I had another late start today but I didn't mind as I knew I only had around 40km to go to get to Nakuru.
At 9 o'clock I woke up and discovered that the rocky road must've been a bit too much for Nigel and he had another broken spoke. They're a massive inconvenience but I was in the zone this morning and from realising the problem at 9 o'clock it took me just an hour and a half to sort the spoke, adjust the wheel, get washed, have breakfast and pack
Nigel up ready to go.
I was well chuffed and leaving at half 10 meant that I would be finished by 1 and have much of the day to explore and check out safari prices for tomorrow. I decided to go back down the rocky road purely because I knew the road I cycled on all day yesterday would be in a lot better condition than the other one leading to Nakuru from Molo.
After getting back onto the main road I knew I had made the right decision. I was literally buzzing, everything was beautiful, the weather, the road, the scenery and Nigel was purring along like a well fed tabby. I was back to having a day that was like a reward for all the tough days previous. I felt on top of the world and not even the creature that stung me on the knee cap could wipe the smile off my face. I don't know what it was or why he stung me, he had the whole atmosphere to fly around in and he chose to head butt and sting me on the knee!
After my hard graft yesterday, I was reaping the rewards and soaking in the downhills today and rarely touched the pedals for most of the day.
The road started to get a little busier so I sensed I was close to the end. I was around 5 miles from Nakuru and cycling on a smooth section of road downhill. Cue the idiot lorry driver that would ruin my perfect day. I'm cycling on the road because the cycling section sometimes turns to gravel and also has huge speed bumps from previous roads that the main road doesn't have as they've tarmacked a new section over the top.
The lorry decided to over take me and then due to busy oncoming traffic, only his carriage passed me before he started to creep over to the edge of the road and force me off the road. I knew this wasn't good. There was a good couple of inches off the road down onto the cycle section and I was going to have to drop down onto it whilst going some. Another lorry was close behind so I had nowhere to go other than to drop down onto cycle section.
Annoyed and distracted by the two lorries on my right and a car looking to pull out on my left, the huge speed bump in front of me came out of nowhere. I had nowhere to go. I hit the bump that was a good two inches high with such a force that my two front panniers flew off and the clip on my handlebar broke instantly and the bag popped off in front of my wheel.
For the second time in two weeks my life turned into slow motion and I knew this one was going to hurt...alot! With bags in front of me I flipped over Nigel landing on my left shoulder and left wrist. Nigel took a huge hit and was in a right state but amazingly the rear rack was fine, the chain was fine and despite the handlebars facing the other way, the brakes were not broken either. I got up very dazed and in a lot of pain down my left side. I had to turn the gear selector back into position as that had taken a huge hit but amazingly Nigel had survived and the only thing broken was the clip on my handlebar bag and my collar bone (well it felt like it had)
I tried to move my left arm around and could but that meant nothing. I have fell victim to a broken wrist for two weeks before I found out it was broken so I was just going to have to wait and see about my shoulder. I cycled the last 5 miles in pure agony. Groaning and grimacing with every bump in the road that shot electrical pains up my left side into my shoulder. My wrist was in a lot of pain also so braking was tough and I couldn't turn my head that well. I had to go very slowly and soon realised that my ideal initial plan of camping at the national park was going to have to be scrapped and my perfect day had been completely destroyed.
I found a cheap hotel before I collapsed in pain and decided to stay for a couple of nights there and then reassess my new situation after that. My mood was ruined more by some terrible food and service but once again I thanked God that I could still feel pain and could still be annoyed with incompetent waiters. I kept thinking back about whether there was anything else I could've done differently. I was on the road as it was safer and the impatient lorry driver forced the whole situation. Annoyed but pleased to be alive I got my sling from my first aid kit. I wondered at first why there was a tear in it but remembered that i got caught short in France with no loo roll.
I managed to ease the pain somewhat which made me happier and wasn't going to stay room bound so headed for a walk down the main street to nose through the market and check out possible safari excursion prices. My mood was back to happy as I had a good laugh and a joke with the stall workers and I came to the realisation that Nigel was actually ok. I was still praying my bone wasn't broken as that would be a huge inconvenience but when i thought back to what could've happened, its quite miraculous how things have ended up.
I enquired about safari prices and for just a half day it was going to cost £120. My ride is still trying to stick to a £10 a day budget so I may have to hold my horses with lake Nakuru as I know Tanzania and Botswana are both very good countries for animal spotting and a lot of the time you don't even have to be in a designated park.
As I walked through the street I spotted a white couple and the man had an equally impressive beard and hair combination. In fact he was just like Jesus! "I've got a long way to go!" I said and we stopped in the road to have a chat. They were a couple from Norway staying here till September and I told them my situation and they offered me their spare room to stay for however long I needed.
It seems whenever something bad goes wrong, an unexpected good thing is provided for me if I keep my belief and keep my head high. Malin and Torbjeorn were on an exchange programme and working with street kids in the city. I took down their address and now I had a great option to ease any worries about what I would do if my collar was broken and I did have to go to hospital. I'm pretty sure its just very badly bruising and its the swelling that makes it look broken. Ether way, their kind offer of a room has given me a chance to recover without having to pay hotels or worry about the safety of Nigel.
I said I would pop around to theirs on Tuesday as I had already paid for my hotel room but annoyingly forgot to ask what time they would be around. Torbjeorn's phone number that he wrote down had a number missing also so I will probably have to think about popping around tomorrow evening when they should be in to get a good time for moving in on Tuesday. I'm pretty sure my arm won't be ready by Tuesday and I offered to do some coaching for the street kids when I was back to fitness.
I found a nice bar in the evening to catch the football and take my mind off the discomfort I was in. After the football I headed back to my room to assess the shoulder after the swelling. My arm was still huge and the bruising was starting to show so i had a very uncomfortable nights sleep ahead of me but hopefully would get a better idea of its status tomorrow.
If you look at today as a whole, it was an amazing little bike ride that had such a good ending ruined by quite a spectacular accident that could halt my ride for a while. I look at it as just another one of those things that seem to happen to me quite regularly but the most important thing is that I'm still alive, I've been provided with safety if I do have to go to hospital and Nigel is ok. Yes I'm gutted I couldn't camp in the national park but its not the end of the world, I will take a wander over there tomorrow and the most important thing in life is health, and I still have that.
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