Muddy Mayhem

Day Four- Northern Kenya

Northern Kenya is working us with all its magic. After an overnight storm in Marsabit, we were faced with a morning of crazy strong swirly winds (mainly headwinds and crosswinds though, obviously- No tail winds in Northern Kenya!). The Indaba (truck crew) were very concerned about the state of the roads mainly for getting the trucks to camp without getting them stuck. Riders were also concerned knowing that the roads were bound to be thick clay mud and corrugated loose sand. We are giving these last few days of this our all because we only (sigh) have five and a half total days of the hellish Northern Kenya roads before we get our long deserved pavement for a little while until we reach the dirt roads again in Tanzania. Today was tough- mentally maybe tougher for me than our day four mando race day. It was 97km with at least 85% of it seriously corrugated. There were sections that the mud was so thick it became difficult to ride as the mud collected on the bike tires making it like biking through molasses. This morning we were told to make sure we ask the locals before we take photos. They are now decorated in beautiful jewelry and very colorful. It seems that some of the front riders were taking photos but potentially not asking, which led to major problems for us riders in the back, or maybe there was just a group of crazy knife wielding women who were just crazy. One group of riders got stopped with a chain of locals, when the riders slowed down, One rider got a Machete held to her chest in a threatening way. Another rider was in a stand off with (possibly?) the same crazy woman who wielded her machete then tried to throw a large rock. When myself and Analise reached this woman, she was shaking the machete at Analise in a crazy manner, I shouted at the woman , what was she doing, as I rode by she did the same to me, and then as I passed by she threw the machete at my back hard, it hit me just below my neck and luckily the handle, not the blade hit me. It is the first time I have actually feared my safety since being in Africa. I am not even sure this woman had any idea the implications this machete throwing incident could have caused. CRAZY.

We arrived at lunch to learn that our truck that had been rescued from Gondor, Ethiopia was stuck in a huge mud puddle and our trucks had to help him and then get through themselves. As we approached, the one truck was finally out after 2 solid hours of effort and then one of our trucks made it through. At this point, myself and Rick, Analise, Dana and myself started to make our way through “the puddle”, riding through was questionable so we opted to walk our bikes through. It meant wet socks and shoes, but at least no problems. At points the puddle came up to my mid thighs and almost to the top tube on the bike. It was super deep. The trucks drove through next and it was very exciting, they all made it through, thank goodness because without our trucks, we have not got our equipment.

The afternoon was another battle with this equatorial sun. We are two days away now from crossing the equator on our bikes (the equator is in a town called Nanyuki). The sun, the temperature, the doxycycline (for malaria) and the long long long days on the bike are messing with my body and I am suffering from extreme heat rash on the backs of my ankles, upper thighs and arms. It is very uncomfortable and making the days even more difficult than they already are….

Two more days till pavement- oh boy will my body and bike be happy to see that pavement… You cannot appreciate it as much as when you are riding on the most questionable “roads” you have ever seen. Kenya is definitely one of my favorite countries so far for the shear beauty of the landscape here. It is stunning.