Ouagadougou!

Jacques Anquetil, the famous French cyclist who won the Tour de France 5 times had this advice to give about elite cycling:

To prepare for a race there is nothing better than a good pheasant, some champagne and a woman.
-Jacques Anquetil

Having no pheasant and only wine-in-a-box here, I have decided to forgoe this advice in favour of the advice from the Italian cyclist, Velocio:

"Eat before you are hungry. Drink before you are thirsty. Rest before you are tired. Cover up before you are cold. Peel off before you are hot. Don't drink or smoke on tour. Never ride just to prove yourself."
-Paul de Vivie, aka Velocio

This, it turns out, is quite good advice. I have yet to test the "cover up before you are cold" part, but the rest of it is very practical.

There's nothing like coming home. Fortunately for me, "home" is a fairly broad term and the SIL centre here in Ouaga definitely qualifies as somewhere that I feel at home.

Saying goodbye to my host-friend, the 'doctor', I started towards "home" with a fair bit of vigor. My rear was still protesting, but with only 80km to go, I figured, I should be there by 11:00am. Things were going smoothly, but I was noticing some funny noises coming from my back wheel. I did my best to ignore them, telling myself that I would soon be in Ouaga and would get a complete "tune-up" at a good mechanic in only a few hours. Alas, it was not to be.

When I stopped for some bread, I found that the wheel was no longer true, but quite crooked indeed. On every revolution, it wobbled almost an inch. No wonder pedaling seemed harder today; the wheel had been rubbing against the brakes every single trip around. I rode on to the next bike mechanic I could find, which happened to be a good 10km - the longest stretch of no mechanics in all of Burkina, I think! There, I took off all the baggage and the reason for the noise and wheel trouble became apparent: 3 broken spokes! Dang it. The mechanic's spare spokes weren't the right size for my wheel. I asked him if he could rig me up to make the last 40km into Ouaga. He said, "sure, if you can live without brakes". I assured him that I didn't need brakes that badly since I still had front brakes. He losened off the brakes so my wheel wouldn't bang as it wobbled and said I should be OK to go the rest of the way.
Wasn't THIS bad, but it was ugly!

In the next 10km, 2 more spokes broke and the wheel wobbled so badly, I couldn't keep the bike straight. Just over an hour from the finish and I had to admit defeat. I put out my thumb and started hitch-hiking. Unfortunately, it is harder to get rides, the closer to the city you are because all the incoming cars are already full up.

Eventually, an older Toyota pick-up truck skidded to a stop and backed up. The cab only had bucket seats so I hopped in the back with my bike. It might have been an older model truck, but it was tuned up and the driver had it red-lined almost the whole-time. I wondered if I would die, not being hit by a car, but flying out of the back of one! Against all odds, we made it into the city alive and they dropped me off right in front of the big bike market where I knew there was a good mechanic. It wasn't until I was thanking them that the passenger introduced herself as the Mayor of the area where I had broken down in. The crazy driver was her professional chauffeur. In any case, I thanked them profusely, then wheeled my bike off to get fixed up.

I ordered 36 new spokes for my wheel as well as a few extras to take with me, then I left my bike and all my gear, jumped in a taxi and made it to the Nigerian embassy before noon. Since having obtained a Cameroonian visa, I now qualify for a "Transit visa" for Nigeria. The man in charge of visas is still reluctant, but did allow me to submit everything. Unfortunately, visa days are only on Tuesdays and Thursdays so I need to wait until Tuesday to get mine. Oh well. I guess a little forced rest isn't a bad thing.

By the time I got back from the embassy, my bike was ready to go with a fully rebuilt wheel - cost me $10, parts included!!! He had checked the bike over and gave it a clean bill of health. He even straightened my forks for me which should help a little with the stability of steering which has always been a little crooked! Awesome. It rides better than new!

I stopped on my way "home" to the SIL guest-house for my favourite plate of beans and sorghum. It is super-yummy, but I have only found one woman in this neighborhood who makes it. After a meal and a hair-cut, I arrived at SIL to find out whether or not they had any room for me. They (guards, cleaning ladies, laundry and kitchen staff) were all happy to see me and we had lots of laughs as they tried to imagine biking 450km in 2.5 days. I did get a room and have been resting my tender laurels ever since!!

So what have I learned from this first experience?

1) Wear sunscreen.
2) Even if you drink 6L of water, if you only pee once during the day, you are dehydrated.
3) Don't listen to your butt.