I had a surprisingly good night's sleep considering the mattrice felt like cardboard boxes, mosquitos circled my head like planes waiting to land and the temperature was, well...clammy.
My mission today was just get to Mombasa. Knowing I had a pig of a road waiting for me and Nigel was a spoke down and would've easily failed a police camera action sobriety test, I wasn't looking to break any records. I set off at half 7, early enough to hopefully give myself chance to recover when I arrive but not early enough to beat the lorries unfortunately.
I had initially admitted defeat against the lorry drivers so began cycling tentatively on the corrugated gravel section by the side of the road. Every now and then I would spot a clear section of road so I would rebel and sneak on, go at it hammer and tongs and then abort before any close shaves could be had. This worked well in the morning and I managed to cover 10miles in the first hour.
As I spent a lot of the time on the bumpy gravel I could feel the back wheel getting progressively worse. Cycling felt harder and it was harder to get Nigel to move straight. I looked down and it had got so bad that the wheel was actually rubbing against the frame. On closer inspection, another spoke had broken so now Nigel was two down with 40miles to go!
I adjusted the back wheel again and exercised spoke "survival of the fittest." It was go hard or go home for my spokes and if they couldn't hack it then they don't deserve to make it to Lesotho. I think its time for a complete re-spoke so all I was interested in doing was getting to Mombasa.
After resetting the rear wheel I cycled for about a mile and out of completely nowhere I saw cycle section speed bumps, wait a minute, there was a whole cycle section! You have never seen anybody so happy to see speed bumps in all your life then if you saw me at around 10 o'clock today. I let out a huge "wahoo" as Nigel's wheel's smoothly glided over the silky road (and avoided the bumps obviously). I had my voice back and James Arthur's "impossible" rang out loud and proud across the South Eastern Kenyan plains.
I had to adjust the back wheel a couple more times after that but did so without taking the bags off and just rolled Nigel as I tightened or loosened here and there. The whole production of taking the bags off, adjusting the wheel and putting bags back on again is better for Nigel but after doing it around 10 times over the last 3 days, shortcuts are better for my mood!
First impressions as I neared Mombasa island was Lorry graveyard. There were loads of them littering the side of the road with either engines missing, wheels missing or both. I pushed hard through the small towns on the outskirts of the island as adrenaline was pumping and I couldn't believe how quickly I had arrived. 60 miles in just over 5 hours was a great result considering the first 20 miles I was mainly on gravel. I was expecting to arrive at 6!
As I crossed over the bridge onto Mombasa island the sight of the sea left me with another fuzzy feeling of accomplishment. I'm doing things I never imagined I could do before, seeing places I have never dreamt of seeing and it feels blooming amazing!
I had a decision to make as I flowed with the traffic chaos. My friend Sharon was working on sorting out accommodation in Diani which is about 20 miles away but I had no Internet to check my emails to see if she was successful. I also had to contact Moving the goalposts and tell them what has happened. On top of this I had directions to a bike shop given to me in Mtiti Andei in order to fix Nigel. What do I do first? And where do I decide to stay?
I opted for getting some fried chicken and a fanta and thinking about it some more. I still wanted to go to MTG but first things first, I had to think about Nigel and getting him sorted. I decided to find a place in Mombasa city, scout out the bike shop to see if they could help with more tubes and spokes and then check emails and message people accordingly.
I walked around for a bit and decided that I wanted to stay two nights so I wanted a half decent place. The first place I checked out was "exclusive" I say I checked it out, I just used the toilet (chicken went straight through me) then I left, it was a bit over my intended budget!
I eventually found a nice place in a good spot that was reasonably priced for what it offered. Almost had an absolute catastrophe trying to carry Nigel and his bags up the stairs but thankfully he got wedged between both walls before I fell back down the 20 or so steps! Despite being extremely tired I knew if I did all my jobs today then I could crack on tomorrow with seeing Moving the goalposts and then move on to Diani beach where I may hopefully have an already arranged place to stay on Wednesday.
I followed the tiny little map that had been drawn out for me by Arafat back in Mtiti Andei. The guy i was looking for was Arafat's friend, Abdullah Salim. Arafat seemed very knowledgeable so I had every faith I would find the bicycle shop no problems...
As I turned the corner, there it was, a massive cycle shop with what looked like Abdullah Salim written on the sign. Get in! He's only gone and nailed it in one! I spoke to Mr Salim and strangely he didn't know Arafat but he said he could get me more tubes that would work but the length of spoke I was after they didn't sell and the wheel would need to be designed completely differently. "Ok" I said, "is there anyone here that can do that?" "No" he said bluntly. Well that's good isn't it! A bike shop where nobody can fix a wheel! I asked if there was another bike shop nearby, "yes, my brother down the road could help you" "excellent, and what's your brother's name?" "Abdullah" he said. That's original I thought, at least the parents didn't have to pay extra for naming their school clothes! "Maybe he knows Arafat then!" I said as i moved on to the next shop still with hope.
I walked 100m down the road and sure enough, this Abdullah Salim was my man and yes he knew Arafat and yes he had tubes that could work (charged 50 shillings more than his brother though) but YES he could fix my wheel as well. Amazing! I thought, i didn't have money or the wheel on me but I conformed that I could get a bus from the bike shop to Kilifi so right there I had my plan for tomorrow. Bike shop bright and early, then make a day trip to Moving the goalposts, if I can pull it off then I can feel an "A-Team" quote coming on.
Next on the to do list was find a cyber cafe and check my emails. Mombasa Internet is surprisingly good and sure enough, Sharon had come good, VERY GOOD. I had a place if I needed it en route to Tanzania in Diani. I was positively glowing! If things work out tomorrow and the wheel holds up long term then my recent chain of events have turned from trouble and strife to loving my life!
I skipped out the cyber cafe to find a footy match being played in the local park opposite. I sat and watched it for a bit before succumbing to the groans of my stomach. I hadn't eaten anything all day! This morning was a grit and determination morning, no time for eating and this afternoon I was feeding on good times.
After a good feed I stepped out into Mombasa darkness. I was a bit wary of the lack of street lights and even though I feel a lot safer in Mombasa than in Nairobi (I also like it a lot more here as well) I still wasn't overly confident in the shadows so I tagged along to two guys and had a chat with them pretty much up to my hotel.
A great day with possible AMAZING repercussions if all goes well with Moving the goalposts, Camp Kenya and Nigel. I'm so pleased I carried on cycling and pushed through the mental barriers instead of just finding a truck to give me a lift when the second spoke went. Another little victory in this marathon endurance event of a ride.
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