Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
Slowly but surely we arrived in Danané at around 9:00 p.m. After approaching the
Catholic mission to spend the night, we were given a room to share. Erik and I opened up
our panniers and ate bread and cheese for dinner (so much for all the dinner planning we
discussed at length during our walk). I was so drained from cycling on the one gear that I
fell asleep almost immediately.
The next morning, we really splurged at breakfast. After registering with the cus-
toms/policeoffice,wewenttoalocalrestaurantandatesteak,eggsandacontinentalbreak-
fast. Every calorie I consumed that morning really came in handy during the day's cycling
foritwastobeoneofthemostphysicallyexhaustingdaysIhaveeverhadonthistourthus
far. After we finished eating, we walked over to our room to retrieve our bikes and left.
Within the first few kilometres, I started to have mechanical issues with my bike.
Since I was doing a lot of climbing on a tough gear with so much weight, the immense
strainonmychaineventuallytookitstollcausingittobreak.Istoppedtorepairthebroken
link and moved on. As I approached a police checkpoint about 5 kilometres from Man, the
chain broke a second time. After I filled in the compulsory paperwork with the police, I
took my time to repair the broken link. Shortly after leaving, I came upon a long and rather
steep hill. As I was midway to the top…. guess what? My chain broke a third time. It was
the same chain link that kept popping open.
Sinceitwasgettinglateintheday,insteadoffixingitonthesideofthehill,Iopted
to walk up the rest of the way and half-pedal the remaining distance. That is, I didn't make
acomplete revolution whenpedalling butmaintained asimple pattern ofoneshortforward
burst and an immediate short backpedal. That way, I avoided the broken chain link from
going over the free-wheel at the back and the chain-ring at the front. Since the stress on
the chain occurs on the top of the chain circuit, I made sure that the broken chain link was
closest to the ground. My strategy worked and I managed to keep a relatively good pace as
I eventually arrived in Man.
I met Erik in the Catholic mission who had booked us in a double room for 3,000
CFA and greatest of all, he had a croissant waiting for me. After inhaling the croissant, I
gathered enoughenergytoworkonmybike.Iremoved asmall section ofchain aroundthe
defectivelinkandreplaceditcompletely.(Notetoothercyclists:alwayscarrysparelengths
of chain a couple of inches long.) I set up the bike for the next day, took a shower and hit
the sack by 11:00 p.m. Before falling asleep I quickly looked over my map and realized
that I did 80 kilometres on a faulty chain.
I woke up the next morning at 6 a.m. to write in my journal and by 7:00, I visited
the chapel. At 7:30, Erik wakened and we ate breakfast at a local restaurant (9 eggs, bread
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