Day One

Jambo everybody, I am writing to you from the Masai campsite in Arusha where I have successfully completed my first two riding days of the Tour D'afrique and am enjoying my second of 3 days of in sunny tanzania. Let me skip back to sunday morning where i woke at 6am to the sound of tent zips and bike clicks. Somehow i pack up my tent at breakneck speed and chuck all my bags into the locker on the lunch truck (no. 79 if your interested). There is a definate buzz in the morning when everyone is getting ready, breakfast is served and i try to eat as much as i can. There is muesli with yogurt and bread with jams, nutella, peanut butter, hoeny etc. I eat about 2 sandwiches and one bowl of muesli. After breakfast everyone gets ready to go, there is no official start time so you leave when you are ready, I am raring to go so I jump on my bike as soon as possible with a group of people and head out into nairobi. The morning is beautiful, the road is paved all theway out of nairobi wth gentle rolling hills that provide a good speed downhill. We pass through the outskirts, the traffic is busy, people are strating the day, its quite dusty. After about 20kms (I have to talk in kms now because everything on tour is done in kms!) we make it out into rolling plains and beautiful landscapes. I chat with a few riders which makes the time fly, te scenery is stunning, the roads stretch out before you with amazing views on either side. I spend a while dodgeing fairly big potholes which is good fun for a while. My first coke stop is in a village abaout 20ks from lunch, basically the entire village came to look at us. The road to lunch was A-MAZING, probably the best road i have ever ridden on. Smooth, brand new tarmac and barely an cars on the road. A group of us fly into lunch in what feels like 5mins. I munch down a few sandwiches and bannanas (same fillings as brekky) and refilll my drinks. After lunch is beautiful for about 40kms, where we stay on the same road, the downhills are amazing, you can reach 40 plus kph, it is exhilirating. However, this is where the test came in, the road came to construction and a worker waved us onto a newly built piece of road which most of us decided to do. This was a big mistake as we ended up riding through 3kms of wet tarmac. So on my first day my arms,legs and bike were all drenched in wet sticky tarmac. After this came intermitant road works, new roads, old roads, off roads. I get my first flat but repair it quickly with the help of an american called dave. The heat of the day is tough but it is bearable as long as you take a sip of water every couple of minutes. I role into camp feeling tired and dirty but very happy with myself. I completed 158kms (100miles) in 7hours20mins. Everyone has to wash te tarmac off with petrol so there is a pungeant smell around camp. Dinner is tasty – rice and chicken. Everyone spends time cleaning bike and then heads to bead at around 9ish.