search out the missing tickets and passports, I return to find the riders milling around the pile of bags and bikes. They do not understand the drill yet, everybody must get each their bags and bike, get a cart and start to proceed to the next step. I must sound a bit on the stressed and emphatic side and they all react in unison as soon as they understand what I was saying repeating myself in three languages to insure the translation. Saidi supplying the Kynrwandan portion of translation. I add to Saidi that he cannot leave the airport until he is sure that I get on the plane. No luck with tickets and passports until I see the Rwandan blind athletes being led by someone from the Sports Ministry, he had a pile of passports and tickets in his hand... It was a chore to convince him that our riders were not blind and that did not require assistance checking in and that I needed our tickets and those passports of our riders so we could get checked in like NOW. I rifle through the piles calling out names as I came upon them, the riders with bags, bike, passport and tickets filed directly to check in without further delay, hey it was now 15min before departure. Working in our favor I thought was that since this was the only flight out until this evening there would not be a problem with ATC and getting off ground if the flight was delayed. All were accounted for except Abraham's passport which seemed to have an issue with the Algerian visa, somehow it had a diplomatic visa on it and emigration had confiscated it upstairs, we were in the process of getting it back but it was taking time, and my plane ticket. I had Mparubanyi's ticket who was from the Cycling Federation who was still not there but not mine, it was now 14:00, departure time. My 6 or 7th call to Mparubanyi revealed the same story, he was near the airport but not at the airport.. There was something missing in translation here, didn't he realize that the plane was leaving and why on earth was he not with us??? I find out later that on the way to the airport on a taxi motorcycle he was hit by a car and fell off the motor bike.

For some reason I was not worried about my ticket not being there, I actually would have been surprised if it had been there despite the verbal assurance I got that it was going to be there. As each rider went up to boarding I assured them they could get on the plane and that I would join them in a day or two depending on the flights I could get, they did not want to leave without me which struck a soft tone in me. More importantly was getting them on the plane and off to Algiers. Abraham's passport appears just as Mparubanyi arrives at the airport limping with his leg scraped up, I give him his passport and he goes to check in. At this point I am bouncing between check in and boarding making sure that they don't decide just to leave without one of the riders.

Finally all are checked in and on the plane, its 14:45. As I walk back out through all the security and check points and check ins I salute the men and women who I have now become familiar with all my rushing back and forth. All curious to know why I was not on the plane with the riders I tell them "I'll be back" soon.

With Saidi standing by I load up my bags and we head off to Kigali to my favorite SN Brussels travel agent Francoise at their office in town. My phone rings and its Tom (Ritchey) I briefly tell him the scenario, "whoa I am glad its you there and not me" he promises to call me later for an update. As I settle in front of Fancoise confident of the outcome Saidi heads for lunch knowing its going to be a while before I get done.

Two hours later I have tickets for flights leaving for Algiers departing via Brussels and Madrid that leave in 3 hours! And the bonus is that I get into Algiers 9 hrs before the riders get there! Way to go Francoise! Its even without any last minute penalties, I am reminded that there is a good Lord above that cares for me. Now I can have some relaxing lunch and head to the airport with ease, no stress (read less stress) and an additional bonus was that I would be on the same flight that the "Jacob" group that was here to help the coffee growers with bike mechanical issues by giving seminars and our Hood River house host Leslie Cogswell was on, wow what a treat.

At the familiar check ins and check points I was greeted with surprise, all amazed that I was back so soon. The "Jacob" group equally surprised that I was accompanying them on their flight. Being a bit early I finalized the Rwanda Air portion of our Namibian African MTB Championship's flights in a week there at the office and was soon off to Brussels.

Tom did call back and the office of the Ministry of Sports called apologizing for my ticked not being at the airport and that I was now booked on tomorrows flight. When I told him that I was already at the airport and headed for Algers with my bags on the plane there was a silence, I repeated it again and he asked how I did that so quickly and how are you able to get there before the riders? After my response he kindly asked me to save my receipts so that they could reimburse me on my return.

The Kigali-Brussels-Madrid sections went without any event or hiccup, my bags made it on the plane to Madrid I was told. Arriving in Madrid was a terminal change and with two hours before my departure I thought it was a piece of cake. But as I started my journey to T2 from T4 through the maze of construction, busses, corridors without directional's, dead ends, long lines I soon found that unless something happened a bit quicker than it was happening I was going to miss my flight. In the back of my mind I was thinking of my bags stranded on the tarmac in terminal never never land, I made my flight but after two hours of lines and waiting in Algiers I found out that my bike and bag did not, humm another challenge uncovered. The next question was how to find out where to go and how, arriving unannounced and not with the normal Rwandan contingency. I see the Namibian contingency arrive and I tagged along with them knowing that somebody would be there to meet them. Indeed there was and I was immediately met by a array of incredibly helpful hosts and hostesses all very helpful and speaking 4-5 languages each one of them. With the sound of French everywhere I knew that I was not going to have a language issue while I was in Algeria. Before I left the airport I secured the phone number of Emi a superbly helpful hostess that would be at the airport when the riders arrived later on that evening. My driver was Karim a 22 year old student who I struck an immediate friendship with and who would end up being our driver through out the whole time we were there. On the way into our housing complex at the university we pick up water and bananas for the riders, a local SIM card for my phone and other needs. We are just in time for the opening ceremonies starting at the Olympic stadium so we head off. I hook up with Vedaste and the rest of the Rwandan contingency that already had arrived. It was a consoling sight to know that I now was back with my group and we had just to await the arrival of the riders.

What a sight to see all the African nations in their colours and costumes filing into the stadium Olympic Games style with the pomp and fanfare that comes with any event of this scale. I was beginning to realize that this was a big deal for all the African Nations participating, we were part of a big event and it was the first time in Rwandan history that cyclists were representing their country.

I was a bit whipped so Karim took me back to the room a bit early. It was 23:00 when I was awakened by a call from Emi, she was with the riders and they had just arrived! Yes! I had her call out Adriens name, he takes her phone in complete disbelief, how am I getting a call the moment I get off the plane in Algeria he must be thinking? Huh what is this? He screams and breaks into laughter as he hears my voice, and laughs even harder when I tell him I am already here! I hear him tell the others and hear the laughs of all the others, the next voice I here is Kiki, "Coach, were are you? When do you get here, how do you know we are here?" He can't believe that I am waiting for them already here, more laughter and happy smiles on the phone as he realizes it's true and as he relays the confirmation to the others.

And I do wait but soon doze off until morning, the bus takes them to the wrong place, they finally get to bed at 01:00, as I am trying to find out their location in the morning they arrive and all has made it safely including the bikes. One less thing to occupy a place in my mind, they now can shower have breakfast and get the bikes ready for a ride, our final phase of preparation has just begun.

We find out the road race is now one day earlier on Saturday July 14 so we only have two days of training before the event and with two days already missed of training this is going to be a brutal awakening. Its hot, polluted, and an incredible amount of cars. I imagine that we can find a decent place to ride in the country not too far away. I had scoped out some mountains not too far away on the plane coming in. I then find out that we need a police escort to leave the compound here, ok we get a police escort, then I find out that we can only train on designated roads, humm it's starting to get a bit more complicated, then I find out that the "designated roads" are the freeway, the freeway that I had come in on packed with cars, dirty shoulders strewed with garbage everythere, now this is not going to work. Maybe we can start the ride and get them to go off on a secondary road? I was cautiously optimistic but it was worth a try.

Our 09:30 departure turned into a 11:30 departure, things just don't happen quickly here, and unlike the Africa that I was just beginning to get to know where things don't happen quickly because people just don't move quickly, here they are buzzing around doing all sorts of things, giving orders entering into long and fervent discussions waving phones and radios but nothing happens but just that, lots of waving around and excusing themselves. I have been here 5 days now in the middle of it all and it seems to be how it is. Timeliness is not part of the agenda, there is always one element missing to be able to leave whether it be a police car, a follow vehicle, a bus or the simple ok from the "Chief" of whatever authority they answer to so if we are dealing with two or three entities, transport, police, security or gendarmerie we need the ok from all the chiefs almost simultaneously to get things moving. A concept that got even more complex as the days accumulated, a concept that if you did not systematically work each entity relentlessly one after another absolutely nothing would happen and you would sit there for hours listing to them banter back and forth.

Off we went onto the freeway; I still had no bags or bike so was with Kalim in the follow vehicle, our police motor escort blaring the French sirens as the riders rode through the freeway traffic. Trip counter set we were to do 40kms and return on the same road, there would be no chance to waver from the path set before us by what is was now probably three entities. Soon we were joined by the freeway police, the Gendarmerie modeled after the French Gendarmes. At km 23 the Gendarmes set up a road block on the freeway so that we could exit, I had not been told of their plan to take us back on the freeway into the mess of traffic and then do the loop twice, there was no way I was going to send the riders back into the polluted mess we were just getting out of and do it twice, I motioned the riders to stop. The discussions started right there in the middle of the freeway which was now blocked along with the off ramp being blocked. Cars were piling up, the horns were starting to sound, we had the Gendarmerie, the Police and our "official" follow car with Team Rwanda holding up the main freeway to Algiers, what a mess, I have learned that whenever I meet someone with some authority that I have to deal with I get a name and cell phone number and immediately put them into my phone, I get on the phone and call the coordinator, Rabah, that we had just left at the compound, he could hardly hear me above the now numerous honking of cars on the freeway unable to advance. Rabah finally relented and my phone was passed around to my driver, the police and the Gendarmerie before the road block was released and we could proceed on our way. As I look back at the scene I shake my head and laugh but what a mess it was.

We made it through the first day, and the riders lined up for their first big meal at the compound, the University "mess" hall which was instantly the "messy" hall as soon as the athletes entered the doors. Imagine a room full of 100 plus African athletes at a meal with Arabian servers and cooks in a buffet style service. Remember too that many of these athletes come from places where they do not get copious amount of food and for them to see a table with a cornucopia of energy producing foods in amounts they have never seen before is for them a dream they had never imagined! For me to watch as mounds, but more aptly mountains of food disappear from these tables with bewildered kitchen help trying to frantically to tell the cooks that this just isn't enough for these people was quite the scene. Fortunately by day two or maybe three the cooks had finally figured out the formula to keep the athletes from waiting until more food was prepared to satisfy these growing men and women's appetites, and even then as soon as the doors were opened to let the onslaught of hungry athletes in it was a frantic challenge to keep up with the ever growing demand. The feeding spectacle was accentuated by every one dressed up in their outfits and ethnic clothing, multitudes of colours, men in spectacular African dresses women in with their African braids and multicoloured apparel contrasted with the Arabian white robes in their frantic flurry. That was a sight I will never forget, nor will I ever forget the different scents that were probably particular to each ethnic background mingled together with the heat and food of the day. This was sensory overload time and something to experience knowing that no words would ever aptly and justly describe it.

Friday was filled with trying to organize another vehicle for the race the next day, and to arrange some sort of plan for all the things that were in my bag that had not made it yet and it looked like it probably would not make it before the race. I found out the day before that Thursday's and Friday's here are their weekends. Very few places were open and getting things done on these days happened even slower in an already tediously slow surrounding. We were promised water bottles by several people but I did not want to take the chance of starting a hot race without any spare bottles. No tubes or spare wheels we also had to bring so sort of spare tyres and tubes along with getting extra water and food. There was the course to see and a technical meeting in the afternoon.

Our ride in the morning was similar to Thursday's but a bit shorter, the riders were as ready as they could be for the event tomorrow. The technical meeting turned out to be another eye opening experience. From the onset it was a battle of countries most disagreeing on every point made starting with the length of the race. I guess the "official" book said the race was 150 kms, and some were vocally very horrified that the planned 10 laps were 177kms, it was reduced to 157km and still that was not enough. An effort was made to take an additional lap off the race to make it 140km but a compromise was made and it was agreed that the race would be neutralized the first 7km so that the publicized 150 km was respected. One hour had passed and the first point was just resolved, I left Vedaste at the meeting so that I could go over the race course which turned out to be another ordeal. I think that only a few absent people at the Cycling Federation knew where it went and since there were no course maps or profiles given out it was quite the feat. We went to the local police of the start town and were able to find out where the race actually went. Three and a half hours after we started we finally reached home on a trip that should have taken 30 minutes! Whoa this place is really challenging I was thinking of the early 09:00 start in the morning and what sort of ordeal it was going to be to get there.

I was correct in my assumptions, we were supposed to load up in the buses at 07:00, by 07:30 we were still trying to get to the correct bus which we thought we found and loaded our bikes into it, we were in the same compound as Eritrea and they were slowly getting their stuff together. Knowing a little bit by now how things happen around here I was going back and forth between police and the transportation "chief", our bus driver kept telling us he was not going to the cycling event but to the soccer match. Nobody was budging and then after he started up his motor he said that the bus had problems and we couldn't use it, a new bus was found so we all loaded into it.

Now the police escort was nowhere to be found, more verbal flurries and of seemingly no avail. It was now closing in on 08:00, the race started at 09:00 and it was 30 minutes to get there. We were starting to get into the red zone for arriving on time, we got a police vehicle but he didn't know where to go? Fancy that, actually nobody knew where to go which hadn't changed from the day before. In my pocket I still had the map from the police dept. the night before, I gave it to him and yes it was enough to get us going in the correct direction. Along with my driver who had been there with me and the map it was enough to "allow" the powers in charge to let us leave. The police now realizing the urgency of getting to the race on time sped off as soon as we hit the freeway their sirens blaring, wouldn't you know it that our fancy MB bus had a governor on the motor that would not allow it to go faster than the posted bus speed limit of 80km (50mph)! The police and follow vehicle were quickly out of sight, we did see them again beckoning the bus to speed up with the bus continuing at the same speed, I do not know if they ever realized that the bus couldn't go any faster.

We did get to the start with about 25 minutes from departure, all was well, so to speak. I had a long time earlier left it all in the Lords hands so was not fretting just glad to have made it before the start. The pre start flurry came and left and the race was off and running. It was hot and we had gotten plenty of water and food for feeding. We had no extra wheels, there were no race radios so we would have no idea of knowing if anyone needed assistance or anything. We had picked position #22 of 23 out of the pack so our vehicle was a bit far back. Karim was our race course driver and I had another vehicle with Salim as my driver. I left Vedaste and Mparubanyi in the follow vehicle and after three laps Salim and I found a place to feed and stopped. Albert from the DR of Congo needed a ride so he came with us along with Phoplina our Rwandan massage therapist.

Before even three laps were finished there was big crash that took down Nyandwi, Abraham, Rafiki and Obed. It didn't look too bad and the group caught up with the pack by the end of the lap. Nyandwi has some derailleur "issues" that I fixed a bit later in the race. There were 9 laps total to cover, all the crash victims lost contact with the main group after lap 4, the heat was a bit stifling, people had been going off the back after 5 km into the race and now each time the peleton hit the hill more would be ejected off the back. Abraham and Adrie hung in there for another few laps and got caught behind a break in the group and never was able to close the gap which stayed under 1' for almost two laps. The pack in front splintered each time up the hill and the "pack" was reduced to groups of nine riders with a few stragglers in between. There were 32 riders ahead of Adrien's group when he finished and he ended up 38th place, and a 20th U23 (under 23 yrs) placing. Abraham (52nd) had lost contact with Adriens group and ended up in the next group with Nathan (51st), Nyandwi (54th), Obed was farther back in 62nd place. Rafiki on the last lap got a flat and was not able to finish, there was no neutral support, our follow vehicle was with Adrien and I was at the feed zone so that was a bummer for him. The race ended with South Africa as the winners, followed up by Eritrea and Tunisia, though we were not in the top 10 placing I felt that the riders performed very well with all the circumstances surrounding their arrival and the event.

They were visibly a bit disappointed but when you look at the big picture of where they were a year ago or even 6 months ago they had already made an enormous impact. Rwanda was now part of the International Cycling community where they were never before been. Both in South African and here they showed that they were part of a promising group of young athletes. I would have been more content if the results but it would be unfair to them to expect so much in such a short time. We in this event were living and operating within a tornado and not to be spit out into the next country or even continent was a feat in and of itself.

The Team meeting the following day going over the results and seeing where the riders were at was an impacting meeting. After going over the race individually with each rider I could see that the underlying concern with all the riders was what was going to happen next? What was Team Rwanda's future plans, was it going to be over at the end of the year or what. What could they expect? in the months and years to come if things continued with the Team. I think that the reality of not performing as well as they all wanted to perform was weighing on them. Their frustration of not having a vertical improvement from the start was evident. They were not in a position to realize that it takes time, some times a year or two for the body to adapt to the new speeds of the races and the higher level of competition. Until now they could only compare themselves to those they rode with, their training was no more than 120miles/week in some instances. Now they were training 350-400 miles/ week and in six months did more racing than they have done in their lifetime. Even to be able to travel internationally without it taking a stressful toll on one body takes years of doing it but without this experience they could not know. I assured them that this Team Rwanda was not going to be over after the season was over and that we did have long term plans and that I would be with them for several more years. They will be the future coaches for the young riders just starting to ride, they would be part more that just Team Rwanda as a cycling entity but the broader plans integrating them into true ambassadors for their country.

The next challenge for me was to make sure the riders got quickly and safely out of Algeria. Our big hang up was that they had tickets with an Aug 25th return date and nobody could change the tickets from where we were. The message was sent to Kigali to try to get the return changed from there and finally Sunday evening Gaspar the head of Sports got the confirmation message from Kigali that the tickets were cleared to leave on Monday! I was very much relieved since Vedaste and I were already scheduled to leave on Monday and it was almost impossible to organize rides for the riders in Alger, I did not want to leave them there alone for another 9 days! We would have missed our flight to Namibia besides, it just was not going to work.

The leaving on time ordeal was the same the next morning, bus arrives riders load and then the waiting game for the police escort with all its formalities. I am glad I had put a 2 hour buffer from our lodging to the airport 30 minutes away.

I left later than all of them but still had not gotten my bags, what I feared happened, the plane that my bags were arriving on from Madrid was the same plane I was departing on back to Madrid! So as I many calls and as much as I could do they couldn't get them back loaded on the plane before it left so off I was to Brussels via Madrid with my bags now in Algiers. Leaving Brussels this morning I was finally able to get a hold of the baggage handler in Algiers to try to make sure that the bags get back to me in Kigali. I will be surprised if and when they get there.