Long Ride (4/9/2006)

Yesterday I finally made the ride from my house to the gate of Machame route. I have been meaning to make the ride for a long time but it has been difficult because it is not often that the time when my bike works and the time when I have the time and energy for along ride coincide.

Actually I set out to go to Machame and it was a lot harder than I anticipated. Once I arrived a little fatigued because of the 12 km ride up hill. I was besieged with town poeple asking me why I came and where I was going. Just going to Machame apparently was not enough so quell their questions I decided to go to Machame gate. So I asked was it far. They said no and gave me directions: it is about 3 km and you just keep left. One person warned me that it was steep--it climbs 250 m from Machame to the gate. This raised some flags in the back of my mind but dismissed the warning because many people did not think I would be able to make it to Machame.

As it turns out the warning should have been: you would have to be stupid to try to do this with a bicycle when you are tired. Lets look at the math in a circumspect way (because this felt like a long ride) 3 km is about 2 miles and 250 m is about one sixth of a mile. So the grade on average is about 8.5% pretty steep. I rember looking at some of the grades and wondering if it were possible because not only did it climb alarmingly fast but the road was a mix of dirt and rocks and often during the climbs it was more rocks than dirt. I came away greatly impressed with the capabilities of my bike and thankful that I had access to an ultra low gear. I would be lying if I said made up to the gate all the way on my bike but I think I managed the most difficult parts on my bike and only walked the last half km and most of the way back down to Machame.You would expect that I would have ridden all the way down but I did not want wear my brakes out applying them every 5 feet and I did trust my weary self to avoid an accident as I careened down the mountain. Anyways the ride was beautiful and I managed it.
I encourage you to get out and enjoy your mountains.