There was still much to do to ensure that the riders would be able to get on the plane, though. I had to make sure that all the riders had their Service passports which required Governmental authorization and would save us time and money on visas getting into South Africa; racing licenses, a letter from the Minister of Sports to be presented to Immigration and Emigration. We had a new Rwandan Cycling Federation President, Aimable Bayingana; we needed new 2008 UCI racing licenses in the new UCI format exactly as their regulations required. Since Aimable was new and I was not there I was hoping that he would be able to get the licenses done correctly in time. Later I was much relieved that they were perfectly done!

Achille Karuletwa, the new Rwandan Project Rwanda manager, was my contact person on the ground in Kigali. He was coordinating all the needs for getting the riders on the plane. A meeting with Manzi Kayihura, the CEO from Rwandair, secured a Team Rwanda partner for this 2008 season. They we giving the team very much needed and appreciated discounts for the trips to Johannesburg. Thank you Manzi! The service passports were secured; with them the visas to SA would be at the airport in Johannesburg; the letter from the Minister was in hand as were the racing licenses; it looked like a go!

It was now down to hours. Their boarding in Kigali was imminent; one miniscule glitch would cancel the whole trip. I got a sms from Achille saying that this was one “stressful” morning. He had never had one like it - “Welcome to Team Rwanda,” I responded. I had been monitoring the internet too on the prices and availability of the flights to Durban where we had to go that evening. I didn’t want to get the tickets until I was sure the Team was on the plane and the fight was not delayed. The ticket prices kept going up each time I checked the closer we were to the flight time. I was gambling but have learned to never get those tickets until I am sure. I hung tight. I get the sms, the boys were on the flight; the package was airborne; it seemed to have left on time; for the first time I could be sure I was staying this extra week for the upcoming races. I went to get the tickets but kept getting bumped off the internet so I reverted to the ticketing agent. Yikes her prices were much higher than the internet. She apologized and said I should make three bookings at a time so they wouldn’t get timed out as I was trying to fill in all the details of 6 people with very difficult names, with dob’s, phone #’s, emails and all that stuff. I was back to the floor of the airport sitting next to a plug doing my bookings. The price had climbed to about $1400 for all 6 by now, bummer! But I had not much of a choice but to go ahead so I pushed the “buy now” button. My next step was to call the number I had for getting us from the Durban airport to where we were going 50 miles away. He too apologized and said that at this late notice he would have to charge me $350 for the one way charge! No way! Ooochimaaaaka I muttered, this is just not right. The team just couldn’t afford this sort of added expense. My mind went into overdrive. I had to find a way out of this. My only alternative was to rent a van and drive the 320 miles to our destination. But I just paid for the tickets!! And they were more than likely non-refundable. I shook my head in dismay; my cup was admittedly brimming; the rev counter was uncomfortably in the red zone. I had to pray, regroup, and get a grip. Where’s that mental spread sheet I use? I called SAA to see if I could get a refund on my tickets; one hang up after being on hold for 20 minutes and then my credits ran out on my phone after another 20 minutes on hold into the second call. I had to go to the ticket counter again. I had no more minutes on my phone. Mind you, each time I was going back and forth from the International and National terminal all being under construction.

The verdict was that going to Durban was refundable coming back was not. I would lose $500 in the cancellation transaction. I then called Amex to see even if I could get a van that would take 6 bike bags and 5 squeezable Rwandans. Hertz was a yes but I might not be able to do a one way. I had to go to the counter and check. The agent made the booking and I was off to the counter. Yes, it was possible, but with a $100 drop off fee with a total of $350 for the van rental to get there. I went around and found a place that had a van with a lower drop off fee and I could drop it off in Pietermaritzburg instead of Durban 50 miles away. An even better way to go since that was where we were staying. I got the van and headed back to SAA to refund the ticket I just bought. I made the calculations and I would still save $400 this way even with the lost ticket charge. I got the same agent from before and she advised me to wait and use the return portion first then get the full refund on the other portion … wow it was working out! Now we could get there directly by van, return on the plane and not have to use the $350 taxi ride…it was working out better than if I had actually planned it that way -- imagine that!

I could wait for the riders in peace now. But am I not supposed to live in peace already? Who was I to thank and to blame? I knew the answers. And it was great to see the riders come through the door! It had only been a month but it seemed so much longer. They were very happy. Here we were traveling together again; they were back in never never land for them. I could only think of the homes they were coming from and all the new things they were experiencing. Soon our loaded MB van sped off arriving to Africa’s Eden Bed and Breakfast 4 _ hrs (and two speed triggered snapshots) later.

I knew as soon as we entered into the long moss filled, tropical rainforest tunnel of a driveway at Africa’s Eden that this place was another gift to us. As soon as we opened the doors of the van the fragrance of flowers filled the air surrounding us. I could hear a stream in the distance; I could feel the vegetation enveloping us as we were led to our rooms hidden in a dense thicket of even more vegetation. A place where you have to go barefoot just to feel the incredible moss and lichen covered stone walkways, the dense grass curling through your toes, the dew, and all those unnamed and untamed plants that flourish in these climates. A place in which you can’t sleep without the windows wide open listening to the crickets and the stream playing their tunes… As the day’s flurries subsided in my mind, it was hard for me even to recollect at one time all that this day had given me. My emotions had gone through the gamut, but this was not a joy ride I had paid for at the entry gate, it was not the sensation of the parachute opening from the last plane I jumped out of, it was not on the ticket stub of the last action movie I had seen, today was a gift in its fullest degree.

We now had two days to settle in and get acclimated to the South African heat and surroundings. Pietermaritzburg was feeling like a welcoming and beautiful place to be so I was looking forward to our next week there. A look at the race roster and courses and I soon realized that this was going to be a very hard 5 days of racing. There were three European Pro Tour Teams; all were teams whose riders had won stages in the Tour de France; one rider had won the Classic Milan San Remo; the other South African teams were the best of the best. There was also a strong German and Irish team. With a total of 99 riders registered the boys were in for the fastest race they had ever been in. The courses each day were filled with constant hills; it was hard to find any flat on the profiles so we were in for an interesting experience.

Each day was an individual race; this was not a stage race where each day accounted for the overall classification. If one rider could not finish one day they could start the next day. It was a good formula for some great racing.

We were starting this race one rider short, Abraham Ruhumuriza was not with us. Tragedy had struck his family twice and we all felt his pain and remorse. Last year, just prior to going to Cameroon to the Continental Championships he suddenly lost his mother who had been living with him. And then, just after Christmas his wife became suddenly ill. He brought her to the hospital and by morning she, too, was dead. A wonderful wife of three children, one 9 months old and still nursing, the other two boys 4 and 6 years old. Abraham was beside himself with this loss and would not be able to make this race. We, as Team/Project Rwanda, were helping him move him and his three children closer to town, so that it would be easier on him. But this was a painful experience and we all were living it with him. These happenings are not uncommon here and just sends home to me how much we take for granted in the country we live in.

The first day of racing set the stage for each day. The pros had been in Pietermaritzburg already for 9 days at their training camps. Talking to my old team mate from Italy, Claudio Corti, the team director of the Italian powerhouse team Barloworld, I found out that his team was here to prepare for the upcoming Pro season. This was not just an early season race session, this was the stepping stone to good fitness in good weather. They were here to ride hard and that is just what they did from the start gun. The hills were not steep but there were lots of them on beautiful roads gliding through the surrounding green countryside. The intense heat each day just added to the initial pain of the blistering pace set from each start. I knew from watching riders spit off the back after 3kms of racing that today Team Rwanda was going to go into a new level of speed, suffering and racing. The Pros attacked until a group of 20 riders went off the front. I was not surprised that we had no representatives in the group. There were no black Africans in the group, in fact the only Africans were South Africans, one Libyan and one Algerian that was on a pro team, 21st place pulled in 17” after the leaders, Team Rwanda finished 49th Nyandwi, 50th Nathan, 51st Rafiki, 59th Adrien and Obed were a DNF. This was their first race of the year and probably the fastest of their career! I was not disappointed and very glad that their moral was high; almost half the pack at 99 starters were behind them. They had come a long way in one year.

Race two was by far the hottest day of the lot. When we started the temperature was hovering around 100F; it quickly climbed as the race attacked its first hill. Within miles almost complete teams were being expelled off the back. Once again the Pro’s were going until everything splintered to pieces, and it did. By this time the temperature was creeping by 110F! Even at 90F Team Rwanda was feeling the stifling effects of a heat that was not customary to Rwanda; add a blistering pace in the hills and you have the ingredients of a day to remember in their short careers. They all did well; they stayed with the main pack after the group of 20 went off the front once again. They were not alone and for sure not the worst off. I felt really badly for the Irish (yes Irish) National team that was participating in the race. This was not only their first race of the year, or their first exposure to heat but their first exposure to sun for months, ouch! I couldn’t tell which was whiter, their actual skin color or the color of the white titanium sunscreen they were wearing. Talk about a brutal shock to one’s system! As we went by them after being dropped knowing they had hours left to the finish I could see how much they were suffering on many fronts; our boys were not nearly as bad off!

Race three was much cooler and a relief to everyone. The start pace seemed to be up a notch from even the days earlier. The pace up the hills was still brutally fast and I could see from the car our riders were hanging on for dear life. These fast starts were not something they were used to, especially after the hard rides each day. I could see Adrien still in the main pack holding his own. Nathan was distanced just at the last 500m of the climb and was never able to regain contact with the first group. I was elated to see Adrien still in the first group after each climb; he was hanging with the pros and was not hovering at the back waiting to be spit out. The pace was fast as usual and the attacks just kept going off the front; these guys did not want to have any time where they were not going full bore! Adrien made it over the last hill right with the first group, it was his first time in a lead group with the Pros. I was really happy for him. Barloworld pulled off another victory with the South African Pro Robby Hunter. Adrien pulled off a stunning 15th place! And within the African community, excluding South Africa, he was 1st; there were only two Libyans in the group he was in, no other African countries were represented. This result was something to be proud of for Adrien! The rest of Team Rwanda finished in the third group in the second half of the pack, still a remarkable performance for this young team! The comments from all the officials, race organizers, riders and the team managers were starting to come in. Everyone was impressed at how Team Rwanda’s presence was felt in the pack; their performances were noteworthy and the comportment of the team very positively visible.

Race four at 133km was another fast, hot, hilly race. There was not going to be any cake walk at any of these races! Team Rwanda, with Adrien’s performance the day before, had everyone determined to stay with the pack and that is just what they all did, hang in! The European Pro’s once again controlled the race; riders were being dropped after 3km as in each day. For many of the teams, the three days of hard racing was taking its toll, but not for Team Rwanda; they were definitely riding into better fitness. They were serious on and off the bikes, their recovery was excellent and today it made a difference.

Adrien pulled off another stellar performance at 21st place, once again first African after the South Africans. And with Nathan 29th, Rafiki 30th, Nyandwi 49th this made day four our best performance ever! Even after so many days of racing! Though this was the hardest race they had ever done they were encouraged and just amazed at how much they were learning riding for the first time with European Pros. The chatter at dinner time demonstrated the excitement of the days racing. I was very glad to have them experience racing at this level! The Italian Pro teams were very, very generous with us, each day they would give us water bottles, new tubes and anything that they could spare to help us out. It was very evident that the Rwanda riders and their courage were not only making an impact on their own riders but with the mechanics and team directors. In fact people were excited to see a Rwanda team here in South Africa. It just made my time with the team that much more fulfilling.

The last day and culmination of our races here was one of the shorter days at 108km. That would mean that the pace would be just that much faster and harder. For most of our riders there was not much more they needed to stay with the first group but by the top of the first climb it was once again Adrien who was able to hang in there with the winning group of 29 riders. It wasn’t until the very end that he was distanced a bit and still finished an amazing 22nd place, once again the first African excluding South Africa.

The others were still there with Obed 37th, Nyandwi 38th, Rafiki 45th, and Nathan 47th; Team Rwanda was intact and making an impact on the African cycling scene. What a week of invaluable experience. Had our brother Abraham been there he would have been right there with the group, we missed him greatly! During one dinner we called Abraham to encourage him and tell him that we wished he was with us. He sounded so happy to hear from us, it was a good call to have made.

I am always amazed, and perhaps I shouldn’t be, at the actual impact this team has on everybody who it comes in contact with. This is not just an African cycling team, this is a team from a country with a brutal past and its representatives on this team give such a contrast to what people think of when they think of Rwanda, that they have to know more. The overall air about the team through its individuals draws people to it; they are clothed in Rwandan splendor depicting Rwanda today; they all emanate a different piece of Rwanda that they live and show; the expressions on their indigo faces paint a desire to show the world that they are there to give something that no other country can give, their Rwanda. What President Paul Kagami told them last September at his dinner for them, that they are true Ambassadors to their country, I see them living wherever they go. I find it difficult to find the words to describe the feeling I have to be witness to what happens when this team travels.

Our trip home was not without its stresses of traveling with an African team in Africa. The “wild” cards are always present no matter where we go. Each time we as a team check in to get boarding cards with our 5-7 oversized overweighed bike bags, luggage, short (for Africa) connections, limited budget, I am on my red-lined stress factor. I never know if the ticketing agent will charge us massive amounts for excess baggage; in Durban we had a very good imaginative agent who put our big bike bags on the “sport equipment” section on the baggage so we did not have to pay extra. You can ‘t imagine how relieved I feel when they give us the actual boarding passes and we can get on the plane! I needed to stay in Johannesburg for a few days on business so when we got to Johannesburg I made sure that they were at the correct place for check in, had enough money for lunch, all their tickets, passports and bags. In addition I called Reinar my SA contact for Rwandair to make sure that he would keep an eye on them and that if there were a problem he could call me. I would be heading off to the company Georigin in Pretoria to look into a navigational map of Rwanda and then to the UCI training camp in Potchefstroom run by Jean Pierre and Theresia Van Zyl. I would be spending two days with them helping out with the riders they had at the camp and to look at where we will be sending two junior Rwanda riders for two months in June to prepare for the Junior World Championships in Cape Town in August. A trip that turned out to be well worth the few extra days in South Africa.