You might remember that I managed to lose my mini-pump already on day 1. I was told the best place to find a replacement would be Luxor—tomorrow’s destination. So when I reached camp today, I asked Ramon, the leader of the Egyptian tour agency that supports us throughout Egypt, what would be the best way to go about buying a mini-pump in Luxor. He offered to organize a trip to a local bike store. That sounded pretty good to me.

After dinner, Ramon’s colleague approached me with his phone, showing me photos of at least 10 different pumps! “Yes, that’s what I need, a mini-pump,” I confirmed.—”These are from the local bike store in Luxor,” he explained. “One of our riders contacted them. Choose which one you like, then we’ll have it delivered to the camp tomorrow.”

Not bad service, hugh?

Stage 5: Safaga – Police Camp (Egypt), 146km

Road & traffic condition:

Perfect roads and not much traffic. Even had a nice, wide cycling lane for most of the time. Though today we also had our first real climb, crossing over the Eastern Desert mountain range. This was our hardest day so far. I think we’re all looking forward to our rest day in Luxor the day after tomorrow.

Perfect roads across the Eastern Desert mountain range from the Red Sea towards the Nile

Weather:

Getting hot during the day, and not cold anymore at night (just comfortably cool).

Culinary highlights:

I’m quite excited about our lunch every day, much better than I had expected—so far. As someone trying to follow a paleo diet, triple protein (beef, cheese, eggs) and lots of fresh veggies makes me feel like on a luxury vacation.

Yet another lunch scene—one of the highlights of my cycling day

Group highlights:

Our hardest cycling day so far successfully accomplished, and first night camping in the desert without shower (but we were allowed to take some water from the truck tank to wash).

By the way, I should mention that our group is also enjoying the daily yoga session kindly offered by Tom, a certified yoga instructor.

Personal highlights:

While cycling alone through the desert, a camel from the other side of the road all of a sudden started charging at me—so it seemed. At the same time, a truck came along at high speed. I expected the truck to hit the camel, or me to minimize damage on his side, or the camel to run over me, or all three of us colliding at the same time. As it turned out, the camel just ran off into the wild, taking zero interest in me. Am I getting paranoid?—Blame the Lariam.