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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- I’m
in Mzuzu, Malawi, using a very expensive satellite phone. My cell phone
was stolen several days ago while I was recharging it in camp. No internet
café open today on Sunday. In three days, we get to Lilongwe, the
capital, and I should be able to buy a new phone and get to an internet
café. I’m
doing fine and feeling good about the riding. Today we rode in heavy rain.
I stopped early at about 80 k and took the truck because I wanted to get
my clothes dry. Last night it was dry when I went to bed, but rained
during the night. I got up and put on the tent fly, but didn’t cover all
of the red box. In the morning, the box had two inches of rain in the
bottom, all my clothes were soaked. The tent pole broke again but the
mechanics fixed it. |
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---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3-25-08 This was a good day. Pavement makes a difference. We are almost done with the off-road parts of the Tour. Tomorrow is a big climb. Not much rain today. My clothes actually got dry. The tent was surprisingly dry considering how much it rained last night. One of the truck drivers is from Zimbabwe and is a very good birder. He told me to take a walk toward a pasture. I saw an African Emerald Cuckoo, a beautiful bird all yellow and green. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3-24-08 Back
on the bike after a rest day (Easter) in Iringa, Tanzania. The locals were
dressed up for church services. As usual, we are the filthiest people
around. I like Tanzania better than Ethiopia in many ways. People are
curious in a much more polite way. There are not as many people, but
people are walking everywhere, even miles from any village. When I get off
the bike in the middle of nowhere, I’m suddenly surrounded. I’ve
had a change in attitude. I think it is good that I’ve stopped being
frustrated about my slow pace on the bike. I regret not having a different
bike. I like my road bike at home much better. It is very hard. Every day
is 6 to 9 hours on the bike. It’s more than I would like and feels like
it, but I’m enjoying the ride in different ways. This is a beautiful
country, especially in the rainy season, and it is an amazing privilege to
be here. Today was a pretty good day—short (6 hrs.), 105 km with 1400 vertical meters of climbing. It was paved which makes a lot of difference. We rode through a commercial forest—someone said red pine. It rained a little while we were riding, but now it has been pouring for the last three hours. We had dinner huddled under the awning of the truck. We are camping on a logging road. It’s like a river flowing around our tents. We are two days from the Malawi border and have another rest day two days after that at Lake Malawi. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- |
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3-22-08 Back
in touch after seven days of riding without a break. I’m in southern
Tanzania. Tomorrow, Easter, is a rest day here in Iringa. I took a hotel
room, and am glad I did, since it's been raining. The week has been
tough—terrible roads and a fair amount of climbs. I think it is going to
continue to be tough but in different ways. Here’s a recap. Biked
77 km to Iringa. A lucky day. When I was about to start, I had a flat in
camp. Changed the tire and rode to lunch. Checked the tire and it was
fine. Got up after lunch to get on the bike, and it was flat. Patched it
and started, rode 3k more before it failed again. Took the truck. Missed a
big rain shower. In
Iringa I again avoided the rain by taking a room in the best hotel in
town. $15/night for a single. Full of fancy cars, so it is the best hotel.
Everything is falling apart. Probably clean sheets. Staff with uniforms. I
asked what time the hot water went on, and a few minutes later someone
brought me a bucket of hot water. Then they figured out I wanted a shower
and took me to a different room. This is Africa. 3-21-08 100
km from bush camp to bush camp. Bad roads again. Rocks and corrugations
made it slow. Enjoyable coke stops, chapatis and tea at 9 AM, some English
speakers at the other stops. Saw a few more baboons, lots of flowers in
bloom. The
last few days I've had intense lower back pain. I finally figured out that
it was from carrying the red box, so now I'm doing the alterative, being
rude and packing and unpacking the box in the truck, holding up everyone
else as they hold me up. I know I'm supposed to stretch, but am rarely in
the mood. 3-20-08 It
was 93 km to bush camp. Spectacular scenery. Fast off-road until lunch,
and then the road got bad. Long downhill on rocks. Lots of butterflies,
but few birds. The country looks like it should be full of game, but it
isn't. Last
night I was awake for hours with bites from what the doctor said were
hairy worms I got while squatting in the bush. This place is dangerous for
white idiots. After lunch I felt like I had no energy. That could be true,
but it also could be that the road condition just became draining.
Corrugations are the worst because your energy is translated into up/down
motion instead of going forward. Whether
you get to bush camp at 1 or 4 there's nothing to do. I think I'm in first
place for least amount of time spent on bike maintenance. Finally at 4
today it was cloudy enough that I could lie in the tent, half dozing. I
listened to the sounds of Africa just outside, the locals milling around
us. Today, for some reason, I was conscious of the fact that I was biking
IN AFRICA. It just hit me. Being alone on the bike helps me realize here I
am, on a bike, in a totally alien and beautiful world, full of strange
sounds, sights and smells. It isn't intensely interesting every minute,
but still the density of experience is so much greater than in normal
life. This is, I finally realized, a great thing to be doing. For the
first time I am now confident that I will reach Cape Town. A
short day here is 6 hours on the bike; a long day is 9 or more. I may not
come out of this with more weight loss. I may not become a stronger rider.
My hills are still about as slow as anyone in the group, and I'm not
improving, so I may not come back to my final tri season being the best
ever, but here I am biking in Tanzania. What could be better? There's
a lot here I don't like—the flies, the heat and rain, being filthy and
wearing filthy clothes. But to do this any other way would not be the
same. Of course I wish there weren't flies. I'm not glad it's the way it
is, but I'm glad to be doing what I'm doing. I hope the feeling lasts. 3-19-08 Huge
difference from yesterday. Rode 120 km to Dodoma, the "capital"
of Tanzania. We camped at a hotel next to parliament. Dodoma itself has a
few paved streets, but the roads leading to it are not. (I've heard that
the road from Dar is paved, but haven't seen it.) Off-road, the ideal is a
mean between mud and loose sand. The sand is pumice, so it does soak up a
lot of water, and the riding isn't too bad. We had one coke stop at an
army base, where some people spoke English, and they sell cokes and things
to travelers. There should be ratings for bad roads, like there are for
biking hills or for whitewater kayaking. Today’s road was pretty good,
which means I averaged 9 mph. It
was different from yesterday because the roads were good enough that you
didn't have to watch with total attention at all times, so I could see the
beautiful scenery. The habitat quickly changed after lunch from lush
banana, sunflower and maize to savannah. It's much drier at the lower
elevation. The last two days I've seen women on bikes for the first time.
Others say that they saw some in Ethiopia, but I didn't and there couldn't
have been many. At
Dodoma we met the Dodoma cycling club—a Swiss woman and two African men.
One fellow finished second in Kiliman last year. That's climbing
Kilimanjaro, spending two days biking around it, and then running the
Kilimanjaro marathon. He finished second by 5 minutes. 3-18-08 I
rode in a steam bath to lunch at the 60 km mark. The road was all rocks
and corrugations. I hated it and gave up at lunch. There were rocks all
over the road so I couldn’t find a line. Deep sand and long climbs.
Scary descents with rocks and holes. There is no traffic and it's
beautiful country, but I couldn’t look at it because I had to look at
the road right in front of me. Five plus hours to lunch; it seemed
pointless so I gave up and took the truck for the final 48 k. It took the
truck 2 hours, which says something about the roads. This
is the wrong attitude, I know, but I can't help it. Watching the road that
closely is just exhausting. Thom said that the descents were like
chocolates that you look forward to and then find inedible. You work hard
to get to the top, ad then have to brake on the descents. I fell twice
just before lunch, which told me it was time to quit. It's just too hard
to concentrate constantly for 5 hours. I never thought I would have to
walk on downhills, but some descents on rocks didn’t look safe to me,
although some of the mountain bikers loved it. There were piles of rock. Today's
puzzle: Last night and today at camp we are surrounded by locals, but it's
different from Ethiopia. We don’t need a rope boundary to keep them out.
They stare and mingle but keep a polite distance. 3-17-08 Today’s
ride was 119 km heading south on the main north-south road in Tanzania. I
think this part was once paved. Now it's sand and rocks. Hard sand at
best. It took me 9 1/2 hours. I’m adjusting to the fact that this is
going to be the pace. Lunch at 60 k mark is two sandwiches and two pieces
of fruit. It isn't enough, even with the energy bars and drink. Even with
two Sprites (the last accompanied by a raving madwoman at the 95 km mark),
I still had nothing left at the end. Lots of climbs. At
the Sprite stops, I always ask to wash my hands. They bring out a pitcher
and a basin; today the water was hot. I get to wash my hands and face and
do-rag. Nice custom. For some reason the other riders don’t do it. Today
was very hilly—1.2 vertical km of climbs. Some I had to walk, so I
don’t know if fully loaded trucks can make it. I didn’t see any, even
on this main NS road in Tanzania. Saw two baboons, more Masai, and more
people (not only kids) saying "Give me money." I rode for a
little while next to a Masai on a bike. First he asked for money for a
photo, and then tried to sell me anything he was wearing. Had flat #4, and fell on my hip. Couldn’t sleep on that side at night. Rain at night, but fortunately not during the day
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3-16-08 My
first day back on the bike in Tanzania was a good day—muggy not rainy.
It’s about to thunderstorm now. We are in thorn tree savannah, which is
green now because it is the rainy season. The ride was about as easy as it
could be--105 km of paved road and flat. Even so, I only go about 12 mph,
because of my heavy bike and my legs, so every day is a long day. This
is Masai country. I see them in their traditional dress riding bikes or
herding cattle. Outside of the national parks you never see any animals.
At the campsite here we have a shower, but when you see how it is done,
you really want to conserve water. People carry 5 gallon plastic jerry
cans up to the roof. Twelve new people joined our group in Arusha. We will have six more days of riding before our next rest day in Iringa. All of it is unpaved. If it is dry, it will be fine. If it turns to mud in the rain and it isn’t fun, I might just opt for the truck. |
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3-15-08 I’m back in my tent. It rained again last night and I stayed dry. No wind, so it wasn’t a true test. It took me forever to pack my red box. It was really weird. Guess I’m already out of practice. This morning I found the best internet café in Arusha and sent about a dozen photos. I’ve taken about 600. From camp I can see Mt. Meru, the third highest mountain in Africa. There are flame trees in bloom and bougainvillea. I took a minibus from camp to town. It probably held a maximum of 14, but there were 24 people aboard. I’ll be glad to be on the bike again tomorrow.
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3-14-08 I
am back with the group in Arusha, Tanzania. We are staying at a campground
3 km from town. The campground has showers and a restaurant. I walked in
to town and the ATM. The place is packed with tourists. It’s impossible
to walk around without people attaching themselves to you and offering to
be your guide. Very unpleasant and impossible to be alone. This
is the place where everyone comes to go to the Serengeti Plain, to climb
Mt. Kilimanjaro and to visit Ngorongoro Crater. More than half of the
folks on the Tour did that. I chose to do Uganda and Rwanda instead.
I did the other when I was 21. There is no cheap way to visit the
Serengeti. I know I would have seen thousands of animals, but that’s OK.
Some people went to the beach in Zanzibar.. Uganda
is so beautiful they ought to just change their name and maybe people
would go there. Kigali in Rwanda was very interesting. A lot of money has
poured in there. It seems to be the commercial capital of what used to be
British East Africa. People have hope. They are working. I saw a group of
people taking a basic computer class. I swam laps at the hotel swimming
pool and saw no traces of the tragic occurrences that happened there. I
didn’t see any people with amputated limbs in the city, but the
missionary I met said that out in the country there is a lot of
malnutrition and a lot of malaria. I’m ready to get back on the bike. Yesterday there was a tremendous downpour that lasted a couple of hours. I’m sending a picture of Lake Bunyonyi in Uganda. |
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3-12-08 Today
in Kigali I went to the genocide memorial, which I don’t think I can
write about. All through Africa, which I guess means mostly Ethiopia,
I’ve been getting more and more skeptical about foreign aid. Rwanda,
however, appears to be a great success story—prosperous, Kigali full of
new buildings, well-dressed people, good roads and infrastructure. I guess
guilt paid off. One of the interesting things about this kind of travel is the other white people you meet. Getting to know the locals is very hard when you travel fast. Language problems and problems of who's trying to exploit whom, make it pretty unlikely to have a real conversation, except with the Ethiopians who traveled with us—Windy (the guy in the picture with me), the driver and the cyclist. I had a good time drinking with them in Yabello. Anyway, just today I met a Canadian volunteer at the genocide memorial. He and his wife are a missionary couple who are Ironmen but are living here trying to develop the sport in Rwanda, especially for women. I also met a Belgian medical student working here for 3 months as a med school rotation. You meet people outside the pretty narrow career and life path of most people you meet at home. You learn about alternative ways of living. |
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3-11-08 Spent
the night after our hike of Mt. Garika (the volcano) at the Travelers Rest
in Kisoro, Uganda. Since the 50’s this has been the place for gorilla
watchers. Diane Fossey called it her second home. It's now owned by a
Dutch couple who got tired of working in Holland so they could come to
Africa for vacations. When I told them I saw no animals, they said the
park is too close to people, so the animals get killed off. (There were
supposed to be, and probably were a few, red duikers and bushbuck). This
makes it all the more puzzling how Queen Elizabeth NP gets away with
having elephants and lions and no fences. There were lots of travelers at
this hotel who saw the gorillas today. They have camera lenses long enough
to do a full dental exam on them. Today
I traveled to Kigali, Rwanda, and am seeing some welcome changes. High
speed internet. Paved roads. The motorcycle taxi guys here have helmets,
and helmets for their passengers, and all wear vests with registration
numbers. What progress. There are also bicycles that serve as taxis,
which, given the hills, is pretty rough on them, and an efficient bus from
Ruhengeri to Kigali. The minibus from the border to Ruhengeri was
continuing on to Congo, so it was best we got off. I'm in Kigali and this is the first fast internet I've had. I was able to see this week's photo of runners dressed for cold. I vaguely remember cold. (actually froze in the mornings in the Sudan desert before the sun came up, but that was long ago.) Start biking again on Saturday.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Our
hike up the volcano was quite a bit more than a hike. It took 8 hours to
go about 7-8 km up and back. It was a very steep climb from about 2500 m
to 3500 m (about 12,000 ft) at the top. It was very tough, wet and
slippery. You tried to stay on the rocks because they were less slippery.
There were wooden ladders in several places and a lot of steps made with
logs across the path. I
was wearing tennis shoes, my only other shoes, and my one pair of pants,
which are now unbelievably filthy. A lot of the walk was in thick, dark
bamboo forest. Higher up, we went through acacia forest and a combination
acacia/ericaceous forest. We saw lobelia bushes. (All of this botanical
info is for Jane.) This
is the rainy season and it rains almost every day, but just for a short
time. We lucked out. It was mostly sunny, just a little rain on the way
down. The summit was in the clouds. At the top, we looked into what used
to be a crater lake, but an earthquake a number of years ago changed it
into a crater swamp. This is truly a beautiful part of the world, but the
fact that it borders Uganda, Rwanda and Congo means that there are very
few tourists. We are not that far from the huge refugee camp at Goma. Although
we didn’t see them, we smelled gorillas, heard golden monkeys and saw
fresh scat from African buffalos. Our guide pointed out a path that
pygmies use. We also were accompanied by an armed guard with an AK47
because the buffalo, next to the hippo, is the most dangerous animal in
Africa, when it comes to killing people, and there was a slight
possibility of elephants as well. It
has been a good day and a full day. Tomorrow we travel to Rwanda. Rick
will go see the gorillas. I hope to go birding. |
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Today
Rick and I rode to Mgahinga Gorilla National Park, still in Uganda but
very close to the Rwanda and Congo borders. It is so beautiful. I’m
looking at three free standing volcanoes. We are going to climb the middle
one, the easiest, tomorrow. The hike is supposed to take seven hours,
depending on the weather, the climb about 7000 to 12,000 feet. The
attraction of this park is, of course, the mountain gorillas. Rick is
going to see them with a guide. I’m not, but apparently there is the
possibility, albeit remote, of seeing them on our hike. Also the
possibility of forest elephants and golden monkeys. The mountains are
called the Virungas and they border the three countries. My
binoculars are now a monocular, a result of the sand and vibrations of the
ride. Lots of people’s cameras have ceased to function for the same
reasons. Doing everything here is a task, like finding toilet paper.
Things we take for granted. I’m told that the likely rain and mud in
Tanzania will be harder on equipment. Twelve new riders are supposed to
join us in Tanzania, one a 60 year old coach of the Danish Tour d’France
team. Two riders left in Addis and three more at the end of Ethiopian. By
Vic Falls we are expected to be 90 strong. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 3-8-08 It’s
good to be back again in contact with my cell phone. Ethiopia was very
difficult in lots of ways. We have two weeks break because of skipping
Kenya. We regroup in Arusha, Tanzania, on March 14 and restart the ride on
the 16th. Today I am staying along Lake Bunyonyi in southwest Uganda. It
is a beautiful place not overrun by tourists. The natural beauty is
spectacular. The lake is very irregular with many islands. Terraced fields
rise far up the mountainsides. It is very lush. Lots of bananas, coffee
and sorghum. Tomorrow we go to Rwanda and Volcanoes National Park.
That’s where the gorillas are. I met a woman who saw them and her face
just lit up talking about it. I am not going. It costs $500/hr, but they
use that to protect this endangered species and pay the guards. Today
I was up at 7 for a birding trip in a dugout canoe made out of a piece of
eucalyptus trunk. Very unstable. We went to the biggest island in the
lake. Missionaries developed it as a leper colony; it's now a resort,
although there were no guests that I could see. The sky was dark with rain
clouds and rain, so my guide kept pointing out birds I couldn’t see, or
could barely see. Christopher, my guide, kept taking me by the hand to
show the birds to me. Americans aren’t used to touching, and here, as in
Ethiopia, men walk hand in hand and seem very comfortable touching each
other without a sexual stigma. There was a lot of rain on the trip back,
which didn’t seem safe at all. After breakfast I walked up to a place called The Heart, some kind of international volunteer relief project where there are a lot of white volunteers. Not one of the kids asked for money. The volunteers say they never give them money. A welcome change from Ethiopia where everyone, adults and children, are constantly demanding money.
Today
it took all day in a minibus packed with people to go the 200 km to Lake
Bunyonyi near Kabale where we are spending two nights. It was a terrible
road. We are close to Rwanda’s border. Rick and I spent the last two
days in Queen Elizabeth National Park near Lake Edward. Saw lots of birds.
It was raining pretty heavily. We also met 5 Dutch guys in their fifties
who were biking. Every year they pick some place in some exotic country
and bike. I’m missing the bike already. I was finally getting the hang
of it and learning how to pace myself. I also miss Jane more when I’m
not biking. Being a tourist isn’t as much fun.
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that I have a little time to think back...it's half over! I wonder what
I'm doing here. I am having a great time. Very intense. Things that
happened a week ago feel like ancient history because so much is happening
every day. I want to go back and fill in parts of Ethiopia from the
internet café here in Kampala. On February 21, I had planned on resting a couple of more days in Addis Ababa, but decided to ride instead. I felt strong, did 112 km, with 1400 m of vertical climbs, a net loss of 400 m in altitude. Long steep climbs and descents all day long, after the first 20 km of a convoy out of AA. That means a few riders jump out at cross streets, stand up on their bikes and stop traffic. Impressive to see, except the UN trucks ignored us and plowed through. At our bush camp we had our second full moon. When it rose on the horizon I first thought there was a forest fire. It was bright all night long.
February
22 was a bad day all around. The biking wasn’t too hard. Again lots
of long climbs and once the tail wind left, it became a very long day, but
the troubles were not with riding. I was with Rick at a tea stop when
suddenly he was distracted and someone stole his camera. Immediately the
village went into action. A few old men who were sitting around having tea
grabbed their cell phones, people knew who the thief was, police came, our
Ethiopian travel folks happened along, and after about 45 min. of people
rushing about, the camera was returned. Everyone knows what's going on in
a small village, but it was interesting how quickly people's behavior
changed. We were a novelty to stare at--and we stared and took pictures
too--and then they put on their best faces and got to work. Other
people didn’t do as well. Beryl hit a child while on her bike, and it
suddenly became a serious incident, with rumors that the kid had died and
the crowd becoming hysterical. The local police and a payment to the
family settled the issue. Then Diana was attacked by a psychopath and had
a couple of broken ribs. February
23 was quite cold at night without the sleeping bag. We're still at
7000 ft. Not a good night's sleep. Did 10 k off road, then a 13 k 1400 m
climb, then 20 k of a 1600 m descent. At that point, I gave up. I
couldn’t get warm. Missed the rest of the day, which was easy, until the
last 20 km when the kids were out to injure. I'm told that this was the
worst for the stone throwing and other assaults. I want to get stronger,
not weaker. I also want to get home eager to race and not feel like I
never want to be on a bike again, so I need to pace myself. It's odd that
the kids were so vicious today because this is the first time TdA has been
here, and we're on a secondary road that doesn’t get many white people. This
region looks poorer and the land looks worse. It's very dusty riding
because there's nothing living holding the soil down and it's densely
populated, so I have no idea what's going on with the kids. I try to ride
in a group but that's hard, at least for me, because of the hills. Part of
my difficulty comes from finding that I have the wrong bike. If we were
going thru Kenya I might be glad; maybe the mud in Tanzania will change my
mind. Most (not all) of the racers have cyclocross bikes, which are much
lighter and faster. I'm not in a hurry, but there is a difference between
spending 7 hours on the bike versus 6. On
February 24 we ended at Arba Minch. There are two problems with riding
in Ethiopia--the hills and the kids. The trouble is that our attitudes
towards the two are so different. If we could just think about the kids as
we do the hills, as something that makes it hard but is just a force of
nature, nothing personal, it would be a lot better. No one thinks that the
hills SHOULDN’T be so tough, but we can't help thinking that the kids
shouldn’t act the way they do. Did 108 k today, about 1/3 off road. A
very good day. Good sleep for once, which I think is because we're at
lower altitude. Lots of the ride was a slalom avoiding potholes on the
paved part. Yesterday
the land was poor. Today as we descended it got lush--bananas, mangos,
baboons, and lots of birds, a couple of which I could identify. Then the
last 3 or 4 k was straight uphill to the hotel, probably about a 300 m
climb, but the hotel has a great view of the two lakes below. We're
camping at the Bekele Molle Hotel. I haven’t been worried about human
thieves when we camp, since we have armed guards almost every night. But
now I do worry about baboons and monkeys. I guess from here on. In
Arba Minch I met a traveler from Alaska. He's the guy who drives the
Skagway train, so he has long winter vacations. He's been all over the
country by bus and says he has had exactly one bus ride that didn’t have
a flat tire. Says something about the roads. Birds:
Abyssinian Roller, Lilac Breasted Roller, Grey Heron, possible Marico
Sunbird, and possible Red-winged Starling, Ruppell's and Long-tailed
Starlings, Northern Red Bishop, and a Melba Firefinch. On
February 25 I woke at 6 AM to the restaurant next to where my tent is
playing music. It sounded like the Ethiopian equivalent of the skater's
waltz. My sleep is much better since we lost altitude. We do get humidity
in exchange, which will eventually make things harder. Once we get rain,
it will be much harder on the bike components. So far for me it's just
been tires, and the rear hub. Today is a rest day. We had a boat trip in
Lake Abaya with crocs, hippos, lots of Fish Eagles, Egyptian Geese, and
Goliath Herons. Riding
the bus for part of the 23rd and then taking the 24th on the bike really
showed me why I'm doing the TdA. On the truck you do see Africa, but on
the bike you're in Africa, waiting for cows to cross the road, dodging
goats, and the kids, talking with people riding their bikes. This is as
close as you can get to living in Africa without speaking the languages or
living here. It's good to be reminded that there's still a large gap
between you and Africa, but this is travel as good as it gets. It's still
traveling in Africa, not living in Africa, but it is really being in
Africa. (Some people are better than others at breaking down that gap. The
other night at a bush camp, we were surrounded by people staring at us.
Conor got out his rugby ball and spent a couple of hours, with a few other
riders, playing with the kids, but he couldn’t get through the idea of
teams and sides.) February
26 was 100 k mostly, but not all, off road. Lots of changes in the
land. People look racially different, and whether there's a connection or
not, there was far less aggression from the kids. Beautiful scenery,
mountains, red clay, terracing. The area is less populated, and the land
looks poor. For
the second time on the TdA I missed a turn and got lost. This time I went
2-3 km, downhill, before Harrison rode me down and caught me. The time
before, in Sudan, I kept going on a sandy dirt path through a couple of
villages once I left the main road. I kept going until I hit another paved
road, and waited there for others, since I couldn’t tell whether to go
right or left. A few came by, I followed, and found I'd gone in a circle.
I biked another 150 m on the road and got to where I had left it. I had no
idea that it was the same paved road. Tonight we camped in the bush on a
dry river bed. It seemed totally remote but in the middle of the night
lots of loud cheering. It sounded like the Indians were getting ready to
attack the wagon train. Once again, I have no idea what was going on. Up
until February 27 I've enjoyed all the riding since AA. Lower altitudes,
sleeping better, no more dysentery. But today was the hardest day ever
(version 5.0?). I did 80 k in 7 hours and then flagged down our Ethiopian
truck, cutting 2 more hours off the ride. It just seemed pointless, which
shows I have a way to go for psychological toughness that is at least as
big a challenge as physical toughness. Today
was non-road, not off road. Sand, gravel, rocks, lots of climbs and
descents. Had to concentrate on the road at all times, which is tiring in
itself. It was 60 k and 5
hours before the lunch truck came. Instead of taking a ride with it after
lunch, I thought I'd ride further until it caught up with me. After I got
on the truck, we ran into riders who had run out of water. That's how
tough the ride was. But they're psychologically tougher than I. I rode
well until lunch, but then it was a tough grind that seemed to have no
point. TdA
has never been this way before. This is therefore either a path-breaking
adventure or is irresponsible on their part. Not sure which. We didn’t
know the road, the distance, and on the truck I discovered that the
scenery all day was beautiful. I hadn’t see anything but the road. I'm
very glad I missed the last 17 km. We
camped tonight in a pasture in Yabello at a gas station/restaurant/bar. Cattle
came through our camp to get to the water troughs. The last 3 days have
been at lower altitudes, so we're seeing camels again. While I keep
talking about the physical aggression of the Ethiopians--they throw stones
at each other too--there is also a great deal of physical affection. Men
walk down the street holding hands, or sit together holding each other,
and the same for women, draping themselves over each other, not like
Americans who are so afraid of being thought gay. On
February 28, the last day in Ethiopia, a little girl threw all her
school books at me. I stopped and got off the bike. She ran away but left
her sandals. I picked them up and rode off and she began to howl. A ways
down the road I threw them to the side of the road. Jane thought I was
being terribly cruel, but after almost four weeks of being constantly
pelted with stones, I wanted her to know that there were consequences to
her actions. It felt good. Everyone in camp agreed with me. |
|
The
last 2 days I was simply in survival mode. That’s a pity because it's
quite beautiful with the mountains. Saw warthogs on the first day in
Ethiopia, and hornbills yesterday, so it's becoming more “African.”
The Goha Hotel is at the top of a big hill, which I climbed on the bike.
Most non-racers walked. Climbing on gravel is much harder than climbing on
asphalt. |
