Earlier this year in January, three club members, Ade, Chris and Walt travelled to Rwanda to cycle the Congo Nile Trail.
The trail is a 227km long off-road track that follows the eastern banks of the enormous Lake Kivu which is on the border of Rwanda and The Democratic Republic Of The Congo.
The trail begins in the North at Gisenyi which is adjacent the Congolese border and concludes in the Ruizi District, south of the lake which is also next to the border.
The Congo/Nile trail is so called as it is named after the watershed/divide between the Congo and Nile rivers and therefore separates the Congo River basin from the Nile River basin.
Although the overnight stays were often by the lake, there is no trail or road that follows the banks of the lake. This is because the edges of the lake consist mainly of mountainous steep hills, so the only way around is to climb up and down the hills. Rwanda is known as the ‘Land Of A Thousand Hills’ and the absence of flat land on the trails meant the three riders were never riding on the flat and so riding up or down steep gradients of up to 10%.
An additional factor was the quality of track surface. It varied greatly from what could at sometimes be classed as a gravel track with some occasional tarmac road, but more often it was quite technical mountain bike terrain.
The trip involved a day of travelling by road from the capital Kigali to the start of the trail in Gisenyi and another day to travel from the end of the trail in Kamembe back to the capital. The threesome accompanied by a guide completed the off road trail in six days and over this time recorded cumulative climbing of 7,645m.
There were several challenges along the route. The terrain was quite brutal on the bikes. Trail side chain repairs included two chain replacements, and one bike had to be replaced. Amazingly there were no punctures. Walt departed company from his bike on a loose downhill section and continued after some patching up.
The time of year to complete the ride was chosen to avoid the rainy seasons. Fortunately, the weather was warm and dry except for heavy rain during the night prior to the last day of riding. This made the trail almost unusable for mountain bikes and made for slow progress due to frequent stops to remove clay from the bikes.
Ade, Chris and Walt hugely enjoyed the adventure. Among their highlights was the amazing scenery, great riding, getting to know the history of such a beautiful country. Above all the people were kind, amazing, friendly, welcoming and so pleased to see them as they passed through the many villages dotted along the trail.
