Even though i've only been on the road for 4days sleeping in a bed and having a real (not waterbottle) shower was awesome. Since no plan survives contact with the enemy i'm not overly worried about changes that will probably have to be made to the route along the way, some of it you just have to tackle as it comes along, which with the rain might mean taking the 'main' road. Although main is sometimes still very much not. The section up aling the coast thai i was on the main road felt a lot more like a very wide singletrack. One piece thats going to change is the 'planned' ride through two reserves close to Iringa where even motorbikes are not allowed.
Had a/another dice with some locals yesterday, even though this is not a race it might change into a thousand different small sprint races. In africa the bicycle is king, although their ideas of what distance is coverable is somewhat skewed( although taking into account the loads they carry its very understandable). Just after we met up a serious thunder&hail storm forced us to find some shelter. The conversation soon turned to where and why i was cycling. i told them i'm roughly heading for Iringa, they said its impossible. Why? Too far. How far? Maybe its an estimate but about 4 or 5. Ok 400-500 thats not too bad. No bwana 4-5 thousand, its too far you must take the bus. Lets hope its a bit shorter.
The locals accompanied me to my overnight stop, while taking a detour of about 10km just to make sure i'm ok. Once again pleasantly surprised by the helpful and friendly nature of the people here, especially in the more rural areas. Thanks Stephen for making the ride shorter!
Seems like might rain all day so quite glad took day off, cough seems to be making a bit of a comeback which is bad but not much can do about it now. The scenery has been absolutely amazing with some really great sections to come apparently, including a boabab forest and ride on the escarpment.
The ride in the truck on the B1 was something else. Skipped about 220km but not feeling too bad or that i missed out. The short section i rode rates among the worst riding i've done. The alternative was a about 400km detour over mountains where i've already been beaten once. Organized a lift with local driver for about R50. Would have started at 5ish, eventually got going after dark. The ride took about the same time as the cycle would have, but at least we drove at night so bit less traffic. Eventually dozed off in truck. Awoke with a loud bang and shattering noise, with glass raining over me. Still moving so thought someone threw rock or something. Stopped a bit later and did some damage assesment, mirror gone so swapped with other one. In the main drivers words 'the co-driver is careless so i'm driving again'. So he dozed off and edged a oncoming truck, scary. Rest of ride was very much sleepless and filled with prayers. Finally made it to Moshi after a few more close calls and about 11hours of driving. Stopped often for load/unloading.
Had an clear view of Kili as we drove in, amazing, saw glacier and top. Had breakfast and cycled to base of reserve. Tried taking photos but clouds rolled in so might have to come back for better photos. No entry to park, maybe if stay over for few days and try every single village round mountain, but was stopped at few i tried. Moved on to Arusha.
Going to do some running repairs on the bike, bb making some interesting beats but will just have to hold for next 4000km.
Fifteen min of indoor cycling to get ankle strong. Anyone tried this?
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