Ever since we’ve started this tour, the nights that I’ve been sleeping through have been rare and far in between. To some of you, this might seem entirely normal. To me, used to not waking up a single time overnight, it seemed like I wasn’t getting any good night’s sleep. More often than not, I’d find myself struggling to fall back asleep.

However, I’m well aware of studies that show that our ancestors—even not too long ago in history—used to have a two-staged sleeping cycle. They would always wake up in the middle of the night, eat and/or do something, and then go back to sleep. Modern humans, when put into a room without any reference to time/natural daylight changes, revert to the same pattern.

Well, it seems I’ve just reverted to our natural sleeping cycle on this tour. Again, like many other things, it took me two months to realize that! Finally, I no longer lie around and struggle to fall back asleep. Rather, I use the time to upload some photos, read or listen to an audio book. Before I know it, I fall back asleep automatically. Doesn’t that make a lot more sense?

Stage 45: Game Post #1 – Soccer Field Camp (Tanzania), 113km

Road & traffic condition:

Scenic dirt road through a game park. For most of the day, the dirt was hard and smooth which made it rather easy to ride on. Only the last 10 kilometers, it became quite sandy, mixed with loose gravel, that made it slippery at times.

We cycled past corn and sunflower fields, . . .

. . . and local villages.

As usual, kids would run up next to us.

As regards traffic, with the exception of a few crazy bus and 4×4 drivers that wouldn’t slow down at all and blew a thick cloud of dust into our faces, only local cyclists, motorcyclists and cow herds used the road.

Even though we cycled through some kind of game park, there wasn’t much wildlife viewing along the way. I only saw a baboon. Another cyclist, however, had a black mambo appear out of nowhere and cross the dirt road in front of her—not the kind of wildlife we’d hope to see!

Weather:

Overcast in the morning, then it looked like rain but we got lucky. Instead, the sun came out.

Culinary highlights:

Wild rice, beef stew, steamed veggie and salad—quite a treat!

While eating our dinner, a local soccer game was in full swing. The teams had arrived standing on the roof of a bus (safety standards obviously not comparable to what we’re used to).

Dozens of kids, teenagers and a few adults surrounded the soccer field and cheered for their favorite teams. Whenever something happened, they all ran into the field. What a spectacle!

Group highlights:

Scenic ride; local soccer match; even though it’s our second night in a camp without running water (and toilets that make us run for the bush), we’ve been able to buy buckets of water for washing. Cold beer, as usual, easily available from a local bar.

Personal highlights:

I’ve thoroughly enjoyed my ride from beginning till end. Even Wynand’s lunch joke—still 2000m to climb!—that I first mis-took for real, didn’t bother me at all.

While listening to a very inspiring audio book (Running for My Life by Lopez Lomong), I slowly pedalled along and enjoyed the friendly greetings of the locals, as well as the children running up next to me. Sometimes they drive me nuts, sometimes I ignore them; today they made me smile many times.