Beyond the Bike

Having not done any proper cycling for 3 weeks, it was always going to be a tough first couple of days back in the saddle, made worse by a constant headwind, serious hills & rising heat. The addition of some nasty horsflies & limited vehicle support probably made this the most physically challenging stage so far...

If Africa was a physical battleground between east & west during the cold war of the 20th Century, it can arguably be seen today as the ideological 21st Century battleground between the difference approaches to promoting economic development: the western aid model versus the Chinese trade model. Is the Sino-Africa relationship mutually beneficial? I certainly don't claim to have a comprehensive answer to this but it has been interesting talking to Africans on my journey so far about their perception of this, particularly in Zambia...

A punchy claim from a 26 year old Californian who looks like he had just stepped off the latest series of baywatch but one that I think can certainly be justified by Africa's leading manufacturer of bamboo bikes...

The concept of this 'economic cycle blog' was part conceived in Kirkady, the Scottish town which I passed through in my UK warm up ride in 2010. It was most famous in the late 18th century for producing Adam Smith and his seminal work ‘An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations'.

Having said goodbye to the majority of the cyclists following the successful group ride, a core of

the group remained to enjoy 24 hours of peace & quiet before greeting 17 students from Cranleigh

School where I teach. They had flown out with fellow teacher Rob Lane for a two week building project

at Kawama Community School in Kitwe...

The group saw some cyclists say goodbye but we were joined by fresh blood for the final stage to Ndola. Little did we know that we'd enjoy a police escort out of Zambia's capital city...