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Day 62, 130km to Lilongwe

Posted on March 31, 2013 by mev

Stomach feeling better todsy but still wasn’t 100% so took the truck today. Also, I’d had a scratch on back of my right leg since we left off-road in Tanzania. Tried to keep it clean as possible and use local anti-biotic but looks like it got more infected and right leg a little bigger than the left. So I rode the truck today.

This area is lush and green and increasingly busy as we got to the capital of Lilongwe. After arrival found nearby hotel. Leg was still hurting some and we went to clinic in Malawi. Tests looked fine, but not using different antibiotic to see if it clears up. Otherwise planning for very restful double rest days in Lilongwe.

Day 61, 107km to Kasunga

Posted on March 30, 2013 by mev

Sick. Got my cycling clothes on this morning but then felt sick. Breakfast came back up. Sigh. Rode the truck and got a room at camp. Sickness in my GI tract seemed to be better but my leg was suddenly swollen.

Day 60, 125km to Luvuri school

Posted on March 29, 2013 by mev

Today the statistics were intimidating 2000km of climb and 125km. I was still feeling worn from yesterday so decided to take it easier and ride from lunch.

Ir was dry when I awoke, but drizzle as I packed in the tent. Put my bike on the truck and skipped ahead 65km. Across multiple hills and through some lush areas.

Still raining when I set off but after 20km I could stow my rain gear. There were some smaller hills both to climb and descend – but according to reports, I picked the right half to ride.

After 40km, the racers started passing. Each very focused on grinding out distance as quickly and efficently as possible but still time enough for a greeting.

It was nice to arrive at camp a little past noon. As photo below shows, I wasn’t only one welcoming some sun to dry things out.

There is a school here for ~1000 students with ~11 teachers. We met one who was a peace corps volunteer from Seattle and who had lived and taught in this village the past two years. Apparently this is densely populated area and we see kids running in packs but adults are also back in their homes.

Day 59, 135km to Mzuzu

Posted on March 28, 2013 by mev

Today was a long ride with a surprising amount of climbing. The rains came overnight starting at 1am. I was snug and dry in my tent and hoped it would clear by morning.
Unfortunately at 5am it was still raining. So packed up a went tent and the ride started in the rain. The first 26km were a time-trial with ~16km of mostly flat along the lake and then a substantial 10km climb up the hill.
With the rain, it was beautiful with lots of waterfalls, both little and big. Despite being a time trial, I took the climb particularly easy with stops for photos and to help another rider fix a flat and for a coke stop but eventually got to top of the hill.

From here we descended a few kilometers and then followed the South Rukuyu river through a valley. It was very lush with mixture of crops including tobacco, bananas and corn. Lunch was a welcome break at 71km.

After lunch there was still a surprising amount of gradual climbing left. First 20km to a coke stop at 91km was mostly rolling but after this seemed like a 30km slow gradual climb with occasional headwinds. Took one more coke stop and eventually made it to camp by 4:30pm. Overall a great ride but also a long day. Tomorrow is billed as even more climbing so will have to see if I do a full day or half.

Chitimba Rest Day

Posted on March 27, 2013 by mev

We are camped at a beach resort on shores of Lake Malawi. Beautiful last night with moon almost full. Also had a good solid tropical downpour overnight.

When sixty tech-savy cyclists arrive at these small hotels, we seem to stress all the systems. Limited internet gets tested with variety of computers, ipads and other devices. We’ve got a healthy appetite so kitchen is kept full. The few rooms available get snapped up quickly by first to camp. However, beautiful and peaceful place to be. My laundry is mostly clean from two days ago, so a few bike chores to do and otherwise a chance to kick back and relax before an almost 500km ride to Lilongwe over the following four days. As we leave the lake we’ll climb up the escarpment and have more rolling terrain.

So far we’ve had ~150km of cycling in Malawi. It has been warm and humid, particularly mid-day. Along the lake we saw rice and tropical fruits. This is a poorer country than (southern) Kenya and Tanzania. We see fewer school uniforms and fewer speed bumps in towns. There are more signs from foreign aid donors and the kids are more likely to yell “money”. However, still better behaved than children in Ethiopia.

My bike has been riding well. A US sectional rider (Ben) joined us in Arusha. He brought with him an extra rim. Thanks to his efforts and also Sugar Wheel Works for getting me this spare. He also brought an extra lockout on my front suspension. Not yet installed (we also keep mechanics busy and additional items ahead in the queue).

Photos and other web updates will wait until have a better internet connection but otherwise having fun in southern part of Africa.

Day 58, 92km to Chitimba camp

Posted on March 26, 2013 by mev

On paper today should have been an easy day. 92km of mostly flat along Lake Malawi. Breakfast was an hour later – also with our time change after entering Malawi – and we were also encouraged to get some extra snacks since we might otherwise overwhelm small community of Chitanga Beach.

Cycled out and through town of Karonga with stop at an ATM abd grocery. Today I used my cleated sandals for first time.
The ride started flat as expected but by 20km a head wind had started. Not hard, but just enough to be annoying and slow things down.

On sides of road people were drying corn and a white flaky crop (not sure what it is). These villages were a little more off to the side but I was able to find one with coke stop at 44km. After this, a few gentle grades and I continued with to lunch at 56km. At lunch an enterprising local came up with cooler of popsicles!
After lunch, still some gentle grades and hills but not too far before I came across the last few hills and via Chilenla and the Chitenga Beach camp. Nice for a rest day tomorrow.

Day 57, 162 km to Karonga

Posted on March 25, 2013 by mev

Today we finished Tanzania and started Malawi. A beautiful riude overall with some nice climbs to start out of the Mbeya valley and also some good descents into to more lush and humid areas around Lake Malawi.

It was a long ride and included a border crossing and a time change.

Left the hotel rooms and packed up everything into my locker. The first 12km were busy leaving on the main highway heading east and very gradual climb. However at 12km we left the main road heading to Dar and instead starting climbing. It took 17km to reach the summit as we left the valley behind.

After this we had a wonderful 20km long descent with good grade. It became warmer, more humid and correspondingly more lush with bananas and other tropical fruits. The kids on the side were still well-mannered with a lot of “good morning sir” and an occasional “good morning teacher” 🙂

After this we had occasional climbs with a few steeper ones. Lunch was welcome at 81km.

After lunch we had a sequence of rolling hills with the summit of each hill a little lower than the previous one. We could see Lake Malawi in the distance and came to the border at 115km. Here it was one stamp on the Tanzania side and one on the Malawi side.

I exchanged money without problem at the G8pub. However perhaps half a dozen riders ran into scams at the border. A common way this happened is someone would approach on the street offering a good rate. They would take your cash and dash off to get some in exchange. Come back and indicate that unfortunately wouldn’t be albe to make the trade and hand back what you thought was your money and quickly disappear. As you counted things, you’d notice that the $50 you handed was instead $20 or bills were replaced with counterfeit.

Malawi so far is very flat, hot and humid. There are marshy areas and areas to grow rice. Kids are a bit more unruly here and we’re back to asking for money. Looks poor and now need to learn the new coke stops.

It was a long ride, but we had nice camp in Karonga. It will now get used to the time shift again.

Mbeya rest day

Posted on March 24, 2013 by mev

Quiet Sunday in Mbeya. Dropped off laundry at hotel, washed bike shorts myself, dried my tent, aired the sleeping bag, talked with mechanic on changing chain, typed in 10 riding days of blog posts and arranged photos. Power has been out through town (locals say try 5pm). Not sure when I’ll find working wifi for an update. Otherwise walked around town and rested.

Hair salon next to quiet internet cafe

Carrying a load

Sign for the section ahead

Day 56, 111km to Mbeya

Posted on March 23, 2013 by mev

Today was a spectacular and challenging ride with “top of the world” views and a difficult rocky descent. I cycled the first half to lunch.

Last night camp was noisy with club playing music, people driving motorcycles and lots of people noise. I think many were up early because of this, but also because of the “mando” challenging day ahead. On tap was 2000m of climb and 1500m of descent spread across 111km.

The first 15km from camp was some of the most obnoxious road I had cycled. Rocks had been added to clay soils, so very rocky. In addition, there was a lot more traffic including construction traffic squeezing through. I counted at least 10 large dump trucks, two flatbed trailers and several buses. As each vehicle passed, I’d get off the road and then back on again.

After 15km the road became better, we descended to a river and then started a long climb back up. The road kept winding and climbing. Each corner kept going up. Finally by 32km was close to top and then descent to cross a village. Stopped here for coke stop with few others. Not much longer came across the exotic pub

After village the road became wider and more tracks to find. Also could see where a new road was being constructed. Parts of it were being smoothed out and parts the new bridge culverts were being put in place. In several years, this will become much easier. A few kms to lunch. It was about 12:30pm when I arrived and I was one of the last.

I knew the descent would be rocky and had already decided I’d take the truck down if I could. The morning climbs and tough road meant that I was happy to ride half day was well.

Riding in the afternoon the road slowly started to wind and climb. By 65km started having some great top of the world views and over the next 27km it just kept winding through and along the hills. Looked like some spectacular rides. The area was still lush with an occasional village as well.

The top was at 2500m and then some false descents around the mountains before a more substantial descent. One could see Mbeya below but it took a while before road eventually would its way down. Unlike ascent I was happy to hitch a ride down and later reports confirmed difficult (and slow cycling) for some on the descent. Now in Mbeya for a rest day.

Day 55, 120km to Makongalosi

Posted on March 22, 2013 by mev

Today was a long off road day where we saw a little of every type of off-road surface. I cheered for the smooth sections adn grimaced at the sand, much and hard rocks. It took me from 7:15am to 4:30pm and overall it was a great ride. Best of all, it stayed dry.

No rain last night and also dry in the morning, hooray! The road started a bit sandy and my bike had a strange squeek. Eventually figured the squeek might be a disc rotor. but not after also oiling a hub.
The terrain was rolling all day with ~1000m of climb. Trees and bushes kept us from having much in the way of views, but also provided welcome shade as it would have been hot otherwise. Picture below shows that TDA truck sometimes had as much fun with remaining mud puddles as we did as we could often go around.

There were a few villages and again in mornings we would see children out in their school uniforms. Throughout the day, it would be more common to hear “good morning, sir” – even in the afternoon. I figured this was because school was more often in the mornings and so this was learned better than “good afternoon”. Below was Henri stopped for coke at one of the multiple villages along the way.

It was a slow and steady ride and by 69km reached the lunch stop. Learned here that two bicycles had been stolen the previous night. Rather frustrating and dissapointing. [Epilogue: we learned after this that local police had recovered those bicycles the following day and likely suspects, work underway to get them back to the riders].
After lunch a few more villages and warmer, though fortunately still not too hot. Photo below shows Irin cycling past in one of those villages. At 98km a coke stop and after this the last 22km became very rocky. It was slower cycling and also had some road construction. A short stretch of walking and also several spots to get off the bike and out of the way of construction vehicles.

I was happy to see camp at end of a long but fun riding day.