I blew it! For 40 years!

This is not about bicycling.  But it is about having adventures.

In High School if you played basketball, then you were not allowed to ski.  So when others were learning downhill skiing in grade 9,10 I was preparing myself during those years to sit on the bench by grade 12.

I went off to a liberal arts college and it was cool to cross country ski, so I picked that up and I started doing it frequently, like week long trips and a couple that were a month.

I became a ski snob, a cross country ski snob.  Down hill was for bourgeois fools.

Sometimes I found myself on long downhills and if they were steep i would ski across the slope, slow down, a kick turn when stopped and then ski back.

Once I was with David morris and he locked his foot down and shalomed down off Glacier Peak.  leaving me kilometres behind.

I always wondered what it would be like to down hill ski.  I almost tried 6 years ago while visiting USA in the spring, but ended up cross country skiing.

This year I arranged to meet high school friend at a ski place in March .

Rented skis, arranged to be in beginner group lesson, and paid for the beginner slope.  The lesson would start at 1 and it was 1130 so we headed up the ski lift.  I have always had a phobia of ski lifts.  Lori told the operator I was new to this and it went smoothly.

After a few runs I was catching on fast, and before the lesson it was taking more time to go up the lift than to ski down.  I was starting to do the turns pretty good.

The lesson was some people who could hardly stand up on skis and 3 of us who had some experience.  It was worthwhile as the instructor kept insisting of fundamentals.  She eventually got the 3 of us up on the slope and drilled us and kept me concentrating on doing it right .

End of lesson so then i could fly down the slope and it was too easy.  I had to keep on the steepest part.

Then we decided i needed to try the intermediate one.  We talked and talked but in the end we had to wait a bit and buy a night time starting at 4pm.  So i ended up spending over a $100 in total. 

Intermediate was challenging but I could almost do the whole thing without falling.  By now i was getting so tired it was hard to get up.  We did that run 3 times and called it quits.

I was exhilarated to say the least.

This is what I dream about doing now.  Watch the video.

 Why did I wait all those years?

Finally

Life ganged up on my adventurous bike rides for awhile.  Sunday I didn't so much plan it but it turned into a long one with lots of new stuff.

I woke up early enough but was 45 minutes late getting off to meet John and Amanda (white biker chick) at their house in Usa River.  I should of known it was going to be a good day as despite being on the busiest highway around it was a gas of a ride.  I held off a couple of guys who thought they could hold onto my slip stream.

I left home with thermos of tea (good idea), litre of juice in tetra pack (bad idea), 2 water bottles, a p&b sandwich, apple , and some dates.  Was not sure if i would be riding 2 or 4 hours with them.

We rode single track easterly parallelling the main highway through the Usa River water catchment forest.  It was great.  Then across the momella road and past St Jude Secondary and on trails and roads .  Most was flat with a few stream canyons to negotiate and one 1/2 kilometre of completely washed out path.

Then we popped out on the highway at Kikatiti.  I figured this side would not be enjoyable but once we passed the high tension wires we were on paths and roads and flying along.

I got hungry and we stopped and drank my tea.  The juice packed was punctured and i had juice all over.

These roads were all over, must be remnants of the old sisal plantation roads

.We had lots of fans.  Many helpful people and some GPS keeping us in right direction.

Amanda is the most fit woman rider I have ever ridden with.  I can't keep up.

We needed to cross the Usa River and somehow found this irrigation weir.  I was a bit unnerving .

John's GPS was giving conflicting info about distances and we found the big road to Mererani, but quickly decided it had too much traffic and dust.  Were told this road would take us to Manyire and i convinced them we should do a wine tasting at Erik Mdogos.  More fast roads, all flat.  Then we came to a big village and were told Manyire is "One way" up this road.  Now we were climbing slightly on a scrubby ridge with mostly Waarusha people.  I turned out this road went right past Erik's , but i didn't recognise until we were past.  It was about 1300 and we toured and had a few sips.  John and Amanda rode off and i hung for another few minutes as our directions changed.  I have about 30 km to home.

Instead I stopped and chatted with the Redding family.   Bertha Redding was a school teacher trained in colonial times who married a British District officer , and they settled in Arusha.  She was headmistress for many years at the famous Arusha School.  They had three boys and one lives on the farm with her.  John Redding died about 10 years ago.   I left at 4pm and was home 545pm.  It had turned into a long day, and two stops.  I probably rode 100km.

More Tanzanian cyclists on the way to being professional riders.

Cycling talent identification camp ends in Babati

By Joseph Mwendapole

1st June 2013

The One week cycling Talent Identification Training camp organized by the World Cycling Centre For Africa (WCCA) and the International Cycling (UCI) ended yesterday in Babati.

Speaking in a telephone interview, one of the organizers of the course Nicola Morganti said the training camp attracted 45 cyclists from 9 countries and the training was conducted in collaboration with Tanzania Cycling Association (CHABATA).

He said during the course cyclist were taught on some cycling skills. Like position on the bike, bike adjustment and ability to stay in the peloton.

“ The course is ending today (Yesterday) the chief instructor Physiologist and Professional Cycling Coach from South Africa Andrew Smith is very happy with the performances of the participants ,among them is a Tanzanian participants  from Shynianga  Gerald Kondo and Arusha born Ali Rashidi have been selected for a test with power meter” He said.

Morganti said  the two Under 23 riders  might be invited for further training in Potchefstroom, South Africa from next September.

“ The two are good riders and its our hope that one day, they might follow the path of their mate Richard Laizer, the first professional cycling athlete of Tanzania who has recently joined the MTN Qhubeka feeder team and will soon travel to South Africa and Europe” he said.

The talent identification attracted cyclists from Egypt, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Namibia, Rwanda, Seychelles and the host country.

The objective of the training was to scout for talented athletes who would potentially progress to attend the World Cycling Centre for Africa’s bi-annual training camps in Potchefstroom and Aigle, Switzerland later this year.
The link is here

Side Mirror

Over the past years I reluctantly change styles and equipment on advice of others.   For example fenders, wider tyres, friction shifting, gearing, etc.  I will make another post explaining these changes but today I want to talk about my mirror.

My first reaction was " no way".  They look stupid and I can just turn my head, and they will get in the way, and the dork factor is high.

My friend Sekiji ordered one and gave it to me as a gift.  Despite the high dork factor I felt obligated to try it.  The first few days I could hardly see anything in it, and the few moments I did see something in the mirror  it didn't seem to help.

Sekiji advised me to keep trying .  After about a week I got the hang of it and started to use it.  After a month I started to depend upon it to know what is going on behind me, and turn around much less.

HOWEVER.
People notice it like crazy and comment.  Like today,  I was sitting at a traffic light to turn right.  The cars going straight got the green light and a matatu mini bus starts beeping behind me and not going straight.  I look over and the whole bus is looking at me and laughing and I hear "side mirror".

If you read some of the old posts I want to blend into the scenery and not be visible and noticed.  the mirror is small so it surprises me how many people notice it, and thus how many people are checking me out.  It is enough I consider ditching the mirror.

So what do I do?

Retire or become a businessman.

That question , should I retire or become a businessman, relates to my biking .  If I retire, then I would ride to South Africa and explore Tanzania more.  If I become a businessman then I have less time for my small adventures.



I have changed some in the last 5 years.  I have accepted the fact I am a businessman (and not a radical) , I stopped being a technical person,  am happy and positive by choice.  And maybe soon I will believe in myself more.  Yesterday the managers had a "breaking out" retreat.   Most feel they stay because they want to work for me, and would even  work for less money.

So I will not retire any time soon and hopefully before I am too old to do the long tour.

Dear Readers

I know I dont post as much.  If one in every ten times you read if you could put up a comment.  This does not pertain to mine only but to all blogs.  A simple statement like:
-Enjoyed the post.
-I don't agree but thats okay.
-thanks.

Flood of a lifetime.

Sometimes I feel as sluggish getting out the door for a ride as this  slow Chameleon we met on this weekend ride.  I don't think I have ever seen one SO green.

Luckily, I have dependable biking buddies to get me out the door.  Alone I might hesitate like this chameleon.  Once moving I don't want to stop.  Today is no different.

It is a year of heavy rains.  Rains you talk about the next day.  Rains that wash houses , cars, and animals away.  Rains that flood.  Rains that keep you inside. Rains that cause havoc at birthday parties* .  Rains of a lifetime.  

John and Amanda keep their appointment and we opt to try Monduli mountains.  I say I think there is only one place on this ride that might have mud.  Otherwise it will be packed clay and sand.

  We come down a rise to the questionable section and  the seasonal  20 meter wide river bed is now 100 meters across!  Judging from debris in trees the flood had 2 meters deep of water.  We follow tracks off the road and stop and take this picture. 

 

 I wonder how nervous the family with house on the right was?

The banana grove is gone.

A man is working on the side of the road, and I comment " it must of been a big flood."  He stops and replies.  "I was born in 1951 and I have never seen anything like it!"   We discuss this for awhile as we move through the endless ploughed fields.

 The road is not slippery, the sun is shining, and we cruise up the foot hills, one depression has 30 meters of unavoidable mud, but only Johns tyres pick up the mud and coat his drive chain.  Some reason Amanda and I only have a thin layer that builds up.

We ride slowly up the steep sections and into the natural forest, through one more mud section that we carry the bikes and soak our shoes.


We reach the end of the track and our journey for today,  and relax on bright green grass in the sunshine, eating dates from Oman and apricots from California.

We descend a single track from here and then down a valley on a washed out road and catch up with our inbound track at the bottom of first steep hill.

The next section is all downhill but not very steep.  We are home by 1230.

Great ride.

*(Biking buddy Thomas had one on Friday afternoon evening.  Bernice says we got to go now, I hesitate, and a minute later it is pouring rain.  We have come down a iffy road in a sedan.  Everyone else has SUV. We get drenched getting to the car, barely make it out of their garden, wait for others to turn around, only to stop a few minutes later because someone has driven into 2 meter ditch and is lying at 45degrees.   They left the vehicle.  Later I hear it turns into too many people in a hot tub. )

Lest you think I have given up riding.

We are smack in the middle of our so called "Long rains / Masika".  My perception is 1/3 or our rains fall in the first 4 weeks of our masika usualy starting last days of march or 1 April.

Which means the trails and roads can be muddy.  And the problem with some soils and biking is the soil is clay and it sticks to your tyres, which is a show stopper.

So for last Saturday I suggested the Lengijave plains as the soil is a sandy loam.  It was a hit.  Thomas , Amanda (white biker chick), John, and myself.  The biggest topic was whether we should be in this picture or home in bed nursing hangover or wasting the day on the Internet.  Stopping at the top of the escarpment.  From here it is 2 hours of downhill with a tailwind.  It was tough.

 One of our many stops.  Yep I am fat.  I am wearing the wool bike jersey i bought in 1973 while in high school! 

 We had to do the 20km of highway to get there, and we stop at the first refueling station as we hit the highway on the way home.  Probably the only time any of us drink soda pop. 

Hosting Cyclists

I have posted about bicycle tourists who stay with us for a day or more as they pass through Arusha.  Often I have been asked how I meet them.

Up until 3 1/2 years ago I would meet them by chance as they were passing through.  Then I joined Warm Showers.  It is a way for cyclo tourists to offer a "warm shower" to other cyclo tourists.  It works  well, as you should have time to check out someone before the show up on your doorstep.

I posted about Sekiji staying in December, and we had similar good experience two months later with Maurizio.  They had communicated but were never near each other in their world tours.  Both found me on WarmShowers.  As they both are heading north they bumped into another cyclo tourist and through them he will pass by in the next weeks.

so what happens?  Yep.  They hook up in Ethiopia and are travelling together through Sudan right now. 

They are of course on Facebook.

Maurizio Ceraldi  and Sekiji Yoshida 

 

 

as well as their websites

http://www.sekiji.net/

 

http://www.ceraldi.ch/

 

If you haven't watched Sekiji's you tube diaries you will enjoy them.  I am in the latest one.

First Tanzanian Professional Cyclist?

This just came in on the Arusha Cyclist mailing list:
(If you can't understand don't worry)

On Thu, Feb 28, 2013 at 3:40 PM, Richard Laizer <laizer.richard@yahoo.com> wrote:

Hii  All.

How is everyone doing?we like to let's you know we will go to the last two bigs races in S.A.

This weekend on Sunday is S A championship Nelspruit  155klm.And i will ride with MTN team.for sure i will miss Hamisi becouse UCI team is not goinng to the race.they will be waiting for us to come back on Sunday just after finish the race will driving back to Potch 865klm. And on Monday will be together drive  to Cape Town  and the second day will be in Cape Tonw Tuesday.For tour of 5 days.So i will leave tomorrow  morning and back on Sunday.

Cheers.

What this means is Richard Laizer is riding on the MTN- Qhubeka team.   "Team MTN-Qhubeka, which is registered in South Africa, has become the first African team to join the second division of world cycling; the highest level from any team on the continent after the International Cycling Union (UCI) confirmed its status as a Professional Continental team for 2013."


And from April 2006 the young kid in the middle is Richard when he was about 15 riding with the big boys.

Our club is much bigger and faster than 2006.  On our Wednesday club rides there are more like 30+ riders .  We ride moderate for 15km, then we do intervals of different types for 30 km, then ride 15km at 40-45kph.  That last part is me just barely hanging on the back, and two days ago they dropped me the last 3 km.  Technically I should not be riding that hard at the end, but i think my 85% is their 70%.