Maps - Accra and abound

Okay...you can skip this post if you're not planning to visit Ghana, or have no intention of venturing beyond Accra. By the way, you should do both. Yes, this is another commentary on maps.

We've been relying on the Bradt Guide (THANKS BOSTON PROPERTIES!!) to plan our trips. For the most part, information in the 2004 update seems correct and fair. Prices have naturally escalated a bit since printing. One collapsed bridge has been repaired. It is a good guide book specific to Ghana - or as far as we can tell, the only one available in the US.

International Travel Maps "Ghana - scale 1:500,000" is the only map we could purchase in the US specific to Ghana. It is fairly accurate. Togo is correctly indicated to the east. The ocean is correctly indicated to the south. Data to the north, as far as we can tell, should not be relied upon without verification as mentioned in the previous "Aburi and Back" post. A bike trip last week uncovered yet another mapping mistake - locating a hill top village of Larteh in a valley. No worries.

Before heading out of town last Friday morning, we made another visit to the local Department of Surveys (Airport and Gifford Road junction). Here you can buy the much more accurate scale: 1:50,000 topographic maps for any specific area you might want to visit. C50,000 ($5.40) gets you a 24"x36" multi-colored paper sheet that indicates contours, trails, roads, villages, water, structures. With surprisingly accurate for data gathered in 1973, we're only amending whether or not minor roads are still dirt, or have since been improved. Also, we're locating gas stations and police barricades.

Oh look, here is SJD below comparing, overlaying, triangulating and plotting our course.



I'm curious to read comments on GPS usage here. Anyone?

Wednesday morning

A few images from Wednesday AM crit practice. The red "Ontario" jerseys were donated by Ontariocycling.org in 2006. The Ghanaian team hopes to travel and race in Canada and the US in 2007.




Above: pre-practice group shot.

Above: It looks like an old 7 speed cassette (with a huge gap in the middle) mated to whatever changer was available. It works though. I think I'll be able to find a good home for all those used bike parts cluttering our basement.

Above: Nobody ever passes on the inside line. Wonder why...

Above: Two post practice shots.

Neighborhood crits with the National Cycling Team

What more could a wanna-be bike racer geek ask for?

As mentioned in the Ride fast.Turn right.Repeat post, I met up with the national team for an early morning crit practice session. 7AM just a few blocks from our house, but we never thought to look there/then. There is no online information available. Actually they meet on a street adjacent to the US Embassy that is currently under construction.

The course was short but with a brutal little rise that seemed to get steeper at 20 laps. I hung for 18, but had to rest for two.

Wednesday, I may meet them again to snap some photos.

In a country where soccer is king, these guys have decided to ride bikes.

If you need to call me,

my cell number code word is "ochopawalo". It doesn't mean anything, but has a nice ring to it.

Ride fast. Turn right. Repeat

Sunday morning I had an 8am invitation to race with the local road teams in Accra. Actually it was just a practice race for the season starting in December. A race none the less. No entry fee or race numbers to pin on. My last criterium race was back in July in the US - a rainy day on a twisty course, and overall not much fun. Although I've been riding a fair bit in Accra, I was unsure just what to expect this morning.

Criterium per Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Criterium

Organizers in the US usually stage racers a few minutes before the start to restate any details about the event - distance, dangerous corners, special rules, sportsmanship reminders, etc... It can sound like a broken record after a while, but is necessary. Today there was none of that, or maybe there was, but I missed it due to the language barrier. So there was a 10 second countdown and we were off, without me knowing if this was a 10 or 15 lap race. There was a motorcycle escort for a lap or two, but otherwise the road was open to traffic, albeit light early Sunday morning traffic. Twenty or so starters settled into a good 23-24mph average speed for the first few laps. The pace was comfortable for a flat course, but I know that these crits generally pick up the speed after the half-way mark and again at the very end. On the final lap there might be only two or three guys that are real contenders for the win.

I rode at or near the front of the pack for five laps sharing the work of setting pace and breaking the wind. Just to see what would happen, I tried a one lap break away. Reality restored order and the pack caught me very quickly. About eight laps in I'm really curious how many laps we have to go. More conflicting information. Nine laps??? "To go, or completed" I ask. A small group that was resting in back for laps 1-8 has now moved to the front and is pulling away while I'm realizing I'm pretty tired. My group of six stragglers rotates through eventually dropping two riders. I'm completely out of water, when the consensus seems to be that we have another 4 laps to go. I'd really like to just pull over and stop, but the three other racers seem to want to race to the bitter end, so I keep going. Finally we get the bell lap - one to go. I take my pull early and settle in on the back stretch. The finish has a slight down hill to a 90 degree turn and 200m flat straight to the finish. I punch it into the corner in 2nd place, swing wide and grab another gear. The guy in first stays in front. We have a good sprint for spots 2-4, although I think I was nipped at the line. Not bad I guess.

Afterwards, the gentleman that was counting laps and keeping time introduced himself and a few riders that are on the Ghana National Cycling Team. We arranged another early Tuesday morning ride in our neighborhood.