A BIKERS GUIDE TO CAIRO

Meet Andrew Russel, a Workshop17 Newlands member, founder of African Equity and world record holder of the fastest road biking time from Cape Town to Cairo.

Clearly tenacious, Andrew’s dog-with-bone-attitude saw him commit to the Cairo to Cape Town record-breaking world challenge, not once, but three times before conquering the clock to take the title. The record he was after was held by Swiss endurance rider Urs 'Grizzly' Pedraita, with a time of 13 days and 11 hours, a seemingly gruelling task.

Apparently not for Andrew, who in 2018 smashed it out of the park, shaving 5 days off Pedraita’s record to finish the 11 000 km ride on his KTM 1190 Adventure R in only seven days 18 hours 52 minutes.

Andrew was mostly driven by the joy of riding around Africa, the support of so many, determination and the curiosity to discover what lay around  the next corner  - this is Africa after all and anything could happen, and many times it did. The challenges were real from;  broken motorbike chains, flat tyres, damaged gears and rims, a stolen passport, close calls with trucks and animals and of course the always present sleep and concentration fatigue. 

To train for this epic ‘adventure,’ Andrew spent time in the Lesotho mountains enduro riding, coupled with motocross and 12 -15 kms of rowing on his off-bike days. Most importantly, sleep training - having to fine tune his body to achieve the  maximum amount of sleep before the 4am departures.

While exhaustion was a big factor, the moments of awe were energising. He recounts many moments of wonder and beauty in the landscape and human experiences.

Andrew attributes his profession in real estate investment, development and advisory as the foundation to his perseverance and risk-taking. African Equity focuses on large scale aspects of real estate: Land manufacturing, mixed use development, retail portfolio analysis and optimisation, portfolio expansion and acquisitions and deal making and negotiations.

A parting tip to those who are ready to tackle this route - “Find the Joy, enjoy the ride.”