Cycling Around Mt. Kenya in 2 Days From Nairobi and Back: PART 2 of 2
Continued from Cycling Around Mt. Kenya in 2 Days From Nairobi and Back: PART 1 of 2
FIGHTING UPHILL HEADWINDS IN THE DARKNESS
I spent the shortest time possible fixing my puncture in the darkness and within 10 minutes I was done with fixing my puncture. I was back on the road and able to continue with my journey towards Subuiga town. Soon I passed through a small center which all along I had thought was Subuiga town. I continued further on to a partial climb and the headwinds were already starting to feel stronger as I proceeded. It was a few kilometers later, that I found myself in Subuiga which was clearly demarcated by a signboard indicating how many kilometers were remaining to Isiolo and how many were remaining to Nanyuki town. Nanyuki town was about 52 km away but I didn’t care checking how many were remaining to Isiolo.
Scary stories of how the Subuiga climb was tough started to rock my mind. I remember Juma a pro cyclist narrating to us how tailwinds were pushing him from down that drop to the point of even almost crashing cruising at a speed of almost 120 kph. What Titus had told me was also ringing in my mind all the time. The time was 7:40 p.m and it was upon me to see if I could make a decision that will affect my journey for the next day or proceed as I had planned initially. I was still thinking about whether to look for a lift from a truck going to Nanyuki or pursue the climb ahead of me. After a little deliberation in my mind, I decided I will try to pursue their climb ahead of me such that if I fail then maybe I can look for another way out of the situation. So I started to ascend Subuiga climb towards Timau.
As I worked myself towards the climb I heard a truck coming from behind me possibly from Isiolo. I couldn’t help giving myself hope that if the truck caught up with me I would draft it or even hang behind it so that it would take me right to the top of the climb. However, the truck was relatively slower than I was. As I continue to wait for it to catch up with me I found myself covering some distance. I even passed some cars parked on the right side of the road with some youngsters possibly they were on some adventure.
The truck finally caught up with me. I waited for the lorry to overtake me completely before I position myself almost to the extreme left of the truck and I held onto the back-side of the truck. I assumed the position of somebody who was being given a lift so on his own locomotive. I kept waiting for the truck to finish the climb but it seemed like the climb was longer than I expected. I continued to hold on there for as long as it was still in the climb until finally, I had the gears of the lorry shifting. I knew it was now the end of the climb, I stopped holding to the truck and started peddling as if I was trying to continue at the same speed. Soon the truck was getting faster and the gap between me and the truck was increasing, till it disappeared ahead of me.
How wrong I was to realize that another climb was just ahead similar to what I had just been through. that I was told was going to torture me because soon afterward. The truck was way ahead of me in the climb. It was upon me to struggle with the climb as much as the headwinds would not let me work myself up that climb. Soon another truck came and overtook me and then another. All this time I was wondering what to do to get out of the place. I finally made up my mind to stop and ask for a lift from the next truck.
Since it was dark I could not know exactly what kind of truck I was asking for a lift, the driver flashed the lights before stopping just ahead of me. It was after he passed me that I was able to see it was a truck with a trailer. I went to the driver’s side and explained to him told him that I needed a lift because where was it was a bit hard for me to continue cycling against the tough headwinds in the dark. He told me to put my bike behind between the truck and the trailer and then get inside the cabin. Once inside, I could see it was a modern truck that felt like a moving living room from the kind of comfort it had in there. We started to speak and getting to know each other with the driver.
“So where were you intending to go to at this time of the night?” He asked since I had already told him where I was coming from. He was still surprised at my story of cycling from Nairobi through Embu, Meru and now where he found me.
“I intend to get to Nanyuki where I will sleep for the night and then wake up tomorrow to finish my journey back to Nairobi”, I answered him.
“Unfortunately I will only get you to Timau where I will sleep for the night and then wake up tomorrow to proceed to Nairobi at around 6 am” he said. “I am very tired from driving this truck for over 500 km from Marsabit”.
Timau was still like some 20 km away and I could not help noticing he was driving slowly such that I didn’t even see the need to stop my Strava recording. We continue speaking as he drove slowly because he seemed to be tired and he intended to get to the Timau in the next 1 hour.
It was some minutes past 8 pm by the time he got to Timau. I was already done resting and I wasn’t feeling any way tired getting back to my bike to ride to Nanyuki. He had assured me that from Timau to Nanyuki would basically be a drop it was already some minutes after 8 pm. Setting up my bike again: the lighting, jacket, and everything else intact I was enjoying my ride towards Nanyuki which was approximately 20 km away. I got there at around 9:20 p.m. I was now done with Meru county and now that was the beginning of Laikipia county.
Just next to Total petrol station, I was able to get an affordable room for kes 450 which I paid immediately and got inside. I took a hot shower and immediately set up myself to sleep because I wasn’t even feeling hungry. I was just feeling tired, so far resting will be the best thing for me to do at that time.
FIRST TAKE OFF DAY 2
By 4:30 a.m. I was already up preparing to leave an hour later. I had somehow overslept a bit because I had planned to wake up at 4:00 am exactly. Nevertheless, I was already out of my room and the road a few minutes to 5:30. The only thing that bothered me was a place to take tea, so I asked around but I couldn’t find any. I resolved to just go in and eat and taking breakfast in the next place probably after Chaka Ranch or even in Karatina. Or maybe I will be taking tea and lunch combined at Sagana which was to be my major stop-over because I intend to meet a team from Nairobi called City riders who I will cycle with back to Nairobi.
After a few photos in the dark near the equator sign, I was off around 5:40 am. back on my way back to Nairobi. Mount Kenya could be seen as much as it was still dark but it could be seen on my left so I started fighting with the head with the words Naromoru town 20 km away. I didn’t have a way to measure the strength of the wind but I could feel that the headwinds were stronger than ever. I continue to press on as the darkness continued to fade away.
Through Naromoru I could see Mt. Kenya clearly that I even took a few selfies with it as I passed on. Chaka Ranch town was another 25 km away and the fight through headwinds was just midway. The view was amazing now that there are the sun was already rising and the wind was starting to cool down towards Chaka and I enjoyed the view of the road that was relatively flat and straight.
No sooner had I finished dealing with the section of the headwinds about 50 km later from Nanyuki, than I found myself riding through the rain into Nyeri County. It was now getting cold here contrary to how I may have expected to feel the need to take off my warm clothing. With no place to shelter I continued riding on for almost 10 km past Kiganjo junction until I got to the junction to Nyeri town. By this time the rain had already stopped but it was still wet all over. I felt the urge to look for a place to take tea. Either there were still no places to take tea or its me who could not spot them from my drenched condition.
SECOND TAKE OFF DAY 2
I rested for another 30 minutes before proceeding on towards Karatina and then Sagana. The section from where I had stopped for a cup of tea to Karatina was somehow messy with the road construction places and I had to ride carefully because there was some mud on the road. It was sort of hilly and also a few drops as I went on but I managed like a strong soldier choosing to use the distance covered as motivation.
20 km later I was passing through Karatina and I didn’t see the need to stop because a major drop was waiting for me. That is the drop at Kangocho a major drop that would help me to feel nice on the bike. I could not stop praying to God that I find the place to be dry because I did not intend to have a crush in any way. My prayers were answered because the place was as dry as I expected it to be. I dropped as fast as I had planned and continued on to Sagana. Most of the section was full of mud on the road but I continued on to Sagana town where I would be waiting for the other team. I had already been informed they were late because of some punctures. I had done 100 km by and my average was at 23 kph.
Captain Iann and his team City Riders arrived half an hour later and I took them to a cheap eatery nearby which was affordable (Kwa bei ya mkulima mdogo). As usual we finished the chapatis and beans there till some had to eat ugali. Sunday is a not a day for much business and most hotels don’t have much to offer then. We spent like 30 minutes chatting about the whole experiences belching out in the process.
THIRD TAKE OFF DAY 2
With approximately 120 km to go, I intended to have at least 2 major stops. Kenol town was about 50 km away and it would be ideal to have a stop there and another stop in Nairobi itself. After agreeing that I don’t finyaa (go hard on them) we set off at 12:30 pm. 25 km later through the climbs, the team was slowly splitting into single file yet we had been doing in a formation of 2 from Makutano junction. Iann requested that we stop which we did.
A further 10 km again I got a puncture a second one in my whole journey and I stopped to fix since I was the one ahead. It didn’t take long and we were on the road. I let the slow cyclist in the team have a head-start of 10 minutes after which I came overtaking them all one by one just to wait for them at Kenol again. Giving the slow guys a head start to then chase them later sort of helped me fix my average speed which would be dropping badly if I rode at their pace.
The photos used in this post can be found the album Around Mt. Kenya in 2 Days
