Back from Kenya's '10 to 4' MTB Race

The bike fundi, Nanyuki, Kenya, 17 Feb 2012

Not beyond repair at all; just bring in a shoulder patch

Exactly this time a week ago, I was gasping my way up Mount Kenya for this year's '10 to 4' race. It's the 11th edition of an event that began in 2001, but owing to a sponsorship muddle this year, it was cancelled as a race and staged instead as a GPS, DIY event - one might say an offroad audax or randonnee, of 70kms. It needs to be re-named the '4 to 10 to 4' on account of the new twist: going up the mountain before coming back down again, starting at 4,000 feet, topping out at 10,000 feet and then returning to 4,000. I'm writing about this whole adventure at greater length for another publication so will not recount much here, except to say it was mindblowingly arduous - our team of five crossing the finish line in 8 hrs 26. Another team clocked 10.43, while a third of the miniscule, 26 strong field retired. The leading group of three, Kerry Glen, Kimberly Green and Alex Tibwitta stormed in at  just 6.13. Chapeau indeed. These times reflect GPS savvy as well as riding ability. James, my UK, Nanyuki-based friend, was an ace with his Garmin GPSMap 62, but nonetheless we knew that not being handlebar mounted, it provoked many a stop where otherwise we might have saved time. What am I saying? I was always grateful to stop. The altitude is a severe impediment if you're coming straight from sea level, as I was, and almost stops you in your tracks following any serious exertion. I felt the mildly hypoxic state that the mountaineers talk about. Later, I experienced a headache, and drank over 9 litres of water during the event, most of it loaded with hydration powders.

Indian kit in East Africa. It's ubiquitous.

These trips to foreign climes are I suspect of very little interest to other people, as well as being unsustainable in the airmiles sense. However, I was struck by the general bike culture in Kenya, which is widespread, utilitarian and rather wonderful in its own right. The mostly Indian sourced bikes are referred to generically as Black Mambas. They have double top tubes, an auxiliary fork and an industrial stength rack, reckoned to be good for 75 kgs. It's not uncommon to see them being pushed rather than ridden, with almost ridiculous loads. The 'bike fundi' or doctor, as they're known, is expected to fix stuff that is broken beyond repair, like the tyre shown here, its gaping side wall bodged up with some copper wire. The funny thing is that when I took interest in this, the fundi immediately demonstrated the 'Made in India' sidewall imprint as a badge of honour, and said the tyre was fine and would go alot longer. Crikey!

It says: 'Steel Domed Sweet Sound'

Coffee culture. On left it says, 'Butchery and Hotel'

Finally, I can't resist introducing an unexpected sliver of coffee culture, which I hope to be a clandestine undercurrent of this website given the evident and growing preoccupation most of my cycling chums have with superb coffee experiences. Kenya in this regard encapulates the paradox of so many emerging markets attuned to cash crops for export. Immediately in front of the doorstep of the Nescafe vendor shown here, lies Mount Kenya, where some of the best triple A cooperative grown coffees in the world are grown, only to be immediately exported. I can buy them here in the UK from favourite top vendors such as Hasbean.co.uk. Within Kenya, Dormens is the leading 'top brand' but falls far short of the boutique, freshly roasted scene that passes for top honours now in London, Melbourne and even Seattle. Meanwhile, what was cool here in the UK back in the 1970s -instant coffee- is being touted as cool in Kenya, in a land where surplius disposable income is likely to be spent on processed food, itself a sign of sophistication and high taste. Meanwhile we're trying to get back to wholefoods.