Mt. Biking

I had the day off Tuesday, so decided to do something different.  We just got a new mountain bike here, so I planned to ride to a village about halfway across the island in the mountains and have lunch then ride back.  I did not realize how hard or fun it would be.  The road that goes there is a hilly one through the middle of the island called the inland road.  I made it to the village in about an hour, but was walking and trying to ride up steep hills, at some points you had to peddle in the lowest gear, but the back wheel would slip because of the force it took, at that point you had to walk up the hill.  Then coming down, I was passing trucks with both brakes on all the way.  Was a cool rush flying back down the hills.

Lunch was nice, but ran out of water, and the village does not have a good water supply, as it is high up with no streams.  And to have a tank to catch rain water cost lots of money.  The village was just relocated into the hills after a tsunami two years ago, when the one by the sea was destroyed.  I did have a nice local lunch of rice, cabbage, peppers, noodles, and some reef fish.  So I did eat some vegetables, and even lived through it!

When I left I just decided to keep on going to the other end of the island, then do a loop by taking the other road back, the coastal road that runs flat along the coast.  Now that road was also destroyed in the tsunami, but is getting redone now.  Only about half was finished which made it quite interesting.  At some points caring the bike over bridges that were simply a single coconut tree laying over a river or stream, and having to walk it down the beach when the road was impassable.  It is amazing how quick the bush grew on the old road, where sometimes it was not even recognizable.  It was nice though, going through all the small villages, I brought a bunch of lollies for the kids and would give them out, then get something to drink. 

I ended up riding for about 4 hours before making it back to town.  But can now say I have travelled every road on the island, even the ones that have disappeared in time.  Some expats that work for unicef saw me and wondered what my fund raiser was, as no one would do it for no other reason.  When I got back to the dive shop, I looked very dirty, and all my staff thought I was nuts, but I did get to see all their houses, and meet lots of their kids in the different villages, as everyone recognizes you here.  I did enjoy it, and think mountain biking might be a new hobby.

Luke