Cycle Kenya

Finished...

Yesterday we finally made it to the finish line at Lake Victoria. A mere 60km stage. Sounds easy but on the fifth consecutive day of cycling you really know what you've been doing the last four days. Lake Victoria gives you a good sense of the scale of Africa. Its the second largest freshwater lake in the world. From our hotel the next shoreline was 300kms away in Uganda.

True to form the countryside on the final stage was very beautiful but also very hilly. If we ever do one of these again we're doing it in The Netherlands or somewhere cool. We think it was around 30 degrees when we were cycling yesterday. A contrast with the snow we've heard you are having at home.

Huge sense of achievement and relief when we crossed the finish line. Arrived in Kisumu with a police escort taking us all in one big long line through the city. All three of us can proudly say not once did we get in the support vehicle which was there if you couldn't pedal an inch further, not the case for all the group.

We really feel we've challenged ourselves personally but also delivered something really worthwhile for a very deserving charity. On the personal front the expedition doctor has done 17 of these all over the world and he thinks this is the hardest. For the charity you get constant reminders of how much the fundraising is needed and how grateful they are. Yesterday the chief executive of Computeraid met us in Kisumu as well as the deputy director of computers for Schools Kenya. When you cycle through such rural parts of Kenya you do see real poverty but also just how much the Kenyans are putting in to education. There are schools everywhere, even in the remotest little villages. Very few yet have computers so there is a lot of work to be done. Kenyans see education as key to improving their economy and competing on a global scale. As Toby said last night this sort of experience really does make the cliche travel broadens the mind true. We are very proud to have Computing associated with this charity and event, maybe bringing some real benefit to developing countries through technology.

Today we are bouncing our way along very bad roads, no wonder the cycling hurt as its uncomfortable in a van, back to Nairobi. Will take about 8 hours. There is a big reception planned for us this evening with rumours someone from the kenyan government ministry of education will attend.

Saturday we get a little treat in the morning with a safari in Nairobi National Park before starting the long journey home.

Robin, Toby, Dave

Pain in places we didn't know we had places

Today can only be described as a day of ups and downs - both literally and mentally. After such a tough day yesterday it required a big effort to get back on a bike, with another 100km day looming.

All started nicely with a police escort out of town. Bit of climbing but after that mostly downhill. We're getting better at this cycling business with the first 40kms knocked off in no time. Last 25kms before lunch was tough though. Lovely scenery cycling through tea plantations, but as you may have seen on tea bag boxes where there is tea there are hills. Heat was the hardest thing. We are now down to an altitude of about 1700m from 2500m and it's getting hotter, was about 30 degrees which is not a good temperature to ride uphill in.

Lunch stop was by a tiny rural school. I don't think they'd seen many British cyclists in a while. It's an unusual experience to eat your lunch with an audience of about 30 school children watching - was another reminder of the poverty here. School was a mud hut with a corrugated iron roof. Children went crazy for our empty water bottles as they can sell them on. Toby has bought an English to Swahili phrase book and keeps on trying it out on the locals. Yesterday he deliberately said I am a donkey. What he meant was I am a donkey as I'm cycling slowly, which is far from true as he's always finishing stages in the middle of the group. Not sure whether the children understood what he was saying but they gave him an odd look. Didn't stop Toby trying to talk to locals again today but still not with much success.

After lunch a mere 35km to go. Won't describe it for you but after 8 hours in the saddle yesterday and 6h 47mins today, not that we were counting, things are starting to hurt that really shouldn't be hurting. Marieke will know what I mean from the Microsoft Challenge when I say you start discussing things with your fellow cyclists you wouldn't normally!

First 20km of the afternoon were great. Completely offroad through one of the only pieces of indigenous rain forest left in east Africa. All the bouncing around was not what aching bodies needed but more than made up for by the incredible forest. Monkeys and hornbill birds and toucans everywhere.

Last 15km were where you discover your personal pain threshold, which for all three of us isn't that high. Terrible dirt road with holes and corrugation marks everywhere. It was the equivalent of being put in a hot and dusty washing machine on high spin cycle. We all made it in various states of disrepair. Now after a shower and a bit of a rest feels like another great challenge completed but not fun at the time. None of us may ever be the same again.

Tomorrow is the last cycling day. Seems a real shame. Not looking forward to getting back in the saddle but will be a great sense of achievement but also disappointment when we get to the finish at Lake Victoria. Tomorrow evening there is a big reception for us when we meet some more people from local schools who have received computers. Friday is an 8 hour drive back to Nairobi. Really does make you realise just how far you've cycled.

The group has been excellent and it's encouraging to see such nice people do work in IT and associated industries.

We're off to rest some aching limbs and will blog again tomorrow if Kenyan communications continues to hold up.

Robin, Dave and Toby.

Upwards and onwards. And upwards some more

Well the hardest day is done and it deserved its name. We knew before we left this would be a tough one as it was 93kms long with a 26km uphill section. What the organisers left as a little surprise until the briefing last night was the 26km section was from the base of the Rift Valley to the top of the escarpment - an 1100m climb, which for those of you who are still Imperial is 3500 ft.

After a night in a very basic hotel - we have a great picture of the burnt down bar and restaurant - we left at 7am this morning all rather nervous. The Rift Valley is one of the most amazing things any of us have ever seen. Just a huge hole in the earth. It runs 9600km from Mozambique to Israel, looks very much like something from Jurassic Park. Tropical vegetation, sheer walls 1000m high with waterfalls cascading down.

We dropped the 1000m down one side of the valley, cycled across the bottom and started the long climb. All three of us made the climb despite it taking 4 hours 30 minutes. Most of the group made it in fact, with only 5 of the 16 having to be brought up from various places in the support vehicle. If you've ever watched the Tour de France and seen the Alp d'Huez stage, it was just like that although we were a bit slower.

Even once we had reached the top there was a short lunch and then a further 40kms to cover - luckily mostly downhill or flat.

We are exhausted but also very pleased with ourselves. A real sense of achievement completing a challenge like that. Just as well it's for charity or you'd have to be mad otherwise!

When you see rural Kenya you realise how much the country will benefit from education and in particular computers in schools. There is a lot of poverty here and education is one of the best answers. The children are all so nice, it's great to be helping even if in such a small way. We've learnt some really useful things we can put in to our recycling web seminar and Computeraid will be very happy to be on the panel if we want them. Demand is far outstripping supply for PCs. If we can show UK companies there is a way of recycling their PCs that benefits a developing country that could be a double win.

We are off to dinner shortly and then usually asleep by 9pm with the traditional 6am wake up. Just 91kms to cover tomorrow through an equatorial rain forest.

We're proud that Computing and the three of us as representatives are able to support this cause.

More detailed blogging as and when we get internet access which is very limited here.

Toby, Robin and Dave.

Seeing the reason we are here

Day two - up at 6am to see a rural school that has received computers from Computer Aid, the charity we are cycling to raise funds for. They first received computers from the charity three years ago, and the school shows the need and the difference that the charity makes. The school children are so grateful.

Today we entered the Rift Valley for the first time, and it is stunning. It is hard to ride when you are aching, but helps when we were joined by a member of the Kenya cycle team.

Internet and mobile data are not a big thing here - hence the brief blog entries. Tomorrow is expected to be the hardest day of the trip...

Earning our money

There's no email out here so our blog updates are being sent by text message. Day one we spent eight hours on the bikes, covering 104km - we are earning our sponsorship money! We all finished the day OK though, just before dark.

Today we crossed the equator, and saw elephants and baboons from the bike. The local children all come running out each time we pass by. Everything hurts, but it's very rewarding.

It's big news

We had a fascinating morning at the Computers for Schools Kenya headquarters. It feels like we are on a Royal visit. Everyone who is anyone in Nairobi has turned up to greet us, including press and radio. Maybe it didn't seem such a big deal to us, well, not yet as we have not started the painful bit, but the local charity partners are so grateful. There is more demand than they can supply with PCs so every donation makes a difference. Only person who didn't turn up to greet us, who was supposed to, was the British High Commissioner; typical Brits abroad.

We've seen the whole process from computers arriving, through refurbishment to delivery and then back again for recycling. It's a very sophisticated operation. The setup is designed to ensure a thorough understanding of IT rather than just putting computers in rural schools that aren't used. Specific criteria ensure one computer for every two students, allowing students to really learn.

Recycling was very impressive and shows the ingenuity in Kenya. Every aspect of a 'dead' computer goes to use. Hard plastic is ground down and sent to Asia to be added back to new plastic. Motherboards are stripped for copper and gold. Heat sinks often have a new role as heat sinks in the Nissan taxis that travel around with music systems that could power a rock concert at Wembley. Most impressively, the monitors are turned in to TVs, which can be purchased for about a quarter the price of a real TV.

the most surprising fact was the lack of, and expense of, internet connection in Kenya. Almost no schools have it. There are no fibre optic cables in to Kenya so schools are trying to work with local networks to share information, rather than using the web.

Out of the 16 people on the trip, we've already met two who signed up for this challenge directly from the adverts in Computing, and also met another two who are readers. It's great to see we're playing our part in this great initiative. It's been very rewarding to see the commitment, passion and satisfaction of all involved. The PCs alone from this challenge will provide an IT education for nearly 3000 children.

Now the hard stuff starts and we go up and down the Rift Valley, stopping at some schools where PCs have been donated, on the way.

Robin, Dave, Toby

Are we cycling all the way to Kenya?

We've now met the group. There are 16 of us in total, and the whole group has raised more than £50,000 in total. There three people from ZDnet but everyone else is individuals from really different backgrounds, including a GP, and engineer, and a teacher. There are lots of different ages and interests. Everyone seems very nice and nobody has taken it too seriously. The GP, also the tour doctor, is on his 17th charity expedition - that's real commitment.

We are just waiting for our luggage at Nairobi airport and then we are off to open a container that has 240 PCs in it directly from our fundraising. Another 240 PCs are already on a container ship on their way. We then go to meet some of the charity's partners who recondition and then distribute the PCs in to rural Kenya, where we head later today.

Potentially quote of the week from Toby before we had even landed. About 2am local time, the first detailed map of Kenya came up on the in-flight entertainment system. Toby's question: are we cycling the whole way?

More news later as so far communications network in Nairobi is very impressive.

It's all in the preparation...

The man who was most prepared for the cycle challenge itself turns out to be the least prepared for travelling to Heathrow. One of the group had been sending regular emails talking about his 3 hour training sessions 5 times a week, and he is at least an hour behind the rest of us already and we haven't finished checking in. Maybe he's weighed down by all the electrolytes and energy bars he was planning to bring with him.

Group dynamic is going to be interesting. Lot of nervous looking people in the group. Seems we aren't the only ones not quite sure what we've let ourselves in for.

Robin, Toby, Dave

Training secrets

I have been monitoring my fellow team members' training with growing unease. Robin's approach, in particular, has been highly unorthodox.

I understand his final session included intensive box lifting and culminated in carrying a sofa down the road.

Needless to say, my own final preparations also involved a sofa, but put to more conventional use.

Toby

Let the adventure begin

So, made it in. Half wondering whether Toby or Dave will have developed a mystery illness or injury over night. Wonder how fit you really need to be for this thing. I'm tired already just from carrying luggage from Charing Cross to the office. Probably distance of about 2k. First day of cycling 98k.

Got the calm before the storm feeling. Definitely excited and looking forward to it, but not quite sure what's coming. Strange to think at 3.30am UK time tomorrow, we'll be in Nairobi. Challenge begins with opening a container of pcs that have been delivered from our fundraising and then on to a school. Should be good photo opportunity for the feature we'll do when we are back. In the afternoon a four hour drive to where it really begins at the start of the rift valley. There we pick up our torture machine, my mistake, bike. Fun really starts with 98k ride on Sunday.

We'll try and blog as often as we can but don't know how often that will be.

Thanks for everyone's support, its a good cause. It better be!

Robin