Blazing Saddles

We've had some discussion about a team name.  Simon had suggested Sky but we think some other cyclists use that so after several meals which included local beans Blazing Saddles seemed the obvious choice.  Whether you understand that probably depends on your age and country of origin; let's just leave it at that ....

Before we went to bed last night, Simon asked each of us what our highlight of the day had been.  No surprise that making it up the hill was mine but there was a pretty common theme amongst many of the thoughts and that was teamwork.  This isn't a race, it's ultimate purpose not being cycling related at all.  We're therefore in it together and there were many examples during the day of people helping one another: riding back down the hill in order to get alongside the tail ender; James (a strong and experienced rider despite the stomach bug he's been dealing with) holding back in order to be alongside Paul (the other one) who was struggling at times; the whole team gathering around Dean to pray for him when he had to give up; and many more.  Dean said he felt a real sense of community even though we haven't know one another long.  As in so many things, we can achieve more working together than we can on our own.

Today's ride is one of the shorter ones being just 69 km.  That was a relief to me as I had a poor night's sleep (awake from 2.30 am) so I was pretty tired.  We made it to Gitega by 2 pm and are staying at Homes of Hope again.  The great news of the day is that Simon and Dean were able to complete the ride with us.

Simon is a missionary and won't miss any opportunity to preach.  Some of the local guys with us in the support vehicles are also evangelists and so on two stops today (see photos) they took the time to speak with the crowd that gathered round us to stare at the "musungus" with strange bikes.  From explaining what we were doing they led into telling them about Jesus and praying for them.   Not something you would find happening too often in the UK!


Thanks for being with me in this; it really is very much appreciated.
Paul