Tanzania Day 3: Asante Baiskeli

 A short update tonight as I have to be judicious with managing battery usage the next couple of days while we're out riding and camping.

This morning we got to put our Buffalo Bikes to the test on the rugged roads between Moshi and Mikocheni, where were stopped camping for the night. It definitely wasn't quite the same as riding my usual bike, but we all adapted fairly quickly. The biggest things we missed: not having shocks or different gears to smooth out the ride as well as a having a rear pedal brake instead of a hand brake. These are all compromises to help keep the bike simpler and more reliable, as well as less expensive and easier to maintain.

They handled well with their wide, sturdy tires, and kept going even when I got a puncture from an Acacia thorn. 

Seriously, this has got to be the world's most unfriendly tree. 2-inch thorns all over!

And we needed that reliability on roads and paths that varied from "decently smooth gravel" to "endless rumble strip" to "dodging potholes big enough to swallow a car". And we finished by traversing a literal cow pasture in a floodplain, pockmarked with hoof prints. So yeah, rugged and reliable is the name of the game.

Roadside attractions you won't find on Route 66: Termite mounds 

There is so much I could recount, but will have to narrow it to a couple of observations.

1.) We saw people carry different and often large loads (including other people) by whatever means of transport available: truck, tuk-tuk, motorbike, bicycle, hand cart or walking. 3 people or a driver carrying eight-foot long posts cross-ways on a motorbike. Tools, jugs, other riders or firewood piled 6 feet high on the back of a bike. Huge piles of grasses carried above head by people that resembled truffula trees from The Lorax at a distance (albeit without the vivid colors). People find a way, and often bikes were the best tool they had.

There is a person walking under that giant ball in the middle. 

Cow pasture: definitely more X-games than Tour de France. 

2.) As we passed Oria Secondary School, numerous school children waved and called out to us as we passed. In the schoolyard, a conspicuous number of bikes were present. As we rounded the corner on the main road, we understood why: A sign showed that this school had a partnership with two other organizations (ABC Impact and Velafrica) that provides bikes to students so that they can more easily traverse long distances to school. https://velafrica.ch/en/what-we-do/bike-to-school/

The sign reads:

ORIA SECONDARY SCHOOL

Now I always come to school.

Now I avoid temptations on the way.

Now I don't walk long distances.

Now I get extra time to study myself. I am sure to fulfill my dreams.

THANK YOU, BICYCLES!

When students may have to travel 5-10km to school, it impacts their ability to go and learn. A bicycle, such as those donated to this school, or through the partnerships in the villages where Globalbike works, reduces the "costs" of getting to school and in doing so enables more kids to work towards a future with more possibilities.

And today, ours got us over 22 miles from our hotel to our campsite - in what we were told was by far the fastest time of any previous gbconnect group. 😊 Asante Baiskeli! (Thank you, Bicycles!)

A gorgeous sunset viewed from camp.

Check out my activity on Strava: https://strava.app.link/ve9ehHgGMBb