Ebikes4Africa at Nedbank's Desert Dash 2020
Ebikes4Africa's #DashExperience
This statement could not have been more accurate. The Desert Dash is considered as one of the toughest one-day races in the world. Under 24 hours, its participants get to cross the world’s oldest desert, starting from the capital city, Windhoek, to the Atlantic Ocean coastal city of Swakopmund.
Desert Dash riders are known to be extremely fit - both physically and mentally. To arrive at the destination, they have to conquer gravel roads, deep sand and mountains and are exposed to a unique blend of different weather conditions.
Immediately after being informed that there would be an e-bike category, we registered a 4-person team without even thinking twice.
There would be no awards for e-bike riders, so our excitement was not on the competition itself. We saw it as an amazing opportunity to strengthen the bond between our team and give everyone in the company the opportunity to challenge themselves. Additionally, it was a great robustness test for our mountain bikes.
Among our 4-person team we had our Workshop Manager, Workshop Assistant, IT & Solar Technician and one of our Delivery Riders. Natanael, Lucas, Silva and Valentin respectively. You can read more about our team here.
Once the riders were defined, it was time to actually get ready for the event. As a culture, all our employees have e-bikes which they use for daily commuting, therefore, although we knew it would not be easy, we had the confidence that with enough practice we could finish the race.
In July, we created a Whatsapp group for communication purposes, defined the training calendar, routes and we went for it.
After long training hours and thousands of kilometers, the effort eventually paid off. Ebikes4Africa team finished the race in under 16 hours, reaching Swakopmund at 07h00, among the first teams in the overall competition to arrive.
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