UPDATED February 8, 2008

BY Henry Gold

IN Tour d'Afrique

no comments

UPDATED February 8, 2008

BY Henry Gold

IN Tour d'Afrique

no comments

Hard Riding in the Hills

If you had one word to describe today, what would it be?

Difficult. –Josh
Tough. –Bent
Too tough. –Rod
Awful. –Johanna
“I looked at my watch and wished I was in the office.” –Mark

The response that I’ve received thus far indicates that this was the most grueling riding day of the tour, both physically and mentally. What can I say? We’ve had our first taste of the hills/mountains of Ethiopia, the hard-packed dirt/gravel roads, and the HEAT. I think it was the hottest day we’ve experienced, topping out at 42 degrees Celsius, which can be debilitating. Needless to say, yesterday’s amazing brothel showers are long gone, as we arrive into camp covered in sunscreen, salt (from sweat) and the fine dirt of the road. Personally, I’m wallowing in my dirtiness, happy to have met such a cycling challenge, and outrageously excited to be in the mountains. I’m sure three are a few other optimistic individuals as well.

If I’d written this at the lunch truck, I think the response would have differed, being more positive. The mountain bikers should be ecstatic, getting off the pavement and onto the excitement of a dirt road; the road racers, however, or at least those without a front shock, are definitely feeling the pain.

Despite all this, we’re experiencing a certain reprieve—the people that we passed today were friendly, no kids throwing rocks. We’ve got a spectacular campsite, here in the mountains, and mostly have the place to ourselves, as opposed to our future campsites in this country, whereby we’ll have to put up a perimeter rope in order to keep the people out, and have to get used to the curious watching us do our business. Let the games begin!

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