Hills and more Hills and some Wrestling

Gas Station to Mountain House

 August 6th, Day 56:

I woke up to the prods of the gas station attendants who appeared at 5am to begin their day’s work and laugh at our sleeping figures. They were a bit annoying, but useful because they forced us to get an early start. We were quite hungry, so we got some interesting gas station food, which didn’t look great, but ended up tasting even worse. Eric managed to scarf some of it down, but I preferred to go empty-stomached, especially considering some of the recent “stomach problems” I had been having.

It was a beautiful day to ride, aside from my physical ailments. We were to ascend up from the Great Rift Valley onto the African plateau, which was over 1000 meters of incline. It was a nice brisk morning- perfect for riding. As the sun began to bake the land, we ascended higher up the mountains, making great time as we went. We passed several other bicyclists as we went, who often tried to compete with us. It was difficult for us because on the one hand our competitive nature made us not want to lose these “races”, but on the other hand it was foolish to burn out competing with some local cyclists who is only riding for a mile because once we finish, we have many, many more to go. Anyways… our pride usually got the better of us, and I think we may have pushed a little too far at points during the day because as it started to get later, I really began to feel the fatigue.

Maybe it was just my stomach problems, but at around 5pm I hit the wall. I just couldn’t keep going, and our destination was still 10-15 more miles down the road. Eric agreed to take a break for me to use the “facilities” and rest. This turned out to be an interesting stop because after pulling over to the side of the road we were greeted by the local children(common) and then by the local boxer/fighter (rare). However, I informed the fighter that I too have a great interest in fighting, as I have spent a great deal of time training in MMA, Muay Thai, Boxing, and Jiu-Jitsu, so we decided to pit our skills against one another.

It became quite a spectacle, with most of the village coming to watch. We got surrounded by people of all ages, women with their infants, old men, you name it… they were there to watch the show. And I was at a bit of a disadvantage, the man I was sparring against was well over 6 feet tall, and much stronger than me. While he got the best of me several times, I managed to pull of some pretty sweet moves which I was quite proud of including one particular spectacular arm-bar that got the crowd’s attention.  When the festivities had concluded we noticed that the sun was starting to set, and we had to keep going.

The adrenaline from the fight had worn off at this point, and I felt more tired and sick than before. Then, just as we started biking again we saw a sign, “Uphill- 14k”. This was pretty demoralizing. We battled through the hill, and I took a few stops to run into the bushes, but finally my stomach was just hurting too much and my body was too fatigued so we had to call it a day. The only problem was that it was pitch black, and we were in the middle of a mountain with no idea where to stay. There didn’t appear to be any open region to set up a tent, but then some people approached us and led us to a small guesthouse where we stayed the night. I went straight to bed, but Eric spent some time chatting with some of the local people.

-Aaron