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From:
Date: 23 Apr 2006
Time: 18:41:14 +0200
Remote Name: 193.220.192.33
Following the trauma of the recent few days (potential broken foot and wild pig attack in the middle of the night) it was time to stop riding for a while. This break would allow foot to recover and I could let an important lesson about leaving empty energy bar wrappers and an empty bag of honey roast peanuts in my bike bar bag in my tent sink in. The leg from Arusha to Iringa was one day of paved road and six days of unpaved road – not a bad stretch to have to sit out, especially since we were now well into the rainy season in Tanzania, and the off-road riding was threatening to turn a little gruesome (which it did in the end). I hitched a ride into town with the buggy at the front of the convoy ride out and waved all the riders past as I limped off in search of an X-ray machine. Fortunately not broken this time (I did manage to fracture a foot playing badminton in my youth and the bone still clicks to this day), verdict a very bad sprain, painkillers, antibiotics for the internal bleeding and stay off foot and the bike for at least two weeks. So next on the list of things to do that day was work out how I could get to Zanzibar (the closest place with a beach) with the least amount of pain and suffering. Luckily there was a flight at 7am the following morning, so it was pack up tent at 4.15am and at airport pick up point at 5.00am the next day. A few hours later I was swinging in a hammock strung between two palm trees on a white sand beach next to a crystal clear turquoise sea, telling the hotel staff that no, I didn’t need a stick, thank you. Another injury case in the group turned up the next day – Kevin has been specializing in “sufferin’ like a dawg” for a good part of the tour so far, recently hardly able to walk because of an old injury flare up (possibly caused by his bike crash or too much dancing at toga party…). So it made sense for us injury cases to recuperate some place nice instead of sitting on the truck for a week, which would be too depressing for words. Catherine and Raj also headed to Zanzibar mid way through the week to take a break from the terrible riding conditions brought on by the rain. It was a tough week, lounging on the beach, swimming in the sea, snorkeling and eating some good food. The only work I needed to do was repair my tent after the unscheduled visit of Mr Bush-hog. We rejoined the group at the next rest day in Iringa, meeting up by chance with Shanny Hill (one of the TDA directors from Toronto) and a new sectional rider, Isabella, who were on the same bus as us from Dar Es Salaam to Iringa. When we caught up with the group it turned out that the seven days riding that we had missed had been quite eventful. Huberte, my little cycling buddy, had crashed on day one out of Arusha – just a few km outside the town, about the same time as I was wandering around looking for an X-ray. She was all bandaged up (nasty knee injury), had some stitches too and had been sitting on the truck since then going stir crazy. George had also had a bad crash on the off-road section and Toby ha put about 35 stitches in a bad arm injury, but George still continued riding and is still EFI. Deb also crashed and had been sitting in the truck for a few days recovering. The rain had turned the dirt roads into mud, and the riding had been very tough. Such a shame I had missed it all….