Rwanda Mountain Bike Excursion

After the gorilla trek & lunch, Deb & I did a 27K mountain bike loop. Our 25-year old guide Ives had been a professional cyclist for 7 years! He was great. Our loop was partly on the main road, but mostly on gravel roads through the rural villages. These are not gravel roads like Americans are used to. They are in awful shape - big rocks and big ruts. Still, this was a great experience. As we rode, locals were either enthusiastic (mostly the kids), curious, smiling, or stone-faced (sometimes only until we said hello in their language). Young boys sometimes ran alongside us, others often looked at us curiously. Ives later told us that Rwandan women in this area do not ride bicycles. So, we stuck out for both our race and gender. Despite the road conditions, I was grateful for this experience (and a good workout 🙂).Read more