Coming into Mbeya, cornfields covered the agricultural landscape as we climbed our way up to higher altitudes. Today, cycling out of Mbeya, it was mostly banana plantations to start with. 50km into our ride, we entered a busy village. Banana was sold in big bushes everywhere, something like a banana wholesale trading point. I...
Day 70: Raiding the best coffee shop in Mbeya
Finally, after seven consecutive days on the bike, we’ve had a rest day again. This time, we stopped in Mbeya, the largest city in southern Tanzania. Though spoilt by scenic green hilly surroundings that—while cycling through—at times looked like just back home in the Swiss or Austrian alps, the city of Mbeya itself is...
Day 69: If you stand still, you will fall—always keep moving
On a steep rocky uphill, I shifted down to my lowest gear. I kept pushing the pedals, but—unexpectedly—my bike didn’t move. And when you don’t move, you lose balance. And when you are clipped in with your cleats, you can’t catch yourself. Logical consequence—I fell over like a dead-weight! Luckily, I didn’t hurt myself...
Day 68: Reading the news is a waste of our limited time on earth
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...
Day 67: Running barefoot is good for the kids
Kids seem to be everywhere in Africa. As soon as they see us coming, they run towards, if not into the middle of, the street. Often, when we go past, they keep running next to and after us. In the remote rural regions, unless still wearing their school uniforms, they usually run barefoot. “They...
Day 66: Follow your natural sleeping cycle
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,...
Day 65: When buying fancy gadgets, better use them properly
My Garmin watch keeps resetting from kilometers to miles these days. (I think this might be because I’m trying to connect it with my new phone.) Only because of that, because I had to venture into the depths of its system settings in any case, I felt incentivize to also customize my interface so that...
Day 64: I can “read” a book a day while cycling through Africa
I’ve listened to audio books throughout my entire cycling day today, finishing the one I started yesterday, and making it almost to the end of another one. (No, it’s not dangerous. I only use one earplug, and traffic always has priority.) Usually, I like reading a lot, especially before going to bed, but due...
Day 63: Don’t blindly trust your gadgets
Today, we’ve had our longest cycling day so far by distance—172km. No problem, I was up for it. Just that my day didn’t start well. My rear tire, that I had spent over an hour fixing last night and that Ed had helped me check that there was nothing sharp stuck inside the tire,...
Day 62: Great rest day in Arusha
This might as well have been my most relaxing yet productive rest day so far. With all my washing done on our last cycling day and/or during our safari, the only thing left to do this morning was to clean my chain. I noticed that my rear tire had gone flat during the transport, but...
