A bicycle ride across Africa

I could still feel effects of the longer ride the day before and particular my right leg was a little more swollen and
felt more sore than the left. However, it was cool riding and with the fairly flat terrain, the riding went quickly to lunch. We crossed one town at 20km and another at 68km. The first was still early to stop and second was close enough to our lunch at 75km so kept going.

At lunch, decided to keep it simple and ride the lunch truck after lunch. After this the road continued smooth and
slightly downhill though reports from riders was that it also got pretty warm without many good stops. So probably the right choice for me.

In the afternoon we had second “bike donation ceremony” (the first was in Arusha). TDA is not only a bike tour company but also has an associated foundation. Each full tour rider contributes fees for one bicycle to donate and in addition some will also raise money specifically for TDA foundation (if you are so inclined, see TDA web site for details). In Zambia TDA contributed a total of 50 bicycles to the local school district. The schools loan them to children as a way of making it easier to travel to/from school and hence improve attendance. The overall ceremony was interesting to watch and included presentation from local kids and talks from local dignitaries.

Otherwise, we’re just outside Livingstone and Victoria Falls for two rest days. My agenda is still mostly on the “rest” side of the equation, but will at least get a chance to be a tourist and visit the falls as well.

A long ride today, but only two larger climbs. So the riding still went relatively quick. My new chain rode well in the big chainring and also in the small chainring but would skip and slip in the middle chainring.

We left on a busy two lane road headed inbound to center of Lusaka. Fortunately we were ahead of the worst traffic. At 8km we turned to ride through middle of the city and then were “outbound”. It started at three lanes each way and
then slowly narrowed to two lanes each way and by 25km we were down to road with one lane each way. However, traffic
was still heavy and we particularly had to watch for oncoming traffic that would try to pass when not quite safe – or
local bicycles that decided to ride the wrong direction and hence headed for us.

At 50km we passed a larger town that had several chemical plants. At 65km we came through an agricultural inspection
station followed immediately by a turnoff road with sign saying “Livingstone 415”. This would be our route for remaining three days. This road started a bit lumpy but got better later in the day. After the turn off we had some gradual climbing followed by larger climb to lunch at 78km.

In the afternoon we also had one larger climb and mostly flat otherwise. It got warmer and so by 89km and 112km there
were some welcome coke stops. There were also some annoying speed bumps the last 10km but still nice to find camp at our soccer field. Photo below shows both edge of camp and village right next door. There was a soccer game but also at times of intermission some goats were allowed to cross and graze the field.

In the afternoon/evening, a few of the staff participated in an “Iron Chef” competition. The cook (John) gave them
each a “secret ingredient”, namely butternut squash, that needed to be used. Each team made three dishes. Photo
below shows a set of riders picked as judges. Staff put quite a bit of effort into this cooking competition made
more challenging with a ~70 riders to feed and fairly tight time schedules. However food was very tasty and extra
work was appreciated by us hungry riders.

Last night was my second turn to do dishes. A few more pots than before but nothing too bad. Overnight some
of the swelling on my leg went down, but I could still feel the leg – so decided to keep taking it easy with
a half day riding today. No pain while riding, though after arriving I could tell I had an active afternoon
at the mall here in Lusaka. Also on ride board in the red heart is a reference to Kevin and Silvia who are
leaving the trip here. They are from Canada and Switzerland, met on the trip and became a close couple. Taking
off from the tour to instead spend time together. Both very nice people (and also very helpful to me when my
leg was so painful) and I wish them the best together.

The photo below shows the lunch truck in early morning light. When you take the truck to lunch, it ends up being
a 5:45am breakfast and a 8:30am lunch. The road was smooth except for a few instances of speed bumps. A little
more traffic on the road but overall polite, except for the occasional honk of “get over to the left”.

We came through a few small towns and also the vegetables in picture below. Red row is tomatoes all neatly
arranged. Temperature was almost ideal as I cycled the last bits (45km of 104km cycled today) and then into
town. The last kilometers the road became a divided road with two lanes each way. After that saw our hotel
on the side and came in to get a room.

My thermarest mattress had developed a slow leak at the school for the deaf in Ethiopia. Most likely I camped
on top of some thorns. On rider, Lindsey, was leaving here so I purchases his thermarest, will be nice to sleep
entire night in luxury. Afterwards, I caught local transport (3 kwatcha) to the mall and did an investigation
of what is here. After that, back to rest my leg as well as type in some things for internet upload as looks
like might finally have some connections here.

A “mando” day today meaning the racers got time bonuses – however also meaning the riding was likely to be longer
or more difficult. My leg was feeling ok, though still swollen. I decided to give it a first try back on the bike.
Plan was pretty simple, get out early and cycle as far as I could before the dinner truck came past. So I organized
things, adjusted/tuned my bike, was first in the breakfast queue and set off as soon as I could.

Nice to be riding again! This was gently rolling terrain. The road wasn’t completely smooth but bumps still not too
bad. We started with some descent and then mostly level/rolling after that. Farms would have the yellow signs with
“Look! Conservation farming pays”, as well as occasional rows with seed lots printed (test rows of genetically modified crops or just different seeds?). Kids would yell different things including “how are you”? I tried different responses but eventually settled on “I’m fine, how are you” and would get responses perhaps 20% of the time.

I got two good hours of cycling in before the truck passed. I was still feeling strong, but wasn’t trying to overachieve on the distance. This got me 35km down the road. The terrain from here in the truck was similar until lunch at 80km. After lunch it seemed like the hills got a bit higher and closer to the road. Looked like potentially prettier but more difficult riding. This brought us to the bridge camp in photo below. Also below that was James coming into camp.