CYCLE AFRICA 2012 : Problems arrive....

Jinja and beyond…..slowly…..

Pink Helmet!

After arriving in Jinja on Monday, we all decided a rest day or 2 was in order. And boy was it needed – after a few days in the baking sun, everyone had a touch of the sun grumps (some more than others) and spent the first day basically lying around the hostel, catching up on water intake and rest while doing chores, laundry etc. The rest time was also planned to play another important role – catch up on bike maintenance. Ben had a rear wheel to get straightened and if you recall from the previous post, Gareth’s rack was in dire need of real repairs given the zip tie/electrical tape and tent peg solution was starting to buckle. So off everyone went on the repair adventures while I lay on the couch recovering from a fairly serious case of dehydration. As Tim, Hayley and I went off whitewater rafting down the Nile the next day, we were expecting to come back to camp to see a smiling Ben and Gareth with straight wheels, repaired racks and ready to hit the road again. As most things on the road go however, things didn’t go to plan…..I’ll let the boys recount their repair adventures in Jinja in their own words;

Gareth;

Rolling into Jinja with a rack held together by tent pegs, duct tape, zip ties and positive thoughts I was confident the bush mechanic solution would see me good, possibly encouraged by the wager with Hopkins that my 'quickfix' would surely fail within 200kms. To be clear, we had 12,500 USH on the line.

Some gentle insistence from the group saw me take to the streets for a better solution. Meeting a guy in a bar who knew a guy who had his aluminium boat repaired by some guys, a rendevouz with Martin and Ethan from Nile Brewery was organised. As luck would have it they were confident they could help, I just needed to secure the aluminium welding rods, and they knew a guy who knew a guy who had these and was to drop them off to me the following day.

The stars aligned, the rods arrived and I was off to Nile Breweries for the welding, although this plan was quickly derailed when the aluminium welding machine was out of action. Slightly concerned and thinking I was in more trouble than Tin-Tin in Egypt I left the rack with Martin and Ethan to ponder on what solution they could offer.

Returning the following day the lads had whipped up an aluminium-stainless steel composite and off I went. The following 85km to Kampala proved a successful test run and with the gracious donation of Hayley's rack (she leaves for Australia tomorrow) I am confident to tackle the next length of our journey onto Western Uganda and Rwanda!

Gareth rack repairs part 2

Ben;

I’m pedaling along the wrong way up a one way street (Yes, I know, but I was going slower than walking pace, just milling about!). I have a parked car to my left, a motorbike ahead on my right, and another moto heading directly towards me, head down. He’s scooting along, doesn’t see me until the last minute, looks up, has nowhere to go and…CONTACT! Head on…Im thrown from my bike, he’s off, locals are running everywhere. I jump up and instinctively run to my bike. I know all too well that damage to my bike means delays in this part of the world, where decent bike parts are very, very few and far between. Derailleur, good. Gears, good. Front rim…twisted around on itself…no front wheel…this is a problem. I trek to the nearest bike shop, buy the best rim I can find that fits (its horrible), fit tube and tyre and try it out early next morning. No good. Puncture 2 tyres in the process. Next morning, rise early, hitch a ride to the Ugandan capital (Kampala) with a Kenyan mtn biker living in Jinja (names Nash, great bloke). He knows a guy who knows a guy who might have a decent replacement rim. Craig and I wait in the sun for 2 hours, he returns with what appears to be a great replacement, money exchanges hands and we pile in to a minibus for the 3 hour trek back to Jinja to fit the wheel. I ride 90km the next day without incident…fingers crossed this holds out for the remaining 2,000km! Moral of the story…one way streets should only be ridden one way! Yep, idiot…

So there we have it - with all bikes repaired (in a matter of speaking) and bags packed again, it was time to hit the road. A night of playing cards and drinking rum is the obvious way to prepare for the next few days of riding. What more could go wrong we thought…..well after a long game of “up and down the river” ended in a draw between Tim and I – there was obviously only one way to decide a winner – a drunken race down pitch black stairs to the Nile – first in wins! Well – nobody told me there was a double step at the bottom, so as I heard Tim splashing in fully clothed, I rolled down a few steps and into a ditch, smashing up my hands, hip, back and leg pretty good! Perfect preparation for someone who has to grip handlebars day in and day out! Luckily, doctor Bellchambers was on hand to dress my wounds and get my all prepped for the next day of riding. I secretly think he has been waiting for an incident like this as a perfect excuse to pull out his extensive medical kit!

Ben repairing wheels....again

So with repaired bike and bandaged hands, we were finally on the road again to Kampala – a long, hot, dusty, diesel fume clogged, bumpy and otherwise uninspiring 85km / 4 and half hours of our lives. The words “worst day on the bike” were muttered on more than one occasion. As much as we’d like to think so, all cycle touring is not sunshine and pineapples and sometimes you just need to grind down a few kms to get where you need to be. Tat all being said – there was plenty of sunshine and we did take a few pineapple breaks J

So here we are in Kampala – finally, spending the day doing city things like stocking up on food that will be unavailable in the country, servicing the bikes and preparing for the week ahead. We plan on putting in some long days to make it to Queen Elizabeth National park in the South West of the country – one of the only national parks we are permitted to cycle through. So 450km awaits until we get there, which we plan on knocking out in 4 days to make up lost time. Here’s hoping our bike issues and bad luck are behind us…