Training, at an extremely slow pace

Since my last post, I have logged less than 50 kilometres of cycling. As a measure of what distance I should log in my cycling schedule, it is a pittance.

During my last bike ride I can report on some good news, and some bad news, and more bad news but not necessarily in that order.

The good news is that, after having repeatedly cycled on the mildly challenging 12+ kilometre Muryaza roundabout route, I finally mustered the courage to raise the challenge slightly by resuming the 22+ kilometre Mwanza Highway junction route. This route involves a long downhill ride to the turnaround point and then an almost constant uphill ride all the way back to Butiama. 

Part of the scenery along the 22+-kilometre route.

In better times when I regularly cycled it was an easy route. Having lapsed into a long period without training, I discovered it was a huge challenge. That was the second piece of bad news.

The first piece of bad news is I broke my headphone MP3 player as I was about to begin my ride. Both earpieces had broken apart, but I could still play the music. I managed to hold the earpieces in their original positions and placed the headphones over my head and the inward tension held the broken pieces firmly over over my ears and I cycled off to the music of some of the best musicians that I acknowledge including this one.

Finally, the training is on for the January 2016 Mt Kilimanjaro climb

I finally managed to cycle some 8 kilometres a few days ago, beginning my preparations for climbing Mt. Kilimanjaro in January 2015. Too late? It is not the Butiama to Dodoma trip by any stretch of the imagination, but much better than not training at all.

I cycled through part of what has been one of the easier routes on the several routes that I have used in the past. What I call the Butiama to Muryaza roundabout route takes me to the nearby village of Muryaza where I circle the only roundabout there and return to Butiama. It is a 10+ kilometre run, but I cut it short to about 8 kilometres because I stopped along the way to visit this elderly woman (also in photo, below).

Although I have not cycled for a long time, I felt I had a potent reserve of energy. I hope to clock at least 500 kilometres before I climb Kilimanjaro in January.

Related post:

http://blogkili.blogspot.com/2015/11/how-not-to-and-how-to-train-for.html