Day 52 - March 1

It is amazing that it is now March.  I have been doing this for two months!  It is strange to think about all that has happened.  So many things, so many experiences, so varied a terrain and so different a people along the way.

The riding has been extreme.  The average mileage that they quote was a bit misleading due to the off road days.  Those days were in the 50 and 60 mile range but were hell to pull off due to the slow speed.  That made the average mileage appear to be a lot lower than it really is.  It is more of an average in the 80's.

I have certainly missed many of the things that I am used to from home.  I guess the biggest thing is convenience and immediacy.  Back home if you want it you can get it and fairly fast.  Here if you want it you ain't gonna get it.  And if you could, it wouldn't be fast or in the way you wished for.  So it has given me a greater appreciation for even the simplest of things.  A cold coke...  A bag of salty pretzels...  Cold fresh water when you want it...  A pizza...  A bacon cheeseburger...  Spaghetti that tastes like spaghetti...  And of course the really simplest of things, a real flush toilet!!!

This is where I am on the continent of Africa.  I've come a long way and have a long way yet to go.

Milestone Alert - yes another one

Today we crossed the 3,000 mile mark!  We have pedaled 3,000 miles down the length of Africa!

Only 4,500 miles left to go.

Day 51 - Feb 28

Today was an 80 mile day with a tailwind for a good part of it.  That helped quite a bit.  We are traveling down from the border on the main road to Nairobi.  It is hard to believe that it is the main road because a good portion of it is all torn up.  The first 30 miles was off road, I say that because they completely tore up the old road.  It was gravel and loose dirt.  Some places the dirt was 8 inches deep and swallowed the front tire... completely stopping forward progress.  

We hit nice new Tarmac after the thirty and it was fantastic.  Then we hit the no road section again... :(    It was like riding on an old washboard, very rough.

We are in the section of the trip aptly called meltdown madness.  The temp while riding hit 48 degrees Celsius,  that is ...  118 degrees Fahrenheit!  It is now 9:16 at night and it is still too hot to sleep in the tent.  I am just laying here sweating...  :(

Kenya it seems is not as safe as Ethiopia.  We picked up 4 new staff members for our time here.  They are policemen who are as you can see in the picture well armed.  Each one is to travel in one of the tour vehicles.  They say that bandits and heavily armed rustlers work these areas that we are traveling through.  That and the decision has been made to bus us for 175 kilometers through an area north of Nairobi where bandits and Somali groups have been very active.  Better safe than sorry, right!?

Here are a couple of our new staff people.

Here is a road sign from the crew working the road.  

Another road sign.  Not sure if they are referring to the camels or road conditions.  :)

MILESTONE ALERT

Just left Ethiopia!  YES!!!  

Yippee!  Yahoo!  Hurray!  It was so good to shake the dust of that country off my shoes!  

Now we are in Kenya.  :)

Day 50 - Feb 27

Today was a rough and strenuous ride to the border crossing.  It was mostly on torn up roads that made for very rough cycling.  That and a strong headwind came up to add to the enjoyment.  :)

The road was from broken pavement to deep rutted dirt.  You had to keep an intense focus on waft was just in front of your bike to ensure you would not crash or fall into a deep crater.

It was amazing the groups atmosphere when we sat at the border to get out of Ethiopia, quite jovial.  We missed the border hours as we arrived at 12:15 and they go to lunch from 12:00 til 2:00.  Actually, they left at 11:30 and didn't reopen the border until 2:20.  We are talking about Africa time after all.

On the route today we had to wait to let the herd of cattle meander down the road.  This is quite a common occur acne.

The Kenyan influence is seen in the great pride they are taking now in their houses.  As you can see, they are brightly painting them.

And lastly, this was a sign on the bulletin board in the Kenyan border crossing office.  Pretty good...  :)

Day 49 - Feb 26

Fabulous day of cycling!  We cycled 85 miles into a headwind and it still was fabulous.  The scenery and the weather and the feeling just all came together to make a great day.  

We are certainly getting out of Ethiopia.  We will be crossing the border tomorrow into Kenya.  But already the topography, the scenery and the people are changing.  The people have different features, and build than what is typical for Ethiopians.  They are also wearing more of tribal clothes, especially beaded neckwear.  The topography is more of rolling hills than the mountainous structures we have ridden through.  And the scenery has transitioned to arid but more of what you traditionally think of Africa.  One of the riders from Holland said he needed to stop and make the picture because this is what he thought Africa would look like.  And lastly the kids.  Today there were very few kids!  That was great.

We camped in a dust bowl from hell.  The wind whipped up the dust and it covered everything.  There was a fine layer inside the tent even though it was closed.  Then the rain came, a huge deluge of water.  It settled the dust so that it wasn't blowing around but then the dust bowl became a mud hell. Not sure which I prefer other than a different camp site.  But beggars (and that is certainly what I feel I have been religated to :) ) can't be choosers.  

This is a picture of the area I mentioned earlier but in no way represents the beautiful view that I saw but I put it here so I can describe the scene.  We came over a hill and were riding on a ridge when we came to this vista.  Out of the desert arid scenery we had been seeing was a fertile valley that stretched for miles.  It was so breathtaking I had to stop and just look for quite awhile....  It was one of those moments you just have to stop and wrap yourself in.  It was a... Holy cow I am in Africa!  moments.

Priceless!

Day 48 - Feb 25

Rest day!  We are in Yabello which is not much of a town.  Very small and not much to do or see, so rest day is what I have done and it is great!

Went up in to the town and saw life as locals.  Here are some pictures:

He is making clothes for his shop.  Also repairing those from the village.

Here is a local hut that needs a bit of roof repair.  A lot of temporary fixes obviously.

More examples of life in the village.

Day 47 - Feb 24

Had a good day of cycling.  We headed out from our camp through kilometer after kilometer of torn up road.  The Chinese are building roads all throughout Africa.  They are doing this in order to tap into the natural resources.  In this case, they have torn up vast stretches of road and not replaced it.  In many places the road is just loose rock and some gravel thrown in.  It is tough cycling. 

We did 75 miles across varied terrain with of course climbing.  The climbing associated with the ride was 1,422 meters.  As the day went on the terrain began to change.  After lunch it went from trees, banana plants and colorful bushes to semi arid then very arid conditions.  It was amazing the transformation.  

In one section as I was riding up a steep hill a local kid ran alongside of me.  His name was Eli Abdul.  He spoke little English.  He kept asking the same questions all the kids do.  What your name? Where are you go? Where you come?  But the interesting thing of this was what came of the answer to where are you go?!  I said Nairobi.  He then said, what that?  I replied Kenya.  And he replied ...  What Kenya?  Here is the country less than 300 kilometers to the south of his village and he does not even know it.  His world is very small, his understanding does not go beyond his village.  This is a very different world than we know.

Some have asked how my bike is handling this trip.  So far it is performing very well.  The conditions it is going through are so much more difficult than that of my cross US trip.  The roads in some cases are great, in others coarse and corrugated and in many cases, lately, non existent to extremely difficult.  The bike is taking it all in stride.  Scott, I am so glad we talked about the bar end shifters and I took your advice and went with them.  I have long since gone to friction shifting and it has been great.  Many others are adjusting their index shifters due to conditions.  The only thing that would be good could be the addition of shocks.  Although that would add significant weight.  I like the 22.5 pound weight of my bike as I can get her up and running quite easily.   The V brakes have need some fiddling with but that is fairly easy to do on the road.  In summary, I would give my bike an A+ for handling all that Africa has served up so far.  Optimum part of that is... so far.  There is plenty left ahead.

And to end this with the good news....  Only two cycle days left in Ethiopia!!!  Yay!  Yippee!  Yahoo!!!

This is a termite mound or should I say skyscraper.  They say the termite nest goes under ground deeper than it goes up.  This one must be unbelievable in size.  These are all over the area we rode through in the afternoon.

Camels have reappeared in this now arid area we are traveling through.  They are smaller than those in Egypt and Sudan.

This is a common occurrence... either cattle or sheep blocking the road or forcing a course correction.

Day 45 - Feb 22

What a difference a day makes, and as in today not for the positive.

The first part of the day, 78 kilometers, was just like yesterday.  It was great riding and a great experience.  But it all turned after lunch.  The tour leaders told us not to be riding alone.  So after lunch I left with another rider.  Immediately upon leaving the lunch stop a group of 18-20 year old males came over on their bikes and started looking over our bikes.  We pushed off and began riding.  There was 6 of them.  They rode out with us weaving in and out of us.  The asked for our water bottles of which we said no.  Then while we were riding one of them reaches in the back pocket of my cycle jersey and tries to take my phone.  I slammed on my brakes and his hand came flying out luckily without the phone.  I pointed at him and said NO!  They then formed up and boxed us in, two in front one on each side and two in rear.  They were signaling to each other to get what was in the jersey pockets.  We couldn't stop, speed up or evade.  I told the other rider to keep pedaling, don't stop.  I veared over and hit the guy next to me handlebars with mine which sent him off. Then sped up at the lead two and angled them off to the side.  The other tour rider was free to accelerate.  I rode a zig zag pattern behind her as they were trying to catch up and split us apart.  They continued their, as I call it, attack for a good 4-5 kilometers.  I saw a group of police officers and we pulled over.  I told them of the incident and as we were speaking three of them rode up.  I pointed them out.  By then a crowd of locals had gathered.  It began turning ugly, not at the ones who were after us but against us.  The police were of no help and told us "no problem", ride on.  

The situation was as such that I was afraid the crowd would turn on us.  So we pedaled on.  But that was all I wanted for the day.  We flagged down the SAG truck.  

I am back to....  Get me out of this country!!!  I will never come back nor would I recommend anyone ever coming here.  This country is destined for a period of lawlessness, upheaval and/or rebellion in the not so distant future.  And they can have it!

Last night there was another instance where a young rider from our group rode back to a village for a coke and after telling the kids no to "money, money, money"; was attacked by a group of villagers.  He had to hide in a culvert for awhile before he returned to camp. 

Day 44 - Feb 21

What a wonderful day of cycling and I guess in general.  We did 70 miles with only 200 meters of climbing.  It is amazing now 70 miles seems like an easy day.  Cycled along at 28-30 kph and thoroughly enjoyed it.  

Had a unique experience...  there was a local who was on a cart loaded down with bags and bags of a type of lettuce.  I should say overloaded with bags of lettuce.  It was a donkey pulled cart.  The driver of the donkey cart was going at a pretty good clip.  He went to pull off the main road and go down a gravel side road.  He did not make it.  As one wheel hit the uneven side of the road, the cart flipped over on top of him.  A local man pulled him out from under, he was pretty shaken up.  A couple of us turned around and went to help.  The donkey was all tangled up in his harness and gear.  We lifted up the cart to get the donkey free and then helped get the cart flipped back over.  We then administered first aid, antiseptic and bandages to the driver.  I didn't see it but someone said the locals were taking pictures of us helping the man.  Possibly we helped with the relations of cyclists and the locals.

We rode on and stopped at a coke stop and had a nice visit with some locals, didn't understand what they were saying but it seemed nice.  :)

Then we cycled on and stopped at a juice stop where they were making juices from fresh fruit.  I got a pineapple banana papaya one.  :)

The area where we are now is getting hotter and is arid.  As we rode this afternoon we saw multiple dust devils.  They are basically tornados that are made of dust that is created by hot gusts of air.  I saw these as we rode across the US in the desert southwest but nothing like these.  I wish I could attach the video I have of one but I can only attach a picture.  I was less than 50 meters from one and could feel the wind and debris from it.

There were multiple funnels across the landscape.  It was pretty cool!

We pulled into camp this afternoon and was greeted by several ostriches wandering around.  Also, right at sunset I saw a family of warthogs and about 30 antelope.  Great day for wildlife too!   :)

All in all a fabulous day!

The ostriches in camp.

This was the fantastic start to the day.  This is the sun rise as it was coming up between two peaks over the lake.  Wow, what a start to the day!

Was thinking of buying into this vacation club.  Nothing like a timeshare in the middle of a third world country.  Anyone want to get in on the ground floor???

Day 43 - Feb 20

Day 43- Feb 20

Today we departed Addis Ababa.  We took a very circuitous route that took us 26 kilometers.  We rode in a convoy due to the traffic and difficulty of the route.  We certainly saw a diverse side of the city.  It was very congested and smoggy.  Can you imagine 30+ cyclists and 3 large vehicles traversing your city at morning rush hour?  I don't think we improved the relations between cyclists and cars and definitely not truck drivers.  There was a cacophony of horn honking and not for motivation of us as a group.  

The smell of diesel fumes, wood smoke, garbage burning, and sewage in the streets made for an extra special morning ride.  Needless to say, it was great to get out of the city and into the country side.  

Once out of the city the ride was much better.  We were on one of the main arteries so traffic was a bit tough.  But it was good to be back on the bike.  We rode for 66 miles and are camping on the shores of a small lake.  It is beautiful.  Someone commented that they felt like we were on a scene from Jurassic Park. There are huge birds that are flying about that almost look like Teradactils.  They swoop about then land high in the trees.  Quite prehistoric looking.  

Today was the first of five riding days until the next rest day.  These five while not being anything easy will not be anywhere near the tough five days just before the last rest days.  There is one day coming up with 1,750 meter climb but the rest should be manageable. 

Connectivity is tough as I could not work out the SIM card issue with Ethio Tel even after visiting there main offices in three different cities.

So you will probably be reading these days after they happen when I can get wifi.  

This is me being happy to get done with the convoy out of Addis Ababa.

Oh yes and I found a place to get a haircut but they really didn't know how to cut straight hair.  I knew I was in trouble when a couple of local people kept giggling.  Then the guy turned the chair around and I had a virtual crew cut.  Well the good news is I won't need another haircut the rest of the trip.  Problem is my helmet doesn't fit anymore.  :(

Day 41 & 42 - Feb 18, 19

Well rest days are great.  The cumulative fatigue from five days of grueling climbing cycling took their toll.  I have been laying low and letting the muscles rest and repair.  :)

I am in Addis Ababa the capital of Ethiopia.  Eight of us ate at the Sheraton buffet the other night.  Boy oh boy did we do some damage at that place.  All I can say is mass quantities of food were consumed.  It was sooooo good to get real quality food that actually tasted great.  I returned 5 times to the dinner line and 4 times to the dessert line.  I haven't had any sweets for almost two months.  I can't tell you how good it was to get real food.  :)

This is where I am at this point in the trip. We have reached the one third point of the tour in both kilometers and days.  

Only 7 more days in Ethiopia and then on to Kenya.  Can't wait!

Couple of photos from the last day of riding:

Beautiful flora and fauna.