The end of Sahara

THE SPONSOR OF MY BICYCLE SPARE PARTS IS COMPANY PRODUCING FINE BICYCLE SADDLES www.abi.com.pl

And it happened. Finally, after around 3 weeks on the desert, I reached more inhabited area. Desert was over, I thought. I followed the road up to the north passing many villages with orange orchards or palm plantations. Although people were saying that it is not the Sahara, for me it was still a very dry place. Funny story happened when I was somewhere on the south slopes of Atlas mountains. I have been chatting with one girl and she was complaining that she had never been on the Sahara. She didn't understand why I immediately burst into laughter telling her that it was very similar to the place she is living in. The only difference in this valley was that you could spot trees and water in the riverbed.

It was a very good feeling when, finally, I was sure I was on the other side. The race with time was still on. Sand in the West Sahara has made major destruction in the transmission system. I had to replace the winch and the chain. There wasn’t any good bike shops on my way and I had to look for the spare parts in the second-hand shops, which there are plenty. The main problem is that they had only old equipment, which was not good enough. Luckily, I found good 7-gear Shimmano derailleur. The winch was a cheep copy, "Made in China," but it fitted and I was able to move up to the hills. I still had a few things left in my bags too. Two of the gears didn't work, however, I was able to move. Very tired of this, I was mending every day some things in my speedometer, which also started malfunctioning. The mountains were getting bigger and bigger, but the time didn't allowed me to stop and make a major mending or a rest. I’ve been fixing only things of utmost importance.

Not only mountains are against me; sometimes even wind shows up and thus destroys my mysterious plan. Knowing that I have to do 120 km or more every day, it was a nerve-wracking riding. One day I had to replace back tyre, two inner tubes and wretched front wheel. Every single day brings more and more things to repair. This bike has already done his duty. It would be nice to just leave it with an "out of order" plate, but I know it has to make it somehow to Europe.

The South slopes of the Atlas Mountains are very dry and it was an advantage but not for a long time. Soon I was going to have more obstacles on my way home.

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