Iringa Arrival

I am now in Iringa after seven days of riding. It has been the longest stretch of riding days before a rest day. As fate would have it we were blessed with dry days and rain at night. The road conditions we were on are the worst of the tour and we were lucky as had it rained during the day it would have bee mud city. As it is, our bikes were covered with red mud from the evening rain and wil get a good cleaning on this our rest day.

As I was coming into town yesterday it started to rain and I got soaked..was refreshing to start and then I got cold as we had climbed 1600m during the day. It continued to rain all night and up to about an hour ago. I handed my laundry into be done which I do at all oppourtunities I can find and it has hung outside and is still wet. I trust it will dry as the sun is now out. If not then we will have to pack it away wet when we leave tomorrow. I do have a dry riding outfit and for this I am VERY grateful.

I am staying in a room with three others. We have no hot water...no that unusual here in Africa and the TDA people keep telling us that this is a camping trip not a hotel trip. That is all fine and dandy but hot water and a shower after seven sweaty days of riding is a matter of importance....to me:-)... So how did we solve it. We found the rooms that did have hot water and we took turns showering. The feeling of dirt washing off your body is wonderful. I was able to trim my beard and shave so another blessing in my life. Funny how our standards have dropped..."it has a bed and a toliet... lets take it!!!"

We had all forgotten that this weekend is Easter. Today being Easter Sunday we did not have a bunny show up with any eggs or bunnys:-(((...so we are in town looking for chocolate. I am confident we will find some! We were able to find a restaurant that provided pizza for lunch. It was a pizza that had cabbage, beans, peas and other things on it ....very spicy and full of chili peppers. We only had to wait about an hour to get it. We have become use to the pace of "fast" in Africa.


We leave tomorrow morning for a five day sprint. Hard to believe that we are over half way through the tour but not half way through the total distance to be ridden. What this means is that we are headed into very long riding days. The roads improve from here on and the winds are to be at our back. I am trusting!!!

I awoke this morning and found I had my first flat tire of the tour. I was able to change it before we headed to town. Thank goodness it did not happen on the road. Many are the days when riders will have three or four flats on a riding day. Most times another rider will stop to help...or a local. I am amazed at the number of bikes we see being used by the locals. All one speed Chinese models. Rather embarassing as they ride past you up a hill carrying a load of fire wood or goats in a basket. We have all the bike technology and they still out shine us. Jambo is exchanged between us (hello) and they laugh at times as we ride with all our gear. There are no rock throwing kids here...only lovely people who greet you with a smile and a wave.

The new riders are finding the ride a challenge and I see that some are are getting tired fast in some cases. We have been on this tour for a long time and they are riding with a newness that reflects where we were. Some will be with us for a few weeks and others will be with us until Cape Town.

Many of us are looking forward to the end but also not wanting to wish the rest of the trip away. We have many beautiful countries left to see and many more adventures to have as a group and as an individual.

Stay well everybody and I will update from our next rest stop. Pray for no rain for us and great roads...we will need it. We wil be having a party at the half way point in the tour (mileage) and I am looking forward to this as it will bring the whole group together in a different way.