It was 100 km from Mkushi to Kapiri Mposhi. The conditions were ideal for another record.
We were like two school boys challenging each other on the playground, zipping past each other on the long straights and rolling endlessly on the best tarmac surface we had experienced since leaving South Africa. Our tyres sang out monotonously on the road while the kilometers ticked over on our speedometers.
After 40 km we reached the Forest Inn for a well earned brunch. The Forest Inn is the most attractive campsite we have seen on our tour. Thick green grass sheltered by large Msasa trees, spreading their shade for the comfort of the campers. The restaurant was impressive and very well priced, with both of us tucking into a huge plate of food, and enjoying one of the best coffees since Mozambique.
Fuelled and motivated we reached Kapiri Mposhi in 3 hours and 45minutes of riding time, giving us a new tour record of an average speed of 26 km/h for the day.
Giving ourselves targets on the start of a ride does push and motivate us to ride harder, but our ride to our contacts, the Drummonds, was in the name of national pride! We had to cover 90 km before kick off at noon. We would not miss the SA vs Australia game. With the green and gold on our minds we covered the distance and arrived at the Drummonds just on kickoff.
The game did not go in our favour but that night we got frazzled celebrating our host, Justin Drummond’s birthday. Partying till all hours left us all slightly heady in the morning. This gave me the chance to change the playlist on my iPod. It has been hard on the road with the same 120 songs repeating over and over and over.
Meeting new friends at the celebration caused us to pull off a third record in Zambia. We cycled to the next farm after an invite from Deon and Kate, setting our shortest day and distance record of 20km.
Marc and Deon both celebrated their birthdays on the 7th of September and both saw them in placidly after Justin’s bash. Braaing that evening with Deon, Kate and Lizzie was the relaxing change we needed to end off our week.
Deon showered us with biltong for the road and we left with new friends and well rested after our week of new tour records.
