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Tour d’Afrique has announced the details of it’s first North American Epic bike tour, which will cross the US and Canada over the course of three months next summer.Tour d’Afrique has been operating since 2003, when they took 33 cyclists from Cairo to Cape Town to win the Guinness World Record for the fastest human-powered crossing of Africa.

As part of our Gear as Memoir series, Meghan Hicks experiences family, death and commitment during backcountry adventures with her car.February 2004A family friend in Minnesota cuts me a break on a car, a 2002 Toyota 4Runner with gold paint and 56,000 miles. I live in Texas, but my folks love to drop in, periscope-like, on my life now and then, so they volunteer a road trip to deliver it.

The Beatles’ remastered catalogue will be available on a digital USB stick just in time for Christmas.EMI AND APPLE Corps Ltd have announced the upcoming release of The Beatles digital USB. The device is another strong uppercut to the other Apple, who have yet to land the band’s titles on iTunes. “ Jobs says that a download is worth 99 cents, and we disagree,” said George Harrison’s son Dhani in an interview with Blender last Spring.

In Lagos, cars driving the opposite direction on one-way streets is just a Tuesday.Many travelers have their traffic stories – merging into the roundabout beneath Arc de Triomphe in Paris, dodging motorcycles in Southeast Asia, cramming into rickety buses in Latin America – and most mega-cities have their own share of traffic problems.

Jane Nemis put herself through school working in a burn unit. Here she recalls a vivid experience.THE LAST FEW DAYS have been reflective. Memories that I had carefully buried away resurfaced and, along with them, a flood of emotions from the past.I remember, clearly, the voice of a mother comforting her dying daughter.

Alex Blauhorn travels to the world’s most famous place of enlightenment to capture an average day of a pilgrim monk.THERE IS A REMOTE place in India where Hinduism and Buddhism live together in harmony – it is called Bodhgaya. This is the most sacred place for Buddhist pilgrims, because here is where you can find the Bodhi Tree where Prince Siddhartha Gautama attained enlightenment over 2500 years ago.

Robert Hirschfield reflects and contemplates on past Seders.GIDEON STEIN, a Jewish painter friend, invited me to attend his Seder this year. I refused (my annual Seder invitation refusal), recalling the bitter herbs of my childhood.Our tiny apartment in the Bronx was the traditional site of our family Seder.

Combat the tight back muscles and stressed out knees and hips common in cyclists with these restorative yoga poses.UNLIKE THE WHOLE-BODY experiences of climbing or surfing, cycling emphasizes isolated groups of muscles. Because of this and the emphasis of the sport on forward motion, cyclists tend to have more issues with tightness in the hamstrings, quadriceps, and gluteal muscles, as well as possible knee, lower back, and hip problems due to that imbalance.

What to do when the soroche hitsAS A NATIVE MIDWESTERNER, I passed the first decade or so of my life in a region that just about defined “flat.” Growing up, my idea of high altitude travel was the elevator ride to the top of the Sears Tower.While I’m still no Edmund Hillary, there is one aspect of mountaineering that I’m (unfortunately) intimately familiar with.

A Short Explanation on a Topic That’s Been Explored in VolumesEditor’s Note: I’d written on this topic before, but I wanted to revisit the subject with the BNT audience. Hope you enjoy it.While it’s hard to give “spirituality” a clear definition (even Webster’s can’t), I’m going to try to provide an overview of the main elements involved (as best as I can tell).

The African Cup of Nations, Africa’s biennial soccer competition, is almost upon us.AS OF THIS writing, there are two days until the starting whistle. More people than ever will be tuning in to this Cup of Nations, looking to size up the African participants of the upcoming World Cup.Since the first tournament in 1957, in which only Egypt, Sudan, and Ethiopia competed, the CAN has expanded to include 16 teams, drawn from the 52 nations that make up Africa.

Whether you’re into diving, surfing, or kayaking, your Hawaiian trip can come to a screeching halt if you’re zapped, poked, or eaten by sea critters.HERE ARE A FEW worst-case scenarios, how to avoid them, and what to do if you get unlucky.Box jellyfishDon’t be smitten by their tiny, translucent bodies—box jellyfish stings can cause anaphylactic shock.

Argentina needed its supporters more than ever. So how did almost 2,000 of them end up being barred from the stadium at one of its biggest games?THEY CAME TO the stadium wearing blue-and-white striped jerseys or carrying flags. Many had driven for hours, making the 150-plus mile trip between Buenos Aires and Rosario to see the Argentine national soccer team face off against Brazil.

Campfire season is around the corner. Are you ready?A FEW YEARS AGO, Steve Jackson listed the 50 Greatest Campfire Songs of All Time here at BNT. Obviously, the list is subjective. And you, our loyal readers, made that clear by posting your own faves in the comments.The snow has melted and flowers are starting to poke their heads through the soil, meaning that camping season is not too far away.

You’ve climbed a few times, but you’re still looking to improve. Abbie Mood offers some tips to help you move up in the scene.Hit the gymTrain your whole core with a variety of ab and lower back exercises – crunches, leg lifts from the ground, leg raises from a hanging bar or captain’s chair, and plank.

I had never heard of Hamboards until this May, when I saw one in a store window in Laguna Beach, California.IT WAS THE BIGGEST LONGBOARD I had ever seen, a seven-foot-long plywood monster painted with retro red racing stripes. It literally looked like a surfboard with wheels: you could even buy an optional rubber-tipped “oar” and stand-up paddle it down the sidewalk.

Editor’s Note: This post is sponsored by The Grand Del Mar.Grand Del Mar, with its Tom Fazio-designed golf course and the only five star restaurant in Southern California turns three on October 7.A BEVY OF TOP golfers, a new restaurant/lounge and an indulgent addition to their spa menu kick off during the celebration.

This is some sick footage of a group of wingsuit flyers jumping off buildings, off mountain tops, and flying low through mountain gaps, coming perilously close to rocks and the ground. And they look so calm doing it.According to elephant journal, Roberta Mancino — one of the flyers featured in the below video — is a model who often poses in the buff and was named the world’s hottest female athlete by Men’s Fitness magazine in 2010.

Pictures by Michael Jantzen Designer Michael Jantzen‘s new take on snow sports is an eco-lodge that doubles as a year-round ski slope.STILL A DESIGN proposal, the North Slope Ski Hotel has 95 rooms and is powered primarily by wind and solar energy. The whole thing would be constructed with sustainable building products, including gym equipment designed to help contribute power to the hotel.

Photo courtesy editor b1. Payback for those family vacations……the good kind of payback, of course. You have a lot to thank your parents for, even if they didn’t take you on that proverbial road trip to Disney World in the family minivan.If you have the means, footing the bill for a vacation with your folks is a great way to show your gratitude.