Cycling adventures in Africa
interview with our rider Martin Fraňo, appeared in daily newspaper Pravda, by Marián Szűcs | 23. december 2009
The only time when Tour de France or Giro d´Italia riders suffer is during the transport to and from stages. Otherwise they are being treated really nicely. Races in Africa are much different with the conditions being much more tough. Sometimes you need to sleep in a tent full of mosquitos. Sometimes you ride on gravel roads. And sometimes even have to take an army bomber to get to a start of the next stage. But you can be almost sure there will be all the country’s important politicians at the ceremony after the race who come to greet you and shake your hand, starting from memberf of Burkina Faso government to a President of Kongo: “He even gave me his e-mail address. That´s what I like about Africa – as a cyclist you are somebody.“ says Martin Fraňo from Banská Bystrica, who has been regularly visiting Africa races for four years now.
How have you get to meet the President of Kongo?
All former French colonies have strong cycling traditions. When you get off the bus it´s about the same for them as if David Beckham walks out. For the politicians, it is a huge honour to know a European cyclist in person. They respect you and often come to see you before start of the stage just to shake your hand and wish you good luck. There is always an official party one of the days during the race and politicians always show up. A Kongo delegation along with the country President once visited Cameroon as they planned to organize a race themselves and wanted to get an idea about it. Mayor of Brazzavill, the capital of Kongo, negotiated with me selling my girlfriend to him, he wanted to marry her. At first I was making fun o fit, but he ment it seriously and in the end I had a problem to back out of the deal.
Why do you travel to African races?
Life in Africa is completely different. If one visits Africa, especially the Black Africa, he/she either hates it or falls in love so much that will want to come back. There is nothing inbetween. I like the mentality of people, the surroundings, also the level of the races is at a good level – except for some organizational particulatiries arising from different way of thinking.
Can you give us examples of these differences?
No one in the race is able to take their responsibility. That´s the case of Senegal or Cameroon. For example, the convoy is supposed to depart at 8AM for a start which is planned at 10AM. But there is no one who would call for the departure. There is a bus for cyclists ready, but no one knows when it will depart. Then, all of a sudden, someone comes and says – departure! But since it is already 9.30AM, everything gets delayed. Or they order breakfast for one hundred people, and in the moring they find out they need two hundred portions. Everything is being solved as it comes. This is the African way of thinking, no one thinks in advance and problems are being solved as they come, there is no problem-prevention awareness. In Cameroon for example, there is no asphalt road connecting the north with the southern part of the country. But since the race is part of a political show, they need to transport the cyclists all around the whole country. They don’t hesitate to use planes to do that. We were supposed to move back south after first three stages during our rest day. They found out the plane was already overbooked, because no one had planned our transport back in advance. So we spent our rest day in a train transport. We travelled for 18 hours.
You also took part in the oldest cycling race in Africa, Tour the Burkina Faso in past October. It´s organized by ASO, the very same company that organizes Tour de France. Did you feel any difference compared to other African races?
Definitely. Burkina Faso is probably the poorest country among those who organize an international cycling race. Brick buildings are to be seen only in city centres, otherwise people live in wooden houses without electricity. Organizational level of the race is 100%, but that is because it´s being organized by ASO. When they say the race starts at 8AM, we really do start at 8AM. When the bus departure is scheduled at 6AM, it really does so. That is not common in Africa. Tour du Faso is organized better than Tour the Slovakia.
Some parts of the stages at Tour de Faso are on gravel roads. Why is it so?
It´s their speciality, something that is not anywhere else, just to make the race unique. For example, the last 20km of a stage can be ridden on gravel, unpaved roads. That´s where the changes in General Classifications are often possible, because of a big number of flat tyres and lots of dust from the gravel road. There is only about some 800 or 900 km asphalt roads in the country, whereas the race itself has 1300 km in total. That means you need to pass some roads more than once.
Africa is known for bad quality roads – since it’s roads you use in a race, how does it affect the cycling?
The quality of roads around the capital of Cameroon is even higher than in Slovakia. The top layer is flat just like and airport runway. But all of a sudden there’s an unmarked one meter wide hole. That can be really dangerous. It’s the transport in a race that cause bigger problems though. As for me personally, I usually take a special bike to Africa, with no fragile materials or parts that could break during the transport on top of the bus.
Do you remember the most exciting transport in a race?
In Cameroon, we once took a military bomber instead of a normal civil airplane. We were waiting for the boarding at the airport grounds, at the runway. Bomber stopped just few metres from us, soldiers jumped out, louaded our luggage and as all of us boarded, they could barely close the plane. People were standing as if they were taking a bus, some of them even got sick. I asked one of the solders if they had enough parachutes for everyone in case of accident. He just laughed loudly and said – “I don’t know how about you, but I do have one for myself.”
Did these expreriences affect you anyhow?
A human life doesn´t mean much in Africa. You can see a man in a hospital, with a necrotic leg and he barely cries or complain something´s wrong with him. They are used to pain. No one really cares, even in the hospital, if he suffers or if he dies. It’s part of life for them.
Have you come accross a situation like this one that really striked you during a race?
There was this African rider who dropped out of peloton. There was only the Broom wagon following him. A busdriver of a car not in the race wanted to overtake this rider, but accidentally crashed into him. When people along the road saw this, they broke the bus driver’s side window, pulled the driver out of the bus and started to beat him. When a policaman came, people let the driver be and it was the policeman’s turn to beat him some more. Situations like this are quite common. I always think to myself there is nothing that could surprise me in Africa, but I get surprised several times a day again and again.
Where do you usually sleep in races? At hotels?
Yes, mostly. But in Tour de Faso race, we also sleps in bivouacs, which also was an interesting experience. Trucks with sleeping tents, field kitchen, field showers and toilets come and set everything up really fast. When the peloton departs, they pack everything within half an hour and move to a different place. Temperatures can climb up to 40°C at day time, they only fall down to about 30°C at night, so it is hard to sleep with all the mosquitos flying around you.
Have you had any health problems in Africa? Have you got malaria, for example?
Yes, but only the mild form of it. We have been lucky so far, me and my colleagues have been avoiding any serious health problems. It happend to us for the first time now in Burkina Faso, that someone didn’t finish the race due to health problems. Peter Košút dislocated his thumb and had to abandon the race from eight position. So far we´ve been avoiding serious falls and fractures, that would be very uncomfortable. I have seen local hospitals – I wish I never need to use their service due to their really low standard.
What’s the most difficult for European cyclists to cope with in Africa?
They underestimate the importance of sun screens, antimalarial medicine or mosquito nets, they get intestinal problems that lead to dehydration and the body has no energy left to ride a bike. These are just small things, but in a few days time they destroy the organism and some of them are so exhausted they even have problems to handle their jurney back home. I’ve also seen a whole really strong professional team from Europe to get out of the race – races pay their price for not knowing the local conditions. It’s something you can´t learn, only experience by yourself and learn from it. Not once have I seen a Belgian or Italian team leading the General Classification in the first stages and later dropping out the race and going home. One has to ride really wisely and with big respect when for the first time in Africa. Those who waste all their energy in the first days usually end up completely exhausted in cramps.
What is the level of racing in Africa like?
The majority of people think there is no real competition in African road races, but this perception is absolutly defective. Major African races are out of our main season – they start in autumn and finish in spring. You can find many teams from Europe, in some races also ProTour teams (elite teams who participate in the biggest races such as the Tour de France) who come to these races to get a good winter or spring preparation before their main season.
How much does it cost you to take part in African races? Can you make monez out of it, or you have to subsidize it on the contrary?
All of these races are enrolled on the official UCI calendar and so the prize bar is given by UCI. Strong teams can make pretty good money there. At UCI races, the accommodation, food and all inland transport costs are being taken care of by the organizers. Plane tickets are usually not very expensive as local federations organize central departure lets say from Paris for all European teams and that lowers the price of the ticket. All other costs are being payed either by riders themselves or covered by our sponsors. As for the prize money, it is possible to win 300-400€ per rider in a race. A big advantage of African races is that the money is paid cash right after the race whereas in Europe you wait at least 6 months for your prize money. In general, African races are not profitable, you need to invest in it slighly more than you get out of it financially.
