My friend alerted me to this story on Cycling News about a stage race held in Benin, West Africa to mark the 50th anniversary of independence.
Having swept the podium in the first stage, the riders from Burkina Faso approached stage two with confidence. Their cycling program is quite impressive. They have a team of full-time cyclists who receive military salaries. Essentially, they’re soldiers of cycling. They ride slick Colnago frames with 10-speed Shimano components, while most athletes from Benin and Togo ride old chromoly frames with friction shifters. Burkina Faso sets the bar pretty high for an African cycling team. It’s great to see them raise the level of competition in the region, but it sure makes life tough for the little guys.
So, we had our work cut out for us. Wearing the yellow, green, and red of the Benin national team, I was excited to help our sprinter Augustin Amoussouvi put on a good showing for independence day. We departed the village of Pobe for 75 kilometers of rolling terrain to Porto Novo. The national police escorted us to wave bush taxis, trucks, and wandering goats out of our path.
Digging a little deeper, I enjoyed reading two other articles by the same author, Christoph Herby, about the Benin national team. Herby is a Peace Corps volunteer and former race, who previously wrote:
Introducing the Benin National Team
Strategically mounted rapid-fire mountain bike shifters.
Amongst the riders who congregate are three members of the national team – athletes who’ve competed abroad in the Tour du Faso, the Tour du Togo, or the West African CEDEAO Tour. Robert Kponha proudly sports his combativity jersey from the Tour du Togo. Alexandre Zotogbé is a scrappy all-rounder. Augustin Amoussouvi’s thick calves identify him as the sprint star of the team.
Dreaming of the Champs Elysees:
I ride with a wiry bunch of boys who’ve somehow discovered bicycle racing at a time when football-crazy Africa prepares to host the World Cup. We’re quite a sight rolling down the highway in a paceline of scavenged parts and clothing.
If you want to poke deeper, Christopher also has a website and blog, featuring his gorgeous photographs and a little more on cycling in Benin. I’m please to see he’s connected to my pals at the Village Bicycle Project, who have supplied him and the team with bikes and parts.
Related Bikejuju post:
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