Call it a part of the human condition, I need to feel physically exhausted from time to time to make my life feel worthwhile. If I don't exert energy to the point of exhaustion from time to time I feel like a waste of space, like a vegetable. Sitting behind a computer 8 hours a day just is not me.
It has been more than a month since my last major bike ride. I tend to absolutely despise bike rides, just as how I despise hiking. But it's the feeling of accomplishment when all is said in done that I crave. That endorphin rush one feels after exercise is second to none, and while during a bike ride all I can think is “how much I hate my life,” for the next two days I can think “Man, I am awesome.” With Kirstin now in Belize I don't have a reason to do a long bike ride. In September through December I would habitually ride out to her village, 45km once every or every other week. I hated it every single time, but it was the feeling of accomplishment after every ride (plus seeing Kirstin on one end) that gave me the energy to keep going, to keep being a Peace Corps volunteer.
Peace Corps can be stressful, but alleviating that stress through exercise I believe is an excellent way to channel all that energy. Plus one ride would give me the energy to deal with all I have to deal with for at least a couple days after.
So this week, not having left site since I arrived from America, I needed-deserved-a bike ride. But where? Kirstin's village is out of the picture for awhile, I need to let the new volunteer there have some time to make the village her own before visiting again. I decided to do a route that I have been talking about for a long time, but just never summed up the energy. I was going to bike down to Carolyn's site, my neighbor and friend in Bagre. On a map there is no road, but that doesn't mean in Burkina Faso that a road doesn't exist. I asked many of my friends about the route, and they all said yes, a road exists, but be sure to ask people in Ouenzeogo (a small village 17km from my house) because the road can be difficult to find. They all also said I was crazy for wanting to do such a ride.
Difficult to find? No, it's a least 10 meters wide and although it is an unmarked turnoff, as long as you ask someone in Ouenzeogo it is very easy to find.
Difficult to ride? Yes, easily the most difficult bike ride of my entire life. While the road from Tenkodogo to Ouenzeogo is simple, the road from Ouenzeogo to Bagre is no fun at all.
Have you ever road a bike on a beach? Did this beach have no water for miles? Did this beach lack all signs of human civilization? Was it 105 degrees on this beach? If you answered yes to these four questions than congratulations, you have biked the Ouenzeogo-Bagre road! For 10km I struggled at a speed equivalent to a child in full sprint through sand. I saw only 2 people the whole way, both were Peulh men pushing their bicycles. When the most physically adept group of people to this climate (the Peulh) cannot even ride, you know you are in for it. It took me an hour and a half to ride 10k, with my saving grace being a small pump for water at the end of the road.
By the time I reached Bagre (which is actually another 8km by the time you intercept civilization), I was dead. Drained both physically and emotionally, I could barely muster up the energy to sit up at Carolyn's house. It wasn't until the evening that I got my endorphin rush and could finally appreciate what I had just done. But then once I got that, I realized that the ride was the best ever, and that I am definitely going to do it again! Maybe my friends in Tenkodogo were right after all.
There is nothing like seeing Africa from the perspective of a bicycle on bush roads. The sites, the silence, and the smells are incomparable to anything found elsewhere. Despite the brutal heat, in bush country the people are incredible, willing to give you water, food, and tremendous hospitality for nothing in return. I know that if I were to have serious problems in bush country I could walk up to anyone and they would go out of their way to help me, care unmatched by the fast-paced lifestyles of the African city-and let's not even get started on the developed world.
In the end, I think it is for this reason that I love hopping on my bicycle to ride into the unknown. In Tenkodogo I sometimes feel that I am missing out on what makes Africa so incredible, the people. Being so involved in my school doesn't give me the time to work with the less educated, my adult friends are all teachers and everyone speaks French. When I am on a bike I get to see a population that is very much the same as it was 100 years ago, unchanged by cell phones, internet, and technology.
Seeing the smiles of the men, the women, and the children in bush makes everything, makes me, feel worth it.
Wow - what a great story. I love hearing how people can connect to their communities and environment by riding bikes. It's a much better way to get a feel for a place (even in a city) than anything else I know.
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