The final stretch

Thursday 15th November - Eldoret to Kakamega (105 kms) Our last day in the saddle started on the busiest roads so far, but it also meant that the riding was fast and we were through the first twenty kms in not much over the hour. Julian was back on his bike but it looked like his run of bad luck might continue, as a bee got caught in his helmet and stung him on the forehead just before the first stop! (In fact his was just the first - Andrew and Ash both got stung on the next section.)

After the break we continued on the main road, which was now carrying quite a lot of traffic, particularly the infamous matutus - local minbuses which act as a cheap taxi service - some of them were really friendly but others tended to drive like they are the only ones on the road. Worse though were the lorries whose drivers seemed to have very little regard for human life at all. If you were where they wanted to be that was your problem. Fortunately no one was really injured, but a couple of the team ended up coming off their bikes as lorries brushed against them or forced them off the tarmac.

There was another unexpected challenge on the last big hill before lunch. On the up side the tarmac had melted and the weight of lorries pressing into it had created deep vertical grooves up the hill. These were smooth enough to ride in, but in some places too deep to get out of easily if a lorry decided it wanted your bit of space - which is what happened to me! As I tried to pull over, my pedal hit the rim of one of these grooves, and I was tipped off - sideways towards the edge of the road fortunately - and without too much damage to me or the bike. Once you got over the top of the hill, however, another surprise presented itself: here the tarmac had also melted and then reformed in waves and ripples down a stretch of the hill. Julian had been riding in peleton with some of the guys and hit this patch at speed. He is still not sure how he and the bike stayed together!

Shortly afterwards we turned off the main road, with some relief, and started down a quieter road towards Kakamega and the rainforest. But still Cycle Kenya wasn't going to relent; we now had to contend with nearly 40 kms of broken asphalt. Imagine a road that has had the top layer skimmed off and replaced, and then half of that top layer has broken away, leaving a bumpy and uneven surface. The sensation started off as unpleasant and just got worse - wrists and bum took on a relentless ache; fingers started to tingle with the vibration. You started to search out the better patches of road, or look for ridable stretches of dirt at the roadside - anything for a bit of relief. Finally we hit the outskirts of Kakamega - more traffic but a better surface again! And suddenly it was all over - a group of cyclists at a road junction, hugging each other and cheering each new arrival. Then a ragged peleton of 37 riders up the last short stretch of road to our hotel. We arrived and someone spotted the swimming pool. Soon - much to the bemusement of the local welcoming committee - we were all in the pool, fully clothed, laughing and cheering each jump, bomb or collapse into the water. Then the first round of the inevitable Tuskers arrived, before dinner, when we discovered we were all kings and queens of something, and then the partying really began... We'd done it!