Fundraising status: 3909,23€ or 34% reached, a massive thank for the one contributing ! Unfortunately the pace is slowing done over the last weeks but the need for education is not, therefore please support lessons for life, any amount is welcome! For all my Cologne friends, now that you don`t have to spend money on drinks, don`t hesitate to do a donation ;-). Thanks a lot and If needed, the link is still here
Stage 38: Marsabit to Laisamis
KM: 94.58 km
HM: 355 m
Time: 3h22 minutes
Flat tires: 0
Liter of water: 6 + 3 sprites
Strava link
Stage 39: Isiolo to Nanyuki
KM: 73.47 km
HM: 1366 m
Time: 4h32 minutes
Flat tires: 0
Liter of water: 4 + a milk shake and a beer..
Strava link
After a rest day in Marsabit focused on not doing much, except fixing my tent and the standard chores like cleaning the bike and so on, it was time to hit the road again.
The first stage of this section brought us to Laisamis and we started with a nice and relaxed 40 km of downhill and at the end of this downhill, we reached the 4000 km!
The next 55 km were quite easy and Baldr, Nick and I finished the day at 11:00 after enjoying a few cold drink in the village of Laisamis.
As our camp was located on a school, we took the chance to play volleyball with the local kids and after one set it was clear that we should definitely keep on biking ;-).
The next day was unfortunately a bus day as the Kenyan police was not allowing us to bike between Laisamis and Isiolo due to some political unrest.
The next stretch from Isiolo to Nanyuki was a bit of a special one as the TDA crew created the Nanyuki challenge. This challenge is mainly due to the fact that we will, just after Nanyuki, cross the equator and have a cross-gender party. For more details, you can see the rules in the below pic.
And off we are, early in the Morning, I (dressed in a pink kenyan dress) and the rest of the team started our day together. And to be honest, on top of seeing some absolutely amazing landscape as we biked around Mt Kenya, we had a lot of fun. Exchanging my bike with a local guy, making picture of us bribing a policeman (actually he kept the money…), having a beer with a local, making some crazy pictures and finally buying a chicken instead of bringing eggs, this was quite a crazy funny day. Unfortunately our team did not win the challenge but we were the only full team participating to the party afterwards and we therefore feel a bit like the winners ;-).
Stage 40: Nanyuki to Sagana
KM: 103.65 km
HM: 594 m
Time: 3h33 minutes
Flat tires: 0
Liter of water: 4 + 1 coffee
Strava link
Stage 41: Sagana to Nairobi
KM: 50.79
HM: 651 m
Time: 2h22 minutes
Flat tires: 3
Liter of water: 2 + 1 coffee and and an ice cream
Strava link
The morning of stage 40 was quite a tough one, the cross-dressing party being way longer than planned it was not so easy to start the day and to get ready for these 100 km of biking after only a few couples of hours of sleep. Anyway, we have no other choices than biking therefore Baldr and I started to bike together with our respective headaches and after 3 km stopped for the standard equator picture (so cliché ;-)) the next 50 km brought us in a very lush and green landscape giving us a slight jungle feeling. After lunch, the last 44 km till camp were mostly downhill and would have been amazing without Kenyan drivers! during that stretch, we realized that the Sudanese bus drivers were only school kids. The Kenyan drivers are the real road psychopaths! I have never been so focused on my bike. The rule is very simple, bike < car therefore a car will never brake for you. And I`m not kidding or exaggerating, during these 44 km I had to jump out of the road a few times to avoid a car which was coming towards me. Some riders even started to ride on the side of the road on the dirt to stay alive!
Hopefully we finished this stretch quite quickly and could enjoyed a beautiful campsite located along a river and with a pool!
The last stretch of this section was supposed to bring us to Nairobi but due to the risks on the road, the TDA team decided to shorten it and we therefore only drove 50 km out of the 110 planned. Even if I can definitely understand this decision, this was unfortunate as the roads were quite OK (as we were a Sunday morning, traffic was way lighter) and the landscape was wonderful. We therefore enjoyed these 50 km at a very relaxed pace and reached the meeting point around 10:00.
And the meeting point was nice, a beautiful hotel with a luxurious garden, many Monkeys and a delicious latte macchiato
And here we are, after 4259.89 km, 18968 hm and 165 hours and 12 minutes on the bike, the ninth section is over! And I know that it is getting boring but still nothing to mention, the legs and all the rest are still doing pretty well. Now ready for a rest day in Nairobi (main mission buying anew cell phone and visiting friends).
And as usual, you can find a new gallery here
Fred
Tobias
18 Mar 2019Hi Fred, glad to see you compensated carneval very well with your costume. As spring will slowly start here I miss you for some rides on the bike, but I must admit that your landscape is slightly more spectacular… Keep it up, enjoy every inch and stay safe! Cheers from Cologne
Fred
18 Mar 2019Thanks Toby, and if you really need some biking buddies, crazy Seb is always around 😂. BTW hope that you enjoy your parental leave! Cheers Fred