Saturday’s ride was a success! The track I made on Google Earth kept me out of trouble, except for two wrong turns…comically, both of which were before I even reached the dirt.

Road and weather conditions were near-perfect. Very soon after leaving the town of Ngong, the tarmac ended, however the dirt road was in great condition. Dropping over the edge of the Rift’s escarpment, the descent is relatively steep, and I shortly had to unzip all the vents on my riding jacket — the air quickly lost its coolness. I had the dirt road to myself, only seeing one lorry for the next 80 kilometers that was laboring its way through this rough area. The reddish earth of the dirt road provided a great contrast as it wound through the olive-green of the scrubby bushes and acacia trees. Many rocky upthrusts punctuated the hillsides. I found the [mostly] dry riverbed that became my route for the second half of the trip. Against my hopes, it was actually more of a track than I wanted, so bushwhacking will have be for another excursion. It was very fun, though, following the contours of the land, just as the river runs. It must have rained the day before, as I ran into a bit of mud, which provided some maneuvering excitement. I crossed paths with several Maasai herdsmen with their cattle. Each of them carried a spear, one item of protection against the lions, I imagine. They were friendly enough, waving and smiling as I zig-zagged amidst their bovine. I also encountered quite a few gazelle and antelope that sprinted and lept as I motored by. I came within 20 meters of a herd of zebra that stared at me, their heads swinging in unison to follow me.

Here are some general trip stats:
Trip Distance: 103 kms
Moving Time: 2hrs 27min
Moving Average: 41.7 kph
Max Speed: 83.3 kph

This is the elevation profile of the trip:

Next weekend will bring more adventure. I hope to be taking a longer ride (three days) with a group of friends and heading to a part of the country where I’ve never been.

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Tomorrow I’m planning to get off the beaten path with Charleze, my XR650. About 20 kms from my place in Nairobi is the town of Ngong, situated on the edge of the Great Rift Valley that carves its way north through Kenya. From Ngong I will drop over the Rift’s steep escarpment, at which point I will lose the tarmac road. I estimate having to ride about 70 kms north to my destination, “the Farm,” where my friends, Bryan and Ang, live.

I am estimating because, for one, I’ve never been through this area. There is no road as far as I can tell. Using Google Earth, I managed to place waypoints along what appear to be animal paths between watering holes and dry riverbeds. I have uploaded these waypoints to my gps, creating a route, which will be my guiding source on this excursion. I probably should download a dose of common sense for this trip, too.

It should be a beautiful ride through the scrub-land, even passing the volcano of Suswa on the way. It feels a bit as if I’m about to embark on a short, choose-your-own-ending story. I will come out on the other side, it is only a matter of when and how.

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Last weekend I took my Honda XR650 up to Mt Kenya. It was my first long trip since I got it, and it was good to see how it would handle the open road…and a little mud. The destination was Lake Rutundu, where a set of beautiful log cabins are nestled on the northern slopes of Mt Kenya at an elevation of 3,200m / 10,500ft. Not counting stops along the way, it will take about 4 hours to drive from Nairobi, with the last 32 kilometers being a dirt track.

Within the first hour my rear tube ruptured. It happened while descending an incline at a speed of about 90kph. I managed to slow the bike down and stop without losing control. As I had not seen a town in several kilometers, I was unsure where I could find a mechanic that might have spare tubes. There were a few houses on that stretch of road, and a few men offered to help. They pedaled away on bicycles and returned with two men who were self-proclaimed motorcycle aficionados. Fortunately I was carrying more tools than they, as they only had two tire irons. To make it short, within three hours I was back on the road, after one of the “mechanics” took a bus to a town about 45minutes away to find a new tube. From now on I will be carrying my own extra tubes!

Aside from running out of petrol later that day, I and the bike arrived safely to the Rutundu cabins. I spent the next couple of days there with several colleagues. It is a fantastic setting. Both of these cabins are very well maintained. They are situated directly above Lake Rutundu, and about a 90 minute hike from Lake Alice (about 3,600m / 11,800ft), both of which provide for excellent trout fishing. I have been there a couple times before, always catching at least one trout each day, not less than 50cm / 20in in length! This time, however, I was outsmarted by them, though a couple in our group caught several, so our dinners were excellent each evening, seated around the roaring fireplace. One night we even heard the loud grunts of a leopard as it hunted nearby.

The return trip to Nairobi was uneventful in terms of misadventure, but views and topography of the landscape were wonderful to interact in with my bike. We stopped for lunch at the Trout Tree just south of Nanyuki. This restaurant is built into the branches of a massive fig tree that overlooks a number of ponds on this trout farm. It serves as a great stop for a bite to eat.

Here is a photo of my bike on the dirt track above the cabins. The peaks of Mt Kenya are enshrouded in cloud cover on the horizon.

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