I was feeling better about leaving today. I could still stay longer but I had a great week to look forward to so I was able to prize myself away from the hostel.
As usual it didn't take long to pack up Nigel and I sat and had breakfast with a couple of the guys. Time was pushing on so I said my goodbyes and made one quick stop at the drinks vender about 20m from the hostel.
The next half an hour would officially be the worst start to a days riding in "a ride for their lives" history. I pulled away from the vender in a medium gear, as I went to change the gears, the selector would move but nothing would happen! I was already having issues with the chain slipping and now I couldn't even change gear!
To add to this, the road was busy and sandy and the wind was kicking sand up all over the place. My glasses fell injured when I broke my collarbone so I have no eye protection at all. Even though my mind was on my gears i still had to be wary of the speeding cars and swirling sand which made the first 10 minutes a bit of a struggle.
Upon approaching a roundabout I tried to time my arrival so I could maintain my current speed. Mother Nature didn't let this happen though as just as I got to the roundabout, so too did quite a thick sand cyclone that I had no choice other than to duck into. As I tried to pedal through it a bit faster my gears slipped massively and so I found myself in not the most ideal positions as a sitting duck, in a sandstorm, on a very busy roundabout in Lusaka.
Thankfully I got through it ok but i decided to pull over to see if I could fix my gears. There was no way I could cycle anywhere with just one slipping gear! I played around a little and the past few months of African sand and dust had clearly taken their toll. A wiggle here, a wiggle there and a spray of WD40 soon did the trick and once again i was a very proud owner of a fixed Nigel.
I managed to cycle for another 10 minutes before, boom, scrape, CRASH! I looked to my right. The guy that I had noticed out the corner of my eye who was cycling in the same direction as me but on the other side of the road and was constantly staring at me, must've hit something. He then displayed a very impressive superman impression as he flew head first with outstretched arms over his handlebars and onto the ground. He was ok but in the same way I will never be seen again on a bike in Kenya, he will probably stop staring at people when he should be watching where he cycles!
After that, the road was good and I was given the opportunity to take in the miles. Unfortunately though, my chain wasn't having any of it an the constant slipping was spreading to pretty much all the gears. I knew the chain must be the issue because of this, as some of the gears were still rideable. Progress was hard on my legs and I had to try and keep very consistent with no extra pressing. The road wasn't too hilly and so I was able to make slow but steady progress until a monster of a hill turned up which provoked me to get off and not for the first time, push.
I checked google maps briefly before I left the hostel and much to my delight, they told me that my destination was only 50km away. They lied. It was 110km away but the area began 50km from Lusaka. The second half of my road was not so good. A narrow cycle section combined with cracked roads and speeding coaches made the second half of my day tough and not exactly enjoyable. The only thing that kept me going were the fizzy shoe laces that Jo had left me yesterday!
I stopped for some biscuits and drinks just before i arrived in Mazabuka so I was in a good mood and ready to shop around for the cheapest possible accommodation when I got there. I had been recommended the "Golden Pillow" by Andrew but that was too expensive. I couldn't find the Golden pillow's recommendation and the next guest house I stopped at wasn't the cheapest either. I managed to find their recommendation however which was called "youth project"and from the outside it didn't look anything like a hostel. It turned out to be another little gem and I'm sure there's no way I would've stopped there if it wasn't for a little inside info. I walked into an Internet cafe that was full of students and feeling a little stupid, i asked the guy at the front desk about accommodation. He called someone else who escorted me around the back to a row of very clean little rooms.
The price was right, the nearby restaurant was decent and cheap and the shower was amazing! I didn't need anything else in my life other than a new chain!!!
There was no way I could handle another day with the same chain so I decided to change my current chain with the used chain that Duncan had given me way back in Sudan. It wasn't guaranteed to work but I changed it anyway as nothing could be worse than what I was dealing with. Changing the chain was not as simple for myself as George from Thessaloniki made it look in the bike shop all those months ago. He's probably changed thousands and my total to date was 0. Yes that's right, I have embarked on a cycle trip across Europe and Africa and I have never ever change a chain. You have to start somewhere though don't you. I've seen how its done, I've read how its done and I've got the tools to do it so what's the problem?
The problem arose when my tool broke but I managed to do it eventually and if the chain gets me to the end (of tomorrow) then I will be again, a proud owner of a fixed Nigel. I would only find out for sure when I start cycling tomorrow if my handy work had improved Nigel's condition. It was all well and good me turning the pedals and checking if the gears changed when he's lying on his back but I needed to know how he faired under pressure with a full load of weight on him!
Either way, it wouldn't be the end of the world so it wasn't worth losing sleep over!
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