Mountain Biking Trip near Mount Kenya

in #cyclingfeed6 years ago (edited)

This is a blog about a mountain biking trip in Kenya, to celebrate the start of #cyclefeed, which hopefully will be a thriving place to meet all bike enthusiasts. Thanks for the great initiative, guys!

We flew into Kenya from South Africa and went biking on the slopes of the second highest mountain in Africa, Mount Kenya (5,199 metres high). Mount Kenya is slap bang on the equator and one of the few places on the planet to find snow on the equator.

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Crossing a river, own photo

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Cycling towards Mt Kenya (in the background), own photo

I used to live in Kenya and have done some races in the area. I had saved some GPS routes from those races and loaded them on my GPS, and we tried to follow them. This was not always easy, as some of the road and trails had seriously deteriorated.

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Sometimes the going was tough, own photo

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Preparing to cross a rickety bridge, own photo

No only the roads were sometimes tough to ride, you also always have to look out for animals, be it wild animals or livestock, which can pop out of the bushes at any time. Especially chicken seem to know how to run a few centimetres in front of your wheel for hundreds of metres.

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Watch out for mud and livestock, own photo

We had done several hours of exhilarating riding, with amazing views, and now it was time for a breather. In Kenya "hotels" are basically tea shops, and the main thing they sell is "chai" and "mandazi", tea and a type of doughnut.

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A local 'hotel', own photo

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Chai and mandazi, own photo

After that needed rest and refuelling, we went off again for the last few hours of the ride. We came across some amazing views and river crossings.

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own photo

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own photo

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own photo

All in all, it was an amazing trip, and a great feeling to cycle on the slopes of the mountain, never really sure what lies around the corner. Unfortunately the race I used to do around Mount Kenya, the "Laikipia XC", a five day stage race, is not organized anymore, let's hope somebody will pick it up in the future again, as the surroundings are beautiful. The sight of the omnipresent Mount Kenya was always breath taking and we saw some sights we will never forget!!!

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Mount Kenya, own photo

@Ultrabiker

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Amazing trip and scenery @ultrabiker, it looks like a tough path!

Also, I'd like to say thank you in behalf of the CycleFeed team, you've been our first featured post. Wohooo.

Thanks @mrprofessor, really appreciated!

Glad to see a post with this tag! This sounds like an awesome adventure. Where is your homebase?

Hi Rob, yes let's promote #cyclefeed as much as we can! Homebase is Johannesburg, South Africa.

Oh cool. So many South African cyclists on here! I hope this tag takes off.

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Oops, it’s #cyclefeed and not cyclingfeed...

Great scene up in the mountain. I love the contrast in one of the photos between you guys in high tech modern cycling gear versus the locals in their traditional dressing

Thanks @livinguktaiwan, glad you liked the post!!


This post was shared in the Curation Collective Discord community for curators, and upvoted and resteemed by the @c-squared community account after manual review.

Thank you @c-squared for sharing the post, the resteem and upvote, really appreciated!!!

Great photography and what a journey. Too bad the race isn't organized anymore. I really hope for you that it will be back in the future but in any case you have some great memories you will never forget ... and the photo's to remind you of this unforgettable experience.

Thank you @hetty-rowan for passing by and glad you like the post! For sure it is a journey we will remember!