Trucks, trains, crashes, a new dog: blasting down the Great North Road

We havent done much tarmac training yet so today took the chance to get a lift up the Great North Road towards Tanzania with mum and dad who went to collect a new dog. Dad promised us coming back was downhill and there was a tailwind the whole way, but we beg to differ. It was c.80km (Dan's longest ride ever - Peter reckons he did 142km one day in Laos earlier this year), in 3.33hr, average speed 22.5km/hr and max of 51.5km/hr.  It's an interesting road - on the plus side, it has lovely views and pretty good tarmac. On the negative, it is narrow and has huge trucks and buses pounding along, and some pretty big potholes, one of which caused my motorcycle accident 2 years ago.
 

Cruising along - we encouraged locals to join in the drafting- when this guy took the lead, we could hardly keep up, even though with his one-speed bike, his legs were flying round at an astonishing rate

These guys waved us down for a pump. The second time we saw them, the cyclist asked Peter not for his pump, but if he could carry his passenger!

That is one special moustache.

These girls walked past Peter giggling and then sat gazing at him

an overtaker

An endless convoy of new army trucks

Trucks thundering past were pretty intimidating - discretion was the better part of valour when two were passing

One of many bad truck accidents on the road - cab and trailer separated

Peter has a 'wing mirror' that attaches to his glasses and is invaluable in spotting trucks and photographers sneaking up behind

Cutting across the TAZARA railway

Promo shot for Zambikes and Wheelbase

Teamwork makes an nshima for supper

Boulders, Bogs, Oil Pipelines and Dehydration: Pre-expedition practice 'cycles'

So Peter and I loaded up our bikes and headed into the bush to test our gear, and our bikes. My navigation skills on our 30km and 63km loops led us into dambos (bogs) and up hills to the point Peter wondered if it was a cycling or hiking (carrying bikes) trip. I also confidently insisted 1 water bottle each would be sufficient, which nearly led to dehydration and mutiny.

nothing nicer than cycling through a field of boulders

cycling east (or was it west?) up the oil pipeline to Dar-es-salaam - only 1568km to go!

yes, cycle ending after dark by moonlight

all loaded up, including a bag of fertilizer for ballast

hmm, no bridge?

we have developed a terrific loathing for sand

"CAN YOU SEE THE PATH?"

"NO!"

hope the snakes hear us and move out of the way

hand drawn map - you can't go wrong

beautiful heather, but would have preferred a path

testing the Schwalbe tyres

view from Fort Elwis, built in 1890 to defend against marauding natives

about to cycle off a cliff

Panic and Preparations

Instructions on preparing to cycle across Angola:

take a bamboo, cut it into pieces and arrange into 2 triangles, add some wheels

source additional accessories

combine and invert

commission one dear mother to assist

pack a box of supplies and send to Luena for the final stretch

label box in best portuguese

decide what electrical equipment to take

ponder how to carry it all

spend a lot of money on 'airtime' by planning trip from different locations

  

plan route

Bicycles: African style

It appears some of us greatly under-utilise the bicycle.

The charcoal guy below had been using this bike since he bought it in 1987 for 175kwacha, and said he would never need another one. He was pushing it 20+km to sell his charcoal for a total of $10.

let's race?

and i was worried about my one not perfect spoke

this could inflict some damage

load noteworthy for the feathered passenger

these guys were headed 100km

First Post - Practice Ride around Chengelo

First ride, not in angola, but beautiful all the same. No visa, no cry.