I used to be addicted to reading the news every morning. Sure, part of it was due to my career and the need to be up to date. Part of it, however, was simply due to me thinking I’d miss out on important stuff otherwise.

On this tour, I only check the news every few days. A cursory glance across the headlines of the Economist, Financial Times and other reputable sources makes me put my phone away after less than a minute. Nothing attracts my attention, or seems to matter enough to spend time on.

There are more important and valuable things in life than reading the news—such as living each day to our full potential, or at least trying to. Stop following, start living 🙂

NB: I mean this in an exaggerated way. There still are interesting news articles worth reading, but not those that become irrelevant few days later.

Stage 47: Biti Manyanga – Makongolosi (Tanzania), 120km

Road & traffic condition:

Little traffic, but the road conditions were terrible. Deep, heavy sand and mud in the morning.

Deep & heavy sand challenging us during our morning ride

Lots of water puddles from yesterday’s heavy rain.

Water puddles and mud making us get off our bikes

Terrible corrugation and rocky road for the second half making us wish back the sand.

Weather:

Overcast, then hot & humid. Fortunately, no rain, which would have made several stretches of the dirt road impossible to cycle.

Culinary highlights:

Chicken curry and coleslaw.

Group highlights:

Too many kids at camp, some of them a little naughty, throwing stones onto my tent when it got dark.

At dinner time, they had a soccer match next to our camp, which made some people worry about their tents and hope that the goalie would catch each ball.

At least the locals were selling us water again. So, even though this has been our 4th night without shower, we’ve been able to wash every day.

Locals selling us buckets of water to wash

Personal highlights:

Making it through the difficult terrain without falling, in an above average time. Even though today was technically very challenging and many people fell (again without serious injuries, fortunately), I enjoyed most of the ride. It required a lot of focus all the time in order to stay on the bike. I simply enjoyed the challenge itself, and the fact that I’m slowly starting to get the hang of cycling through sand without falling.