That time a muzungu with a fancy purple bike landed on this Rwandan planet

Race started early morning with the police escorting us for 20km out of town until the first gravel section. From there things moved very fast until CP1. Gravel was smooth, everyone was fresh and at 2pm I had already ridden more than 200km. From the beginning, I was impressed by two things. First, how beautiful this country is. The mountains, the views, the lakes, it’s just a gem. Second, there is people everywhere, and when I mean everywhere, I mean everywhere. For three days I heard people, especially children, screaming “muzungu” (white man) and a few other words at me. At first I interacted a bit, but then I isolated myself because it was unsustainable and too tiring. After CP1, things started to change, from smooth fast gravel to much tougher terrain. The paved roads are perfect in Rwanda, but these tougher off road sections slowed things down a lot.

A relentless up and down brought me to CP2 around 2am. My initial plan was to ride through the night, but I was struggling with the altitude and feeling nauseous, so I decided to sleep for an hour. I then restarted in the night in the volcanic area, dodging stones and going even higher, reaching the highest point in the race exactly when the sun was rising. Day 2 the script was the same as before. Climb, climb, and climb. 19000 dsl in 1000km means that you’re either going up or down. This was complicated by the fact that my right cleat broke, so I had to ride the final 500km with a loose cleat. Despite that, I arrived in good spirits at the beautiful CP3 near lake Goma in 3rd position. Race decided I shouldn’t get a break and just after this CP3 on corner on a fast descent I rode over some glass that I couldn’t avoid and I slashed my rear tyre, which required a double plug to seal it. I thus got to the evening of the second day when all hell broke lose.

As I entered the rain forest, a massive thunderstorm came through and transformed the roads in a mud pool. Took me the whole night to pass the forest, spending lots of time walking and removing kg of mud from the bike with my hands. I got to the final CP4 at 4am, completely spent from the mud festival. I thus slept another hour, filled up on food, and left for the final 200km of the race. Climbing was still hard, but finally gravel became again rideable and not full suspension stuff. I knew  Benedek was too far ahead, but I still tried to catch the guy in the second, which I eventually did not. After a hot day, I finally got to Kigali at sunset.

As a final present, 10km from the end the entire city and most of the country had a massive blackout, which left me navigating the crazy traffic in even crazier conditions. Somehow I survived and got to the end, finishing the 1000km in 60 hours, which gave me the podium spot. Given the level of the field, and the various issues I had, I am super pleased with that. I came for a unique experience, and I definitely got that. It has all been overwhelming, and it will take me a while to process all this, more than other races I did in the past. For the time being, I have another story in the books of that time a muzungu with a fancy purple bike landed on this Rwandan planet, following the usual mantra by Bukowski: if you have to try it, go all the way, otherwise don’t even start.