The best thing about the ride was definitely the climbing. I'm not really made for climbing (I haven't lost that last 25 or so kilos I'd need to be that), but I still like climbs. I am talking about proper climbs though. Climbs need two things to be proper.
1. Something to look at one you get to the top - even better if there is something to look at while you climb.
2. A descent on the otherside.
If an uphill doesn't have those two things, I figure that you might as well go and ride into a headwind or smash yourself in the stomach for half an hour or something.
Anyway, the climbs here have definitely been proper climbs. Each major one has taken me between two valleys, so I get to watch the valley behind disappear and the view along the separating ridge change. On the first day, there were a bunch of rock spires (minarets?) which were especially cool.
The rest of the days are rolling hills. Some of them have been screwing with our heads. Everything feels like you are riding down a hill, except that it is really heavy going. It takes a while to work out that you are actually riding up an incline. Normally, I don't work it out until I turn around at the top and see how far up I have come. You'd think with my ultra-fancy GPS that will show me the current grade and altitude I'd be able to work out if I was going uphill or downhill.
The feel of riding has definitely changed. All through Egypt and most of Sudan, there were basically two groups at the head of the field then a bunch of slower groups and solo riders behind. These days though, the two groups have split up as riders have tired or ailed. A bunch of the previously slower riders have also started to pick up speed as well. I think that part of this is the effect of hills. It seems harder to have a group stick together if they can't all climb hills at about the same speed. As a slow climber (did I mention that I am still a fat man?) I can't stick with any group for very long once the hills ramp up.
This makes it both less and more interesting riding wise. Less interesting, because you don't really have an option about which group to try to stick with. More interesting, because all the decisions about pace are your own, you aren't constrained by the collective pace of the group.
The more riding on the road I do, the more I enjoy it. Seriously considering getting a proper road bike, instead of the steel beast I am riding on here, when I get back home.
That said, I do spend a bit of time thinking about some of the really nice offroad rides I have done - especially the stuff in Wales. For some reason, being on soil so parched it is cracking apart and rock hard and with no shade really makes me appreciate the wet, soft, loamy soil between all those huge trees. Pretty tempted to change my ticket home to a round-the-world ticket and head out to Wales and Scotland for a while. It would be fricking awesome to do some of those parks with strong legs.
The land here is pretty heavily cultivated. All the valley floors are farmed and towns are full of donkeys and sheep / goat things. All I really knew about Ethiopia before I came here was that they didn't have any food when I was in primary school, so I am trying to reconcile those two things. A student of history I am not.
Nothing else much has happened. My biggest extra-curricular activity is trying to replace my headphones. I broke them in Dindir National Park (yeah, that Dindir) when they fell out of my ears (I guess that even my ear muscles were tired) and wrapped around my rear wheel, with predictable results. So far, backwater Ethiopia hasn't been able to replace my iPhone campatible, inline remote, intra-aural headphones. They do have a wide selection of "genuine" Apple headphones. Addis Adaba is meant to be pretty built up, so hopefully I will have more luck there.
Fingers crossed, my DHL package full of bike bibs will also be waiting for me in Addis. My current crop of bibs is starting to look a bit the worse for wear. Even the ones that were brand new before the trip are a bit beat up. A lot of stuff is like that actually. One of the seams on my tent is starting to open up as well. Could be a bit dicey when we get to the rainy part of Africa - wherever that is. Maybe the fly part of the tent is what keeps the inside of the tent dry. Not really up to speed on the whole tenting thing.
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