Day One - Arusha to Lakeview Camp

Distance: 105.56km
Ride time: 3:48
Climb: 545

Best shuffled song: You Were the Last High by The Dandy Wharhols (honourable mention to Shake That by Eminem)

Today really started yesterday for me. I had to arrange my taxi to get from the hotel to the campground early in the morning. The front desk pointed me towards the doorman who hooked me up with a taxi driver. He wanted 10k to go down to the camp. This is about twice as much as it should be. He reckoned it was because it would be early in the morning so he had to charge extra. I told him: "That's cool, you can sleep in tomorrow and not make any money." My lightning wit won me the haggling battle.

When I turned up at camp, there was a bit of a problem. I no longer had a bike helmet. I wasn't sure whether I'd left it at the hotel or if it had gone walkabout at the campsite. I looked around pretty good but couldn't see it anywhere. Luckily, our route for the day was going to take us back past the hotel, so I would be able to check my room on the way back out. I got a humorously small loaner helmet from the truck and headed off for the day. I powered up to the hotel but my room was empty. I was definitely starting to get a bit annoyed. Having to get a replacement helmet sent across was going to take a lot of time and effort. Not a good way to start the day.

The first few kilometres out of town were pretty hectic. A lot of dodging around traffic and pedestrians. Made a bit harder by the ubiquity of potholes (ubiquity is a $50 word). Being a safety conscious person, I managed to get a shot of Joss and Gerald on my way by. You can't really see Gerald because Joss is completely eclipsing him. In a convoy, this would have been a bit stressful. Riding solo, it just makes it entertaining. I guess until you smash into the side of a cement truck pulling out in front of you.


After town, we had an awesome set of rolling hills out to about the 40km mark. These hills were perfectly made for being smashed up. I didn't drop much below 35 for most of it. So much fun I forgot all about the helmet. On one of the slight downhills, I went by a local rider at 42km/h. I was on the drops, so I could still see their shadow right behind me. Since I was enjoying riding solo, I came up a little out of the saddle and put everything I could into it so that I could drop them out of my draft. It worked. For about five seconds their shadow dropped back. Then they caught me back up. I finally stole a quick glance over my shoulder and found out it wasn't the local rider after all. It was Gerry, one of the sectional riders, using me a domestique to catch back up with Viv, his partner. Much less demoralising than being drafted by a guy in long pants riding a clapped out clunker.

I was feeling so good, when I caught up with Stuart and Gisi I went right on by and kept going. After 40km, the hills became a little more sustained (not much more, as you can see from the total climb for the day) and I had to start changing gears. Still I felt pretty good getting into lunch. I was a bit worried about the rest of the ride. Our brief had been for 20km of dirt at the end of the day. Not something to look forwards to eagerly on a fully rigid bike. I got to 80km and started working out average speeds and when I could get to camp. Then 85km came up and no dirt. 90, 95 and 100 all rolled around with no dirt. It seems that the construction in this section had all been finished. In the end we only had 800m or so of dirt from the road down to the campsite.

All day, the views were awesome. We are going through really green farmlands set against some distant hills. I know I saw this about almost everything, but it reminds me of riding down Yass Road towards the Brindabellas. More crops and less cattle though. And there is no river at the bottom that you can swim in. Also, houses are made out of wood and thatch here. Apart from that though, its a dead ringer.

Gerry, Jethro and Viv powering up the hill while I am taking photos.

The views were worth it though.
While I was waiting for a bucket shower, Paul came up to me with a surprise. Someone had put my helmet in some box in the truck. I have no idea why it was there. It was sweet to get it back.

Gerald has bought a new shirt from a gas station. The front reads "Well spotted I am a Mzungu". The back has "And no, I don't have any: money; pens; chocolate". I think that you'd have to have walked or cycled across Kenya and Tanzania to really appreciate this shirt.

Dan's Camping Tip (guest written by Gisi): If you see a tree that has many birds in it - don't put your tent up underneath it.