Day Five - Lava Rock Camp to Marsabit

Distance: 86.76km
Ride time: 7:34 (yes, really)
Climb: 927m

Best part: Keeping EFI.
Worst part: Still have EFI - will have to keep riding everyday.

Hooray for Mando days. This was definitely the hardest day of the tour so far. Plenty of rocks, sand and corrugations.

The first 30 odd kilometres up to lunch weren't too bad. It was possible to get a bit of rhythm and momentum. After lunch though, we started to head up hill. This meant that there was no respite from the road surface. I ended up having to stop every 5km to drink and eat - the surface was mostly too rough to try to eat on the bike. On the upside, this meant that I could take plenty of photos.

The scenery was pretty spectacular. In the morning, we were pushing across a plain towards some hills. The further we went, the less desert like it was. Once we got across the plain and into the hills, everything was green. Definitely neat. I dunno if it was neat enough to spend seven and a half hours on a bike though.

The ride today was so hard and unrewarding that it isn't something that I would ever ride it by choice. I would be much more inclined to ride Dindir again. I'm not sure what made this day harder than Dindir, but it definitely was. Part of it was that the road often had four or more channels were the trucks have been. So it is often quite tempting to see if one of the other channels is easier to ride in. Doing this means either: getting off and pushing your bike over; or, trying to ride over the pile of loose rock that separates the channels. The loose rocks have claimed a lot of skin from people's elbows and knees - mine included. Mostly, this is because I still haven't reduced the amount of force required to snap out of my pedals. I often end up teetering for a second, frantically trying to unclip before falling over. Then I am lying on my side, still clipped into my bike. Then I thrash around for a while until I get unclipped and upright. Dignity. Dignity above all else.

Today was also a good day for truck riding. People were putting their bikes on the trucks the night before. One guy said that he felt fine with it, because he'd ridden for the previous two whole days (I guess riding the truck before that) and so he "had nothing to prove." I dunno if any day, or any two days on this tour would be that hard. Today still wouldn't have been any fun, but I wouldn't have been carrying a body full of niggles and whatnot from the last 40 days of riding. But, whatever floats those guys boats I guess. Everyone says that the trucks aren't that fun to ride anyway. Today they weren't going that much faster than I was on my bike. Plus they must be full of the stench of failure.

We are spending our rest day in Marsabit camped in a Catholic Camping Ground. Because I still have a pretty bad cold, I got a room for the two nights. It is a pretty nice room for the 1000 shillings I am paying. Bed, sink, desk and electricity. There is also a glow in the dark jesus and an alpha and omega above the door. Becaue I was still sick with a cold and wiped out after the long day, I went to sleep at 7 o'clock. It was pretty relaxing to wake up at 5am and see the rain coming down outside, being warm and dry.

Dan's Camping Tip: Once you are out of Ethiopia and no longer constrained by the perimeter, you don't have to camp 2 feet away from people anymore.

Gerald's Africa Tip: Eat first. Then look at the kitchen.