Pedal Powered Stories

In the previous daily entry (before my retrospective of the overall ride) I had left off having got back to the hotel to relax after a hectic day exploring Nairobi. I chilled out by the rooftop pool for a while, had a very delicious dinner with the chefs grilling various meats to order out in the garden, then retired to the bar to watch replays of Premier League football and enjoy a couple of cold White Cap beers. After a while, the phone began to buzz, and messages started to come in on the Ride Africa group chat as people got connected after the London flight had landed. And not long after that, the hotel reception began filling up with people with that unmistakable aura of cyclist: lean, fit, and (my biggest clue) - carrying cycle helmets. Spence arrived not too much later, and after he checked in we had a couple more beers, chatted about his journey, and soon it was time to call it a night. Tomorrow was the real beginning. Morning arrived with an 8:30 meetup in reception. I packed ...

First of all, my deepest apologies to all those I promised regular updates throughout the week of Ride Africa. I had grand plans of posting each day, giving immediate impressions and descriptions of what we’d seen and done. But the reality found once getting on the ground made finding the time to do that a bit trickier. So, here’s a general overview of the event, and I’ll follow this up with further posts talking about each day in a bit more detail. BTW - child.org is still fundraising and is running a targetted campaign to support their brilliant Team Dad outreach programme (vital work in areas that are still deeply patriarchal), so if you would like to donate a few pennies please use this link which will see any donations made this week DOUBLED! Each day consisted of an early start, with timings confirmed at the previous evening’s dinner and accompanied by either groans or cheers from the collective, depending on the exact time announced! Our luggage was all labelled, and each mor...

Now it begins!  After a very nice week relaxing in Mombasa and soaking up the sun (and the Tusker!) I'm back in Nairobi and will be picked up bright and early tomorrow morning by the Ride Africa team! The Madaraka Express train back to Nairobi was great - travelling through Tsavo National Park in the daylight meant I spotted some of my first wildlife, including elephant, zebra, giraffe and buffalo. I highly recommend this 'train safari'! I took the opportunity to explore a bit of Nairobi today by foot. It's a hectic city, but a lot of fun. Walking around the CBD I was greeted by many people who wanted me to visit their shop, take me on a safari tour, or discuss the Premier League. Wearing an Arsenal hat definitely made me popular - there seems to be be as many Arsenal shirts on the streets of Nairobi as you'd find on the Holloway Road! All that's left to do now is to relax by the rooftop pool, enjoy a couple more beers, have some dinner and wait for my fellow ri...

Hi all! A five am start, nine hours in the air, an overnight in an airport hotel, followed by a five hour train ride and I am finally in Mombasa for a few days of rest and relaxation. I have a very nice little room; the air-con is brisk, the shower is clean and the bed is comfy. The hotel has a very nice-looking pool and a pool-side bar to boot. PrideInn Nyali, Mombasa Everything has gone incredibly smoothly; check-ins, collecting tickets, navigating bureaucracy, even getting taxis! Thankfully Kenya has Uber so I've avoided the classic scrum of drivers outside stations and airports! Everyone I have met has been lovely. Staff in hotels and in airports, the people I've been travelling with, and the randoms I've drunk with, have all been delightful. The food I've had has been fine - so far I've just been eating hotel food and snacks. Hopefully now I am settled in one place I can investigate the food scene in a bit more detail. The beer has been cheap and cold, and I...

✈️ One Week to Go: Nairobi Awaits! It’s finally here — the last week before Ride Africa begins. Tomorrow I’ll be boarding my flight to Nairobi, and suddenly all those months of training, fundraising, and planning have come to this. This week has been less about the training and more about the last-minute jobs, purchases and admin that come before the adventure: restocking on contact lenses, checking in for flights, arranging hotel pickups, and triple‑checking that my kit bag isn’t overweight. Packing has become a four-dimensional puzzle: cycling gear, meds, recovery essentials, and enough casual clothes for the evenings. I’ve also been in touch with a CrossFit gym in Mombasa to keep the training routine alive next week - because I haven't done enough burpees over the last 10 months 😂 It’s these small, practical tasks that make the excitement tangible. Each email confirmation, each folded jersey, each checklist tick is a reminder that tomorrow I’ll be stepping off a plane in Na...

Hi everyone! So there's only a couple of weeks to go before the ride officially starts! EEEK!! And only a week until I actually depart for Kenya and a week of R&R. I've got the bags out now and starting to prepare all the stuff I need to pack. I have a a bit of a thing for bags and packing, sorting out what goes where, and in what order. It brings back fond memories of travelling around SE Asia for a year after getting married, and living out of a single rucksack - knowing where everything is makes that so much easier. I'm even using the same rucksack this time. As this time I'm only away for two weeks I have no doubt I'll pack far too much and not use half of the things I bring. Better to have and not need etc. And even better, just after I published my last post, I had the donation that pushed me over the fundraising target! I've now raised just shy of £2000, all of which is already being put to use in Kenya supporting Child.org and their mission to suppor...