Riding with Ross Methven: day 9

Ross Methven is riding a bicycle from Edinburgh, Scotland, to Cape Town, South Africa. He is currently cycling through Tanzania and I am accompanying him on part of the Tanzanian leg. My Mt. Kilimanjaro guide, Yahoo, says cycling is one of the best training options for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro.

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Tuesday 6 August 2013

We planned to start early to ride the 80 kilometre section between Shinyanga and Nzega. We were delayed by some pre-departure tasks and only managed to cover half of that distance.

What began as a simple change of pedals on my bicycle became a major pit stop. I changed the entire pedaling mechanism. My bill:

• pedals Shs.3,000 ($US 1.90)
• pedal mechanism Shs.7,000 ($US 4.40)
• service charge Shs.3,000 ($US 1.90)

Afterwards the mechanic told me I would be able to ride to Dar es Salaam without a hitch. I told him that's what the mechanic who changed the pedals in Mwanza told me and I have already changed the pedals within 4 days.

The repair session at Shinyanga.

We had a tailwind behind us today and by 1530hrs we had cycled a distance of 40 kilometres to Tinde, at the junction to Kahama.

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If you want to donate to Ross' cause please follow this link:

http://fundraise.unicef.org.uk/MyPage/value-adder-to-vagabond

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Between Kizumbi and Samuye we stopped for lunch where an old man asked for the list of 17 countries that Ross had cycled through and then he asked me for my my telephone number which is a change from the normal routine of asking Ross for his number.

Next: "Why don't you take a car?"

Related posts:
http://www.rossmethvensbigbikeride.co.uk/
http://blogkili.blogspot.com/2013/08/riding-with-ross-methven-day-8.html
http://blogkili.blogspot.com/2013/09/riding-with-ross-methven-day-10.html