Morning, all. We have arrived in Nairobi, and there is only one more leg of the journey to go, the return ride to Arusha. We got a good start on the ride yesterday morning, and were on the road by about 7:45 for a 370km ride to Nairobi from Eldoret. The roads were good, and we started out at a good pace. By midmorning, we found ourselves at an elevation of over 9,000 feet, and a spectacular view of the rift valley. We stopped to get a couple of photos, and this is where things got interesting (no, not more scandalous soldiers).
About 5 minutes after we got back on the bikes, I noticed Dad was no longer in my rearview mirror. This is not altogether uncommon, since Captain Slow . . . er . . . Cautious (and rightly so) sometimes lags back a little bit. I did a u-turn and rode back to find him at the side of the road looking at his rear tire, which was conspicuously lacking air. After a half rotation of the wheel, I spotted a nail which had been driven cleanly into the rear tube. For those that don't know, changing the rear tire on a bike involves removing the entire wheel (and disengaging the chain and disc brake), prying the tire off the rim, replacing the tube, prying the tire back onto the rim, carefully resetting the wheel on the bike, and balancing it. This might be a two-man job in a well-equipped garage, but certainly not on the side of the road in sub-Saharan Africa.
As Dad and I were fruitlessly attempting to get the tire back onto the rim after laying the bike on its side and changing the tube, our rescue party arrived in the form of two extremely capable Kenyans on a tractor. One of these guys was clearly an expert at tire replacement and, with better technique than Dad and I demonstrated, had the tire back on the rim in a matter of minutes. It was really amazing to see the kindness of the people that stopped to help us, and spent more than an hour of their day assisting perfect strangers. It really speaks to the spirit and character of the people in this part of the world. With the help of another posse of Kenyans, we managed to replace the wheel on the bike and ride off into the sunset. And by that I mean we rode directly into a cloud.
As we approached Nairobi at almost 9,000 feet, the road led us directly into a low-hanging cloud, and within 10 minutes we were soaked and freezing, riding on mountain roads with near-zero visibility. Nevertheless, we made it safely into Nairobi and we now ensconced in the Laico Regency Hotel to enjoy a couple of days of down-time before we make the final push for Arusha.
I'm going to try to post some pictures today, check Facebook!!
Talk to you again in Arusha!!
Luke
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