camping in Ketumbeine

saw a solitary bull elephant

camped by a small river 5km above Olkeju Olongishu (Ketumbeine)

went to a bush church.

visited the caves of von Lettow Vorbeck from WWI



We went to Ketumbeine for the weekend. Drove out after church on
sunday. I started packing at 11am and we were ready about 1pm.
Pretty good huh. It took us about 3 hours to get to Ketumbeine, the
road has gotten bad again. Bethany was waiting to take them to a
boma. Steve had the 3rd case of Rift Valley Fever in tanzania since
some ten years. there is a big outbreak in Kenya. Many people have
stopped eating meat, not me. Steve showed me a campsite 6km up the
mountain next to a stream. really nice. so i took all their kids and
two neighbors and went and set up camp. then picked the rest up just
before dark. Steve and Bethany came along and then walked home at
10pm.
Boys did alot of the work .
Next day we drove down to fribergs house and all drove to a church and
hour away. think C & G really liked that. then we had lunch under a
tree and drove a bit and walked an hour to an old WWI cave. Von
Lettow-Vorbeck would fight a battle and while british were bringing in
more people he would run and hide. This cave is up in some hills and
dug about 70 meters straight into the mountain. cool inside. there
are some trenches around the bottom side.

then we left from there. Saw one lone Bull elephant on the way.

How I prevent flats while bush bashing.

Scott commented that a flat tyre could make life difficult 60 kms from home. This picture is of 2 inches of my front tyre. All those white spots are thorns embedded in the tyre. The big ones are 2mm thick. I haven't been into deep bush for a couple of weeks, there are more embedded thorns immediately after a trip.

I rarely have a flat tyre with my current system, and I will ride right over thorns on the mtn bike. In the bush of maasai land it is pretty hard to avoid thorns, even on a maintained road.

However I also take a spare tube, many patches and glue, tools, and stuff like spare spokes. I might even take a spare tyre. I wont ride with someone on a serious bush ride unless they have a similar system. PERIOD.

My system is thorn resistent almost thorn proof. Not the tyres as much as what is inside. My front tyre has kevlar in it and thick. Then I have a 3mm plastic liner between tyre and tube that breaks most thorns and makes the tyre thicker (goat skin also works). Then heavy duty tubes(5 mm thick). THEN I have what is called "slime" in the tube. Slime is the real key. Even if a thorn gets though the 3 layers the slime seals the puncture. If I get a big hole ( > ~3 mm) the slime doesn't seal well, and I might have to patch the tyre.

As I said I can ride my bike over inch long thorns and they either break off or eventually make a pin hole in the tube but it gets sealed by the slime. There are probably a couple thousand holes in a tube that has been in the tyre for awhile. After a trip if I take the tyre off the are a hundred thorns poking through. Sometimes I don't use the thick tubes, the slime works really well.

Needless to say the tyres they are heavy.

Sometimes you have to add air during a ride a few times until it seals all the holes. This usually happens when you hit a rock right where a big thorn was and it gets pushed further in. Sometimes it is just divine justice and the tyre goes down.

On the third day of the Tarangire trip my tyre kept going down. The usual method is to stop and pump it up hard, spin the tyre as fast as you can to spread the slime and then look and see if there is a huge thorn or a place you can see the flourescent slime oozing out. Then you ride on and hope you don't have to repeat the process. Well this time after 3 times we decided we needed an inspection.

Hmm! Somehow I had a thin tube on and there was slime all over the place inside the tyre. I think that the slime in that tube was salvaged from another tube and watered down. El cheapo wanted to save a couple $.
Wes deadpans " that is a pretty thin tube you got there". Which actually meant "What the hell you doing coming out here with a thin tube."

I think we put a different tube in at added a bit of slime and rode on with no problem.

Hmm I like talking about bikes. I wonder if I am in the wrong profession!

Passing through from Germany

One Sunday last month I had an emergency at the office and I rushed in the car. As I was driving the car home in Sakina area where all the bars abound I met a long distance bicyclist coming the other way pursued by a couple of local riders.

Cool I thought as I continued home, wish that was me.

I didn't get much further when I started thinking he could use a home stay and I like discussing their routes etc.

I turned around and chased him down .

"You need any assistance I yell out the window."

"yah maybe"

I pull the car over and he stops. He points to the crank and I figure it needs some repairs/maintenance that I can probably do for him. So I offer a bed as it is 5pm.

His english is minimal. I learned his name later that night it is Frank Blume.

Turns out the problem was the pedal. I never heard how the problem started but the fix done in Nairobi was to bore out the hole for the right pedal on the crank, screw in insert, some brazing and somehow it is a couple degress crooked. And you cant take it off for service.

I look around for a crank but he pointed out that all mine are solid and square and his is hollow and splined crank. New bike! I also almost bugger the spindle taking the crank arm off.

I scratch my head and we pantomine our discussions what to do.

I pantomine we will take the crank arm to a friend tomorrow. It is Sunday night , which is pizza night so Nashesha and I take him to dinner. Mom is in South Africa on a trip. Afterwards I fall asleep watchin his slides.

The next morning we drop the crank at a shop near my house and Frank will go with Kaindi and see what they can do. We discuss and agree to put in another insert.

Me, I have all sort of problems at work so I don't see Frank until 8pm that night. We check it out in the dark and it doesn't look like what i wanted.

Immediately I realize when I am taking the pedal off the the insert also comes off and and the brazing pieces on the end mess up the threads.

Next day we try again and I stand around and make sure they put a flange on the outside and a washer on the inside. another couple hours standing around and we have what does the trick. When Frank was in Dar 600km down the road he said it was okay.

How many bikes should I own?

Owning multiple bikes is not necessarily consumerism. The riding that I do can be quite different, just like I have several pairs of shoes for different walking (although at one time I wore only one pair of sandals).

I would like 4 bikes:
1-Low end racing bike for riding with my club. I would trade the stock wheels for the lightest but strong wheels around. That is where weight matters. Carbon? Maybe, I hear it really is good for the vibrations but I think it makes it too pricey for me.
2-a mtn bike that is unbreakable, always set up with racks and ready to go for 3 day bush bashing trip. Thorn proof tyres, etc. Maybe a rear shock if I can figure out a rack that will carry 20lbs back there. (picture should be hear)
3- a commuting bike, one that looks like shit (no one wants to steal) but rideable. Probably 3 speed, dynamo hub for lights, fenders so I don't arrive all muddy, bell, No bottle cages, and the like.
4- touring bike that can take rough roads, ready to ride to South Africa.

Erik Mdogo's Place, Why not mud?

This is Erik Mdogo's place. It is about 25 km south east from our house in an area called Langerini (spelling?). It is south of Lake Duluti.

I bicycled out there last weekend while the family drove out in a car. I was amazed that the time to come back was about the same time to ride there, even though it is like 200-300 meters lower. About a year ago Nashesha and I rode out, she on the third wheel thing. She did great but 1/2 way home her stomach got sore from the vibrations and we called mom and she got a ride the last 8 km, although by that time we were on paved roads. She went about 40 km that day.

Erik is a friend of the whole family. No that is not quite right, he is family. I can't decide if he is like a son or a younger brother. Everyone in the family loves him. The relatives on both sides of our family recognize him as a member of the extended family, I mean part of their family.
He was in my son's wedding.
We celebrate Christmas with him.
I got roaring drunk with him.
We talk about detachment.
He clubs with nephews and nieces.
The list goes on.

He is the only person outside of immediate family we have invited to move into our house. He stayed about a year when he first moved here.


This is a self portrait he did on my camera on an overnight bike trip . In this picture I think he is saying "Hey the sun is shining and it is good to be alive."


Erik is the most integrated foreigner in Tanzania. He has lived here 13 years or so. It goes without saying that he is fluent in kiswahili. This picture is typical of him. He stops to talk with people, as he was doing in this picture.


He built the above house, using a method called "cob", a bit like adobe houses. People ask, "How can a white man live in a mud house?" I say why not. I wonder if part of our next house should be cob. The walls are 2 feel thick and as you can see the texture and color are beautiful.

My wife Bernice bought some land near there and she wants to build a weekend getaway. Me?, I would rather get away on my bicycle.

Erik built this cob oven. We like to bring sweet potatoes to his place and we cook the potatoes, bread, and roast meat all at the same time.


Oh yeah, the mdogo part came from when he lived with us. I was farming and staff started calling him Erik Mdogo, meaning the younger Erik. I remind him often that I am Erik Mkubwa (older).

Some random thoughts

Random thoughts:

Should this blog be only about biking?
I think there are other things, my wife, kids, family , few friends that are more important, but it would be kind of hard to say the blog is about them. In a sense it IS about them or for them. My work/job is important, and employing and being a good employer is important but not sure I want to talk about work very often. I think this is basically a bike blog and sometimes I will get off the subject of bicycling. I think the bike moments like these...........
















are all about bicycling but through those moments I am a better person for the important things. I note there is a lot of 'wildness' to my bicycling.

Have I been moody?
I think I forget fast when I have stress.



Blogs I read
http://kentsbike.blogspot.com/
http://pernille.typepad.com/uganda/
http://guhle.typepad.com/jespintanzania/



Should we fix up the house.
It is a long story, a partnership gone sour, court cases, friendship, and waiting. It has been 20 years in this house and it is not "finished". Should we fix the front patio? Should we tile the floors? Should we make rock gardens? We don't own the house or pay rent, we stay because we are owed money and can't be kicked out.

No Ride but a party

By mid day I knew the (routine) Sunday morning ride would not be long, and might turn into a short spin. Now I am not even sure there will be any ride at all. Mostly because of "Nyama Choma", a Tanzanian national pasttime.

From time to time someone in my wife's family, usually me, says "lets get together for nyama choma". "Nyama choma" in kiswahili is literally " fire roasted meat", but like "barbeque" it often means somethng more, getting together for drinks, food, meat, talking, socializing, bonding, watching kids run around. This blog will introduce you to my extended family, something that is bigger than the bike.

Sometimes I wonder if I should even pretend to make this a bike blog, there is more to life. But I am not saying the bicycle in not important.

My wife Bernice made the call to family members.

And then started buying and cooking. Here she is in the kitchen. The picture suprises me that we have a microwave (bought 2nd hand 2 weeks ago) and a breadmaker. Two stoves? One gas and one electrical, another story.

Meanwhile I handle buying the drinks and setting up chairs outside.



So the family gathered on our front porch, through the door seldom opened.




It starts a bit slow.

Then the smiles starts on niece Evelyn.

My daughter Nashesha with HER nieces.










It tends to lead to some of us elders drinking until by 10 we were pretty loud and the Tequila was doing its work.







Grand niece Shakira is about as cute as they come.

Reference only post.

This is more of a numbers post for future reference. Last time I did the Lolkisale loop I didn't write the numbers down.

We left at 5:15 and returned at 1400. We had to redo Paulo's triangle bag and that took maybe 20 minutes. We had two long stops, 30 and 20 minutes. I accidently pushed the reset button on the cyclometer but I am pretty sure it is around 80km out the new road and 60km back by the old route.

I think last time alone I got back more like 1500 and was wasted. It was not as hot and I didn't tire out so much at the end. I was really strong right up to getting back on the highway.

I took 5 water bottles (2X1l , 3X700ml) and 500ml chai. two sandwhiches, two snickers (hmmm) two apples and some bananas. I also had some dates along.

I carried some sugar but we didnt get any tea at any bomas.

went past a fair amount of water, water was running in all the seasonal rivers.

Two hours into the ride whene we had gone thorough an hour of black cotton soil I started to think/worry. What if it rains. It would not be possible to ride back through the black cotton soil. It would stick to the tyres and jam the wheels.


Better put at least one picture. This is me getting ready to take a dip on a drift on the way home.

An idea that might work

I also sometimes get out of the habit, and here is a great idea:
http://www.patch.com/words/bicycling/2007/01/04/team-work

Alas I don't think I can find someone in my situation here in Arusha.

Another Sunday Morning Ride

It is becoming a habit now, sunday morning rides beginning on a highway then tracks or paths into masai land with Paulo. This Sunday morning we ride west on the highway to a track and then into masai land on a track to try to reach Purko Mountain pictured above.

It takes me awhile to get organized in the mornings and we got rolling a 5:15 am.

We head into Arusha town and along the edge and then turn due west. It seems there is a head wind but I am not sure. Rarely does the wind blow on that road from the west. It is always from the East. I feel sluggish and I can not decide if it is me, the heavy mountain bike , or the wind. I am used to going along at 40kph on this road on my road bike and now I am doing 20-25kph.

After an hour I stop and check my rear tyre and it is under 30 lbs, so I put it up to 55 lbs. That makes it a better.

I have the same question rolling along in the darkness. "What am I doing?" Night riding is not all that enjoyable.

It gets light and there are few clouds. I take off my light jacket. It is so so green. It doesn't seem so deforested and then we are on the plains and I take this picture.

We keep moving and are 55 km from home and at our dirt track. We ride it to a dam and have breakfast and watch ducks and a few geese.

I am no longer asking the question of what I am doing.
We cross on the dam. Mud is starting to cake on our tyres. We ride for awhile without a track and then come to a definite vehicle track that is new to me. It is the track in the first picture. We follow that along the base of an escarpment . We ride up some ridges and into a gully where water is running. It is so beautiful.

I am doing calculations for what time to turn around. I know the return will be into a wind, and we have some climbing to do. I decide on 9 am latest, so we can arrive home at 12 noon. At 9am the country is interesting and we see 3 herds of zebra and one of some type of gazelles. We see two dark shapes and wonder if they are buffalo so we keep going and going. It is closer to 10am when we reluctantly turn around. The track is a bit rough so we can't really cruise.

Paulo is up ahead, talking to 4 masai women milking their cows out in the open away from their bomas. I come up and he informs me we have been offered tea. How can we refuse?

We ride up to their boma and talk with them while tea is boiling. I give the kids some raisins and then the whole bag. I ask permission to take a picture but the older lady says she wants money. I feel that would change the mood. I sit and listen to Paulo hitting on the young lady and watch the kids eating raisins. I fantasize having a weekend getaway here, next to this boma.

We say our good bye abruptly and make it to the highway at 1030. I do some calculations and figure we might not be home until 1:30 PM due to the wind, and I had promised to be home at noon. On the tarmac highway we cross the river, and I notice that today there is actually a trickle of water. We spin up a long hill and I am happy and surprised by a good tailwind and we cruise up the hill. It gets less steep and I find that we are going 33 kmph up hill! We reach the top and increase our speed until it is equivalent to the fastest down hill speed coming out, 42 kmph!!

Paulo and I look at each other and smile and say WOW! and push it on home.

We pass the Monduli turn off before the wind stops pushing us so much. Now it is more like no wind. I have to stop with 8km to go and swallow a shot of honey and we make it home at 1230!

Great ride. I am a bit beat the rest of the day though.