Is bicycle commuting dangerous in Arusha? version 4

I changed my mind. It is dangerous and risky. I was scared about 6 times on the 20 minute ride to work. I yelled 3 times, once when a motorcycle speed around me then veered off the road in front of me.

But I am still going to do it.

Driving a car scares me also.

Mika am waiting for you to ride to SA.

What's it called when you tick off one of those items from the "To do list before I die"? This is Mika Peterson who helped me tick off climbing the big diagonal crack on Longido. I need him to help me do the ride to South Africa. Not becuase I need his physical help but because he will just someday say, "Okay we go next week" and we will go. That is what happened with Longido crack.

Mika is about as cool a godson an old man could ask for. He is ~23 now, strong as all get out, dred locks to his shoulders, likes the bush, and is so mellow. His only drawback is he is too sought after by women, so he is not always available.



If you climb far enough on Mnt Meru you get to ride in this.

And then of course you get a screaming single track through trees, but we have only a few weeks left as the soil turns to dust..

Another commuter in the family

Nashesha has been saying for a year she is ready to switch from bus to riding her bike to school. I kept thinking the coordination of an escort was complicated.

We live in a town that is mostly safe, but a 12 year old girl riding alone might be tempting thieves. And she has to cross two crazy highways and then ride through some secluded areas. My son Seth did it when he was twelve but that was 15 years ago and he is a boy.


School resumed Monday and we informed the bus that Nashesha would not ride the first week of school in the bus. Today we will tell the bus we thank them for their services but we don't require them anymore. So that means we have another commuter in the family, she has made the commitment.



I rode the first day, and the second day morning went with Paulo and Nashesha, but Paulo met her and rode shotgun on the ride home. I left word she should call when she got home, so i would know she wa safe. She called but thought i was crazy.

The next day I text her in the late afternoon, "Mambo? How was the ride home?"

I get response back "Fine. Im grown up now! ok?"

I have to stop worrying about her commuting to school by bike.

We still have the issue of when it is raining, what to do about feet and pants but have some time to figure that out.


Today is friday, and I need to be in office early, and she is fun to ride with so i ride with her to school just for fun. I leave her at the road to lock her bike herself and ride into town.

Which is another story. I pass long long lines of slow moving traffic. How do you put up with it people? I figure i spent 25 minutes from school to my office and people in cars 40min.

Bicycling clothes

Sometimes a cartoon fits. This is my philosophy about bike clothes for most commuting rides.