23 April 2012
Single track is for kids.
I managed to get out both Saturday and Sunday for ~4 hour rides. There was a scheduling thing so Junior Hemed came alone on Saturday. Junior is grade 11 and I met as a school leader.
On Sunday there were 5 of us and including another two students. I chose the exact same ride for motivational purposes. After one struggles to climb high up on Mnt Meru you are rewarded with 10km of riding like this.
We all like down hill single track through trees, but it is really for kids and the kid is us over the hill wannabes.
The other commutter riding off in the rain
although it doesn't look like it was raining it was raining.
15 April 2012
Airport shuttle
I travel by plane 6 to 10 times per year to Dar es Salaam for work or board meetings of TzNIC.
Which means some excessive use in fossil fuels. The shuttle to airport is public transport so okay, but in dar I use Taxi. And of course the plane ride is immoral, LOL.
I have posted before that I need a bike in Dar to get around as I can spend 40,000 to 100,000 shs on taxis and often get caught in traffic jams. I haven't worked out a bike for my use in Dar yet.
Saturday I was booked on the 750am flight from KIA (Kilimanjaro Int Airport) to Dar. The Shuttle leaves at 5am from Arusha Town Center, which means I have to leave our house in a car at 445am to wait in the shuttle so i can wait at the airport. Last checkin is 40 minutes before departure.
So crazy me decided to try biking from home to the airport, about 55 km away in the dark with my overnight bag.
I got out of bed at 4am, packed, made coffee, showered,strapped my overnight bag on top of front rack and started riding at 5am. I was planning to depart earlier. So I left later than I would of if I had been going to use the shuttle!
I had one pannier with bike stuff (rain gear, tools, spare tubes, lock, etc) and some stuff from my overnight bag . The overnight bag was pushing the front light down, so I had to adjust how I had strapped the bag on.
At 5am there are a few pedestrians and sparse traffic. My lights showed me the road, and most of time I could ride in the middle of the lane. There were times when for 5 minutes no car passed me.
My lights need to be a bit brighter stil, as when there was other light sometimes I couldn't see the road well. In addition it was drizzling off and on , which made the road darker and absorb light.
I didn't push hard but wasn't going slow either. It took about and hour to pass Usa River in the dark. On downhills i would brake a bit.
It got light after 610 am and the wind increased against me. I began to worry I might not make the 40 minutes cut off before a flight. I increased the pace and started to sweat. The last 10 km flat stretch my speed slowed and then I turned off to the airport realizing I would make it 50 minutes before take off.
Except I found getting permission for storing my bike somewhere was taking more time than I budgeted so I gave up on inside a locked parking lot and I left it with a curbside baggage handler to deal with. He was helping me anyway. People were a bit surprised someone showed up on a bicycle. I found they were not even checking in people yet (bad sign) so I had time to take a sponge bath and change my clothes in the rest rooms.
The Flight was canceled and we were all booked at 1030. I missed the first two hours of the meeting but got to talk to an Austrailian girl who has a boyfriend here. She had seen me on the bicycle on the way to the airport, and was surprised.
Coming back I was booked from Dar on the 0720am flight. I got a taxi to drop me, 20,000shs. As usual I knew at least one person on the flight, and this time it was my friend Gijs who owns Moivaro Lodges. He introduced me to Nyaga Mawalla , a famous lawyer and client of ours. I have never met him. He praised our Habari Node Ltd .
Anyway I brag to Gijs about riding my bike to the airport, but accept a lift with him so we can keep talking on the ride back to Arusha. They dropped me on my side of town and I cycled home. What would of made it better is to have ridden bikes with Gijs to Arusha and talked for two hours instead of one.
So what was the biggest issue? The biggest issue is getting permission from my wonderful wife Bernice to ride alone in the dark.
The next step is to try biking in Dar, followed by biking the whole 650km to Dar in 1.5 days.
Which means some excessive use in fossil fuels. The shuttle to airport is public transport so okay, but in dar I use Taxi. And of course the plane ride is immoral, LOL.
I have posted before that I need a bike in Dar to get around as I can spend 40,000 to 100,000 shs on taxis and often get caught in traffic jams. I haven't worked out a bike for my use in Dar yet.
Saturday I was booked on the 750am flight from KIA (Kilimanjaro Int Airport) to Dar. The Shuttle leaves at 5am from Arusha Town Center, which means I have to leave our house in a car at 445am to wait in the shuttle so i can wait at the airport. Last checkin is 40 minutes before departure.
So crazy me decided to try biking from home to the airport, about 55 km away in the dark with my overnight bag.
I got out of bed at 4am, packed, made coffee, showered,strapped my overnight bag on top of front rack and started riding at 5am. I was planning to depart earlier. So I left later than I would of if I had been going to use the shuttle!
I had one pannier with bike stuff (rain gear, tools, spare tubes, lock, etc) and some stuff from my overnight bag . The overnight bag was pushing the front light down, so I had to adjust how I had strapped the bag on.
At 5am there are a few pedestrians and sparse traffic. My lights showed me the road, and most of time I could ride in the middle of the lane. There were times when for 5 minutes no car passed me.
My lights need to be a bit brighter stil, as when there was other light sometimes I couldn't see the road well. In addition it was drizzling off and on , which made the road darker and absorb light.
I didn't push hard but wasn't going slow either. It took about and hour to pass Usa River in the dark. On downhills i would brake a bit.
It got light after 610 am and the wind increased against me. I began to worry I might not make the 40 minutes cut off before a flight. I increased the pace and started to sweat. The last 10 km flat stretch my speed slowed and then I turned off to the airport realizing I would make it 50 minutes before take off.
Except I found getting permission for storing my bike somewhere was taking more time than I budgeted so I gave up on inside a locked parking lot and I left it with a curbside baggage handler to deal with. He was helping me anyway. People were a bit surprised someone showed up on a bicycle. I found they were not even checking in people yet (bad sign) so I had time to take a sponge bath and change my clothes in the rest rooms.
The Flight was canceled and we were all booked at 1030. I missed the first two hours of the meeting but got to talk to an Austrailian girl who has a boyfriend here. She had seen me on the bicycle on the way to the airport, and was surprised.
Coming back I was booked from Dar on the 0720am flight. I got a taxi to drop me, 20,000shs. As usual I knew at least one person on the flight, and this time it was my friend Gijs who owns Moivaro Lodges. He introduced me to Nyaga Mawalla , a famous lawyer and client of ours. I have never met him. He praised our Habari Node Ltd .
Anyway I brag to Gijs about riding my bike to the airport, but accept a lift with him so we can keep talking on the ride back to Arusha. They dropped me on my side of town and I cycled home. What would of made it better is to have ridden bikes with Gijs to Arusha and talked for two hours instead of one.
So what was the biggest issue? The biggest issue is getting permission from my wonderful wife Bernice to ride alone in the dark.
The next step is to try biking in Dar, followed by biking the whole 650km to Dar in 1.5 days.
13 April 2012
Weight difference
Steve Friberg was returning from the USA this month so I ordered by mail items I cant find here:
-O2 Rainshield Rain jacket
-o2 Rainshield Rain pants
-brooks saddle
-brake pads
-O2 Rainshield Rain jacket
-o2 Rainshield Rain pants
-brooks saddle
-brake pads
They came last night. This morning I took out the crap raincoat and pants out of my bag and put in the new bright yellow ones. At work I was surprised how light my bag is now. I hadn't notice riding but carrying in my hand i noticed.
Bring on the rain! I am ready to commute in downpours.
Bring on the rain! I am ready to commute in downpours.
05 April 2012
More spares
Life gets better and finding used spare parts gets better.
It starts with something negative.
On way to work, I ride through a neighbors plot with thier barbed wire fence down on the ground. Somehow it gets caught in my front tire, it comes up and breaks my front fender and I go on the ground. Of course it is in front of the builders on the plot next door.
So I stop at the used bike shop on the way to work and place an order for a fender. While snooping around Goodie brings out a complete shimano wheel set. It has internal dynamo and shimano light, AND the special wire connector! I want it!
He also shows me a low rider rack, some fork clamps. A day later I have the fender and new wheel set. the light is not as good as my LEDs but I now have two dynamos on this bike
One of the lights I found. I made the mount out of steel flatbar. A bit heavy. It sits nicely out of the way of everything.
I wanted a front rack and have found a number of them, but my fork doest have brake mounts on each fork. So i was thinking of having them brazed on. Then Goodie came up with these clamps! they work great.
When my bike got stolen I lost the last of my rear blinkys. I tried to find a 6v one to run off my dynamo but couldnt so for now i taped a reflector over another light and mounted backwards.
I find two mismatched pieces of metal to bolt on the fender mount so the lower panniers hooks are hooked here.
It starts with something negative.
On way to work, I ride through a neighbors plot with thier barbed wire fence down on the ground. Somehow it gets caught in my front tire, it comes up and breaks my front fender and I go on the ground. Of course it is in front of the builders on the plot next door.
So I stop at the used bike shop on the way to work and place an order for a fender. While snooping around Goodie brings out a complete shimano wheel set. It has internal dynamo and shimano light, AND the special wire connector! I want it!
He also shows me a low rider rack, some fork clamps. A day later I have the fender and new wheel set. the light is not as good as my LEDs but I now have two dynamos on this bike
One of the lights I found. I made the mount out of steel flatbar. A bit heavy. It sits nicely out of the way of everything.
I wanted a front rack and have found a number of them, but my fork doest have brake mounts on each fork. So i was thinking of having them brazed on. Then Goodie came up with these clamps! they work great.
When my bike got stolen I lost the last of my rear blinkys. I tried to find a 6v one to run off my dynamo but couldnt so for now i taped a reflector over another light and mounted backwards.
I find two mismatched pieces of metal to bolt on the fender mount so the lower panniers hooks are hooked here.
Stubborn or Fortitude?
Wednesday morning is my day to take the morning off and meet with my club at 7am and ride ~60km. Mostly the middle part is allot of interval training.
Yesterday it was raining hard and another age challenged rider said he wasn't going. Nashesha was having issues getting out the door and on her bike, so decided to ride with her to school and then ride alone for couple of hours.
It rained lightly all the way to her school and then started to rain harder and harder as I rode towards Oldonyo Sambu.
Eventually it was pouring and blowing at me. I had on a rain jacket but my shorts were soaked. It occurred that maybe I should just turn around but I kept going .
I then reflected upon the fact I just kept going out of stubbornness. I suppose that is how i get through everything in life. I just keep going .
Yesterday it was raining hard and another age challenged rider said he wasn't going. Nashesha was having issues getting out the door and on her bike, so decided to ride with her to school and then ride alone for couple of hours.
It rained lightly all the way to her school and then started to rain harder and harder as I rode towards Oldonyo Sambu.
Eventually it was pouring and blowing at me. I had on a rain jacket but my shorts were soaked. It occurred that maybe I should just turn around but I kept going .
I then reflected upon the fact I just kept going out of stubbornness. I suppose that is how i get through everything in life. I just keep going .
22 March 2012
Spare parts
Went shopping for brake pads at the second hand bicycle shop.
Goodie disappeared within his spare parts section, and while I was sitting I noticed a shimano dynamo hub on a bicycle hanging on his for sale section! I looked around to make sure no one else was noticing my interest and also get interested in it.
When he came back I asked "Have you tested it." He said it works and he has another one in the room that he had removed from a rim.
For 23,000 shs ($14) I walked away with these spares. the brake pads are too hard but I don't see a short term alternative.
Wow a Shimano DH 3N30 3Watt dynamo hub!!! If it works it is a steal ($10).
Although in the mean time the old style dynamo that runs off the tyre has been working flawlessly for months, so I added another light to the front.
posted from Bloggeroid
15 March 2012
Brenna Coupland, solo bike tourist! You rock girl!
I have a habit and hobby of inviting bicycle tourists to stay with us. Brenna Coupland was the latest and one of the most inspiring. Her website . She is living one of my dreams. One of the most minimal journeys I have seen. Her budget is like nothing. Despite having a very full bike with ton of gear. Also the first person I have been around who really uses an IPhone for everything.
The girls as one rides off towards Egypt and another rides to school.
We did a short ride into Masai land.
The girls as one rides off towards Egypt and another rides to school.We did a short ride into Masai land.
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