The Congo - The Lions on the Road: Cycling London to Cape Town - page 194

When I was 4 kilometres from Madingou, I came upon a Catholic mission. The
clergy at St. Michael's Parish welcomed me to stay the night. I brought my bike into the
room and left to wash up. After I changed, I went to listen to the choir rehearse for their
Christmas concert. It was quite beautiful but also slightly depressing for I was feeling
homesick. I was called to dinner and sat with the priests to have a great meal of African
food (like fufu and maniok), pasta and pineapple with yoghurt. I then went to bed tired but
happy.
The next day proved to be one of the worst days of my tour. Here is a direct quote
from my journal:
Today was the hardest day in keeping my sanity. There were a few
stretches of unexpected asphalt which boosted my morale. Then, 30
kilometres from Mindouli everything started to go wrong. My chain
broke and I walked to the next building to repair it. Two men were
watching me as I was fighting to get it repaired for the threat of
rain was looming. They left as they saw me get upset with the bike.
Twenty minutes later, the chain was finally on only to break two
moretimes.Then,Iwasgoingtoofastandmyfrontwheelslippedas
the road curved. I went down hard and cut the left side of me body.
After screaming to the point of a nervous breakdown, I walked my
bike up the next hill.
Thenmyleftshoecameapart.SoItookthewaistchordfrom
my cycling shorts and tied the sole of the shoe to my foot. Twelve
kilometres from Mindouli my chain broke again. It was getting far
toolatetoaddanewchainlinksoIpinchedthechaintogether.Since
the link was broken on the outside of the chain, I cycled with the
chain on the largest chain ring and on the smallest free-wheel. This
angleisano-nowhencyclingbutthispositionkeptthechaintogeth-
er.