A few days ago I got an invitation to cycle with a group of 10-15 others in search of adventure. I hesitated, bearing in mind the last time I was on the 2-wheel machine I fell terribly almost breaking my leg. My body said no but my heart said yes COUNT ME IN.” But wait, how many Kilometers will we cover? Is there a ‘kibandaski’ (small hotel with a kiosk structure)on our way where we can have our lunch? I remember asking him”. “40kms in total and yes there are 1001 kibanda”. He replied. Food is important in my life and I am on a mission to visit as many vibandas as I can this year. Taste their food and interact with the beautiful ladies and handsome men who serve. 20 years living in Eastland and having visited one kibanda once isn’t fair to myself and to my hood. 40kms did sound a lot for an armature but hey unless you do it over and over again you will remain an armature.
When Sunday morning came I was up early and ready for the task. I left home in good time but ended up spending 90 minutes to Juja from Drive-in, a place where on normal days it only takes me 15 minutes. Happens when you board an almost empty bus.
On arrival, we were only 8 (that meme of when you planning a trip you are 30, days to the trip 10 people and on the final day alone with the group admin) this felt like it. On that learn to enjoy your own company and wait for no one. Adventure is out there go enjoy it.
We all went ahead to hire the bikes and being my second time on 2-wheels, I picked up the smallest bike. This had everyone make funny comments about it; it’s too short for you, can’t climb up with it, to even referring to it as a toy but I remained positive for my “beast”. See, I am the faithful type of what I choose.
Hours passed on the road and at around 11 am one of the attendees called and confirmed to be joining us. Being my best friend I requested if we could go pick her up and continue with the journey. “Guys think of it as an adventure and not backtracking”. I tried to convince them. Thank goodness they all agreed and we went back to the bike store. An hour passed fixing her bike and it was evident that we could not make it to our planned destination. Do we end the adventure at this? No! no! the destination doesn’t matter, but the mishaps and memories you create on your way to a new one do, and when one thing fails, you don’t quit you get new options. The organizers decided we do a small tour around Kiambu county instead.
By now most of us were hungry but we opted to cover a small distance and then have our lunch.
“O, my God, there is a quarry and a river too down there”. Said Ann (one of the ladies who is now turning into an adventure junkie). Welcome onboard lady, make sure to enjoy every bit and make the best memories and life lessons from it.
The game requires two groups, which will be on the opposite sides but facing each other and ready to fight each other with water until you all soak and can’t take it anymore. The rule is simply no changing clothes i.e. what you came dressed in should soak up and wait until it dries up and watch out for your group members to ensure no one drowns.
The game was fun having all members participate. How and when my clothes dried, I still do not know. When time to head up came, my baby bike had a puncture with a deflated front tire. When did this happen? could it be the sun? Had he serviced the bike? I did feel like crying imagining pushing it to the nearest shopping center hungry. This is when the slogan for better for worse applies when you travel in groups. The team helped me push it to the nearest mechanic and luckily it got fixed at a small fee which was paid by one of us. Thank you, Mitch and Denis.
Lunch was served and in good time we were ready for the next route.Kids admired my small bike while their parents could not comprehend why I was on a small bike. Well, adventure is the crazy things you do, how you feel about them and for this one, I do not regret using the small bike. Not the best but I still had fun on it. By evening we had covered 38 kilometers close to the 40kms we were to cover. Mission accomplished!
