took the red bishop out for a spin this afternoon. i'm guessing the humidity and heat was climbing into the low 100F but with only one day of freedom, you gotta make the most of it. i treat the extreme heat as i do the extreme cold, as a challenge for survival - man vs the elements. the red bishop likes to go really really fast; she likes some mud, she likes sand, but most of all she likes speed. i've discovered a great ride that crosses the juba bridge and then follows the river nile upstream for many kilometers (i need to measure it sometime). anyway, the trail(s) consist of mainly footpaths and cow paths, but they go through amazing environments...and the terrain is flat with small dips here and there to keep you on your pedals. due to the heat of the day, very few people are out to give any problems. the other good time to ride is on sunday morning when everyone is on their best (church) behavior and the drunks have all fallen asleep. back to the trail...it twists and winds, under mango tree grooves, through thickets of acacia (which can cut you up pretty good if you are not careful - oh and make sure you put a liner in your tires...the little burrs got me the first time - slow leak so you can make it home, but still, the liner gives the peace of mind that is well worth it in this environment. parts of the trail went through ten foot tall grass, also very sharp and hard to see - half the time i was riding blind hoping no snakes or goats were around the next bend. the trails continues along the river and you can go all the way to rajaf, today i turned at some village and made my way back to the main road. the ride from the river to the road goes through open grassland with acacia trees and tons of birds, the myriad of song birds is incredible. if my riding buddy was along, he could have given the name to every bird, when they eat and what their favorite tv show is. this little route is a good 2 hour ride and on the way back you go through a village where a chorus of "kawaza" lights up and smiling faces and waving hands...yeah, don't let it go to your head, your celebrity status is only skin deep.
this morning we hiked up the jebel at 7am and had a champagne breakfast. since the grass was so high, we ended up on a new way up and it ended up being a incredible-at one point it was one step below needing actual ropes-not sure if anyone has climbed out here, but it has potential. so we scrambled up the rock and then scrambled some eggs and had breakfast with a spectacular view of juba...well, if it can be spectacular through the haze and dust.
this is a pic from last week. an abandoned church. we figured it was probably mined around it as it would have made a great place to set up an operation...sort of like in die hard 2. hippy kiyeah!
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