The riders, four of them, Adrie, Rafiki, Nathan and Kyandui came in to Kibuye around 16:30 and I met them at the St. Jean Batiste Center, they all were very happy to be there and they all looked darker than last week. They looked a bit tired and I could tell they had been training, I found out later that Nathan and Kyandui who live a ways away from Kigali came into town so that they could train with the others. We had a big weekend ahead of us so they were anxious to get some food and head off to rest.

The next day I met them in the afternoon and were met by three local riders including Rambo who was glad to be part of the group again. The riders started off immediately in a double pace line, very clean and very efficient, it was great to see how fast they catch on. Our easy ride to Burundi which by the way still had over 3000ft of climbing in it was great, we got a slight rain and only had a few flats this time, I am quickly realizing that flats over here take up a lot of time that we should be riding, Rambo's flat was a catastrophic, his 28" tyre had no spot where the tread was not bursting through, here it was not a question of just one bulge in the tyre but more like 6 or 7 bulges ready to blow. One of them did and I was amazed that Rafiki was able to get him back to town in one piece. I donated my last tube to him, his own was blown beyond repair, or at least for the moment. You do not see anyone chucking any tubes or any possibly salvageable item in the bushes here and the roadside is remarkably clean and tidy because of that. There is no litter here or garbage on the road, they utilize everything! Offered to pay for a tyre for Rambo on Monday, he was beyond overjoyed!

We met Samuel who Jay (Ritchey) and I met during the week on a ride, he has a remarkable front brake, I have included a photo, I don't know why when he brakes it doesn't just sheer off, I can't imagine that it brakes very well either.

We met some jug transporters going up one of the climbs, you will be amazed at how many jugs a transporter bike rider can fit on his bike! It was almost as if there were people telling them that they bet they couldn't fit just one more on their bike rack. And they were riding up the incline, albeit slow but they were riding! Each day I see sights that just amaze me, watching them I am ashamed at how unresourceful I have been in my life.

I went to the Center for dinner with them in the evening watching them reminded me of Bob Roll and his plates of food at restaurants when we were traveling with the 7-11 Team in the 80's, (actually all of ours but especially his). Wow these guys have appetites. The St. Jean Batiste Center is ideal for bike riders because when the meals are served you help yourselves and can go back for more as you can see in the photos. Jay joined us and couldn't help but remark at the amounts of food these guys consume!

Jug transporter.(Left) At the table, Bob Roll you would be impressed.(Right)

I had given the riders the new Polar CS600 heart rate monitors and we set them up. They all were fascinated at the available information they now could read about not only their bikes but their cv system, the atmosphere and road terrain! They had not gotten the concept yet when I told them that I could download their information on my computer and study each of their files. My plan was to ride up into the oldest untouched rainforest in Africa the Nyungwe National Park and turn around at about the 45-50 mile mark. The high point would be 8400ft, we were starting at 5700ft so the ride out was pretty much up hill most of the way out. You would not have known it by the way they started the ride, especially going up the climbs. I tempered them a bit but then just let them go their pace. I figured that they would find out at some point during the ride that maybe they started a bit too fast. I also noticed that no one was packing any food in their pockets, not that any nutritional "food bars" were anywhere available in Rwanda or if they had been they could afford even one of them. I doubt it since they couldn't even pay for bananas on the last long ride. Two hours into the ride we started to look for a place to pick up some bananas but for some reason we were not having any luck. We also seemed to be having some exceptionally bad luck with flat tyres. I think that for some it was the only reprieve for the hard climbs but it was getting a bit annoying. When we entered into the Nyungwe National Park everything went incredibly quiet and the whole countryside completely changed. What was once a road filled with people walking somewhere, or village after village or cultivated lands turned to this incredibly dense rain forest without a soul anywhere! What a contrast, I had not really realized the nervous impact of riding on a road constantly whistling, or "hissing" (its not rude but customary) at the constant flow of pedestrians, including kids of all ages, goats and occasional cows. A ride does not go buy where there is not some close call with some moving object in the road. I learned too today that branches in the road mean there is some dead in the road truck or lorry up ahead and it would be best to be prepared. The trucks over here do not just have flats or have some minor difficulties these are metal grinding, breaking, screeching, popping, failures, it is not uncommon to see a stopped, (I mean in the middle of the road blocking traffic stopped, maybe even slightly sideways) over a period of days. As each day passes you see more from underneath the truck being dropped, transmissions, transfer case's, all oil and any fluid in yellow plastic jugs or makeshift containers spilling into the road. I have yet to see a tow truck or even a mobile mechanic, I don't think they exist here. They just disembowel the truck right then and there, fix it even if it takes days and then continue on their way.

We turned around at a bit over 3hrs into the ride, I got a sidewall blowout coming back down a hill and as we (Rafiki) repaired the tyre Nathan went ahead to secure some imeneke's (bananas) it had already been over 3 ½ hrs since anybody had anything to eat. Well he did not find any, but he did find a tiny kiosk in the middle of a village that had the typical Rwandan fried bread balls and sodas so everybody being on reserve opted to stop. We again were surrounded by a mass of people, our only recourse was for all of us to pack into this tiny kiosk, my camera did not have a wide angle wide enough to get all of us in the place sitting on bags of grain, flour or where ever we could fine a place. There we sipped the Rwandan tea, coca-cola, fanta and ate the bread balls. I opted to be cautious of the bread balls and ate some figs I had brought with me. Seeing how they don't throw anything out here chances are that the deep frying oil was months old.

I could tell on the hills at this point everybody's legs (including my own) were starting to feel it, the pace did not slow down and there was no way anybody was going to be dropped except for the few young local riders who had tagged along with us. They were all in their survival do or die mode, these guys are not newcomers to suffering, I know many riders that could learn a lot from them. A big storm was blowing in and the road was strewed with Eucalyptus leaves, branches and all sorts of other road debris, the rain came and we just plowed through it all. I think that we must have spent over 1hr total fixing and changing flats but were on our bikes for 5'20" for 95 miles and 8400ft of climbing.

The riders opted to have a meal as soon as we got back, they were visibly tired and very hungry, they ate another meal at 22:00! Never once did any complain or even ask when we were turning around when we were getting farther and farther away from home climbing up and up into the forest. I saw that they understood the value of a paceline and went to it as quickly as possible whenever we could. They are not afraid to be at the front and take a pull even if they are tired they still are very competitive but not malicious so it was great to work with them.

Monday morning they arrived at the house and we downloaded all their Polar files and I went through with each of them their ride, they were all fascinated an amazed at the information available from such a small unit! None had a computer at home but I will be able to get each rider's files when I see them again. We then headed off to Kigali, the turn around place for me at 32miles was the same, the banana scene the same, the enthusiasm and appreciation of the weekend the same. I could see this time I left four riders that were only a week older but visibly changed in their fitness and experience. I left them with some training instructions and told them I would ride down and meet them on Thursday to ride with them the rest of the week.