Girl riders from Addis Abbaba

We rolled into the rest day in Addis Abbaba yesterday - it had seem like a long time coming, primarily because as a group we had probably collectively answered the ubiquitous "Where are you go?" question thousands of times with "Addis Abbaba". It's great to finally be here.

One of the delights of the ride into Abbaba was the opportunity to spend some time with a couple of the local female cyclists. Mulu and Tuk - these two girls have an excessive of hill climbing ability, enthusiasm and personality. Mulu made time to introduce me to her coach and also to take interested TDA riders to the local bike shop the afternoon of our arrival. Aside from the cycling side Mulu and Tuk also bonded with some of the TDA girls over an hour long game destroying rock towers by throwing stones - a favourite from the rocky shores of my seaside childhood in far away New Zealand.

I learnt a little about how the racing scene works in Abbaba: there are four sponsored cycling clubs. I forget all the sponsors but the co-operative dairy company that seems economically important regionally, and an electronics company name two of the groups. Each club as mainly male riders but each has at least one girl. There are seven girls that race competitively in Abbaba, and competition is fierce. Sponsorship does not mean what it does back home - the girls were not decked out in in full named cycling kit. In fact the presence of one cycling jersey was the only evidence of cycling kit I saw. No helmets, no gloves: heaps of ability.

Mulu was a runner who was spotted by her coach as a potential cyclist and encouraged into the sport. She is 19 and trains three times a week. She will be riding with the TDA crew on tomorrow as we leave Addis Abbaba. I hope that Tory, our fastest female cyclist, can give her some competition.