Tanzania and into Feb

Been a hectic few weeks since my last blog, continued to get some good road miles and a few swims too, also started to run again (very slowly and short) with lots of stretching to bring the hamstring up to speed!

As it turns out the best thing appears to be warm weather and some resting it which is good to know and it now feels great and I can run at a different speed - am hoping to be able to play some more rugby in March so fingers crossed.

For the last 10 days I have been in Tanzania and took my bike out (I work for a safari company and go out every few months) for the first time.

Did some good rides including a commute (30 miles round trip), a great ride up the mountain and then some smaller mess around rides! I bummed out on two of the rides though - first one I was feeling crappy and dizzy (blaming it on dehydration and altitude) and the second one I was hungover (ahem) but was good otherwise.

Some photos: -

 Pre ride

 Yeah I fell off, and rode through savage bushes!

 Mount Kilimanjaro at dawn on the way to work

 My Cube and John's Santa Cruz carbon tall boy - a seriously nice bit of kit 

There is loads of singletrack in and around the jungle, but a lot of the riding is done on tracks like this, which are very rutted and rocky which make them super good fun and just as technical as windy single track. The riding here is better than anywhere I have ridden - it really is incredible!

It was a great experience and great to ride with people a lot fitter than me, John & Amanda currently coming down off the Trans Andes race. One thing I did notice was how unfit I felt riding out there, unsure if it was tiredness from travelling or just affected by altitude. I do always get a slightly dodgy stomach from the water but it was frustrating. when I just could get that free spinning feeling, ah well maybe next time - annoyingly to no be able to ride at max effort though!

So back to wet & windy England! Lots of running and turbo-ing I guess, plus getting to the gym for some strength work to see how the body responds.

Anyone interested in riding in Tanzania up Mount Meru, let me know and I can hook you up!

For anyone interested in bike bits - the new Pike forks got much better as they were used more and really freed up - very impressive so far! I also used a new one-up 42 tooth rear sprocket on the cassette...not really needed that much at home, I used relentlessly here - so many steep drags to wind up! 

Laters....