Bike Trip

Sunday, June 25, 2006

I have been in Dakar right at 41 days now and up until this morning, I had yet to touch my bike. When I found out I would be getting a bike when I got to Senegal, I was quite excited, not that I already was. It is kinda like going to something just because you get a t-shirt out of it, but totally different.

Here in Dakar, there have been two contributing factors that have forced me to keep my bike locked up. First, I broke my hand. I had a good day and a few hours in the city before breaking it, so I suppose I wasn’t too eager to ride it once I got here. Once the cast was on, there was no way of riding without training wheels. The other factor is Dakar itself. Basically what it came down to was that I didn’t want to die biking to work. Fortunately, I work at a hospital, so if I did happen to get in an accident on the way, I still could make it to my place of work. Dakar, being a huge city, there are a lot of cars, pot-holes, trucks, sand, buses, and horse drawn carriages to contend with on every road. I’m not always the smartest when it comes to my personal safety, but the roads can look pretty scary here…except Sunday mornings.

On Sunday mornings, most things are closed and people nap all day. The younger generation is just making it home around 5 or 6 am from the club. As a result, people have little reason to hit the streets on Sunday mornings.

As a result, due to the fact that my hand had been feeling better (that is until I woke up in agonizing pain as the rods were shifting early Sunday morning), I really wanted to see some more of Dakar, and I wanted to ride my bike, I decided that this morning would be the day to knock the cobwebs off the Trek. Saturday evening, I mapped out my route, turned down a request to go clubbing only because I left my dancing shoes back in the States, set my alarm clock, and went to bed at a reasonable hour.

Despite waking up a few times throughout the night because of my hand, I got out of bed around 6:15 and hit the road at 6:45. The plan wasn’t to really travel into the heart of the city, but in a sense, do a big loop around the airport, which covers the northwestern portion of the city and fairly near my house.

While, I’m sure nobody cares about the details of the ride because I wouldn’t really either, I’m going to type them out anyways. I started from my house and got on the Route de Yoff. I passed Stade Leopold Sedar Senghor and traveled until I got to Pont du CICES/Foire. I got onto the Voie de Degagement (VDN) until the Place de l’OMVS. Basically, up until this point, I traveled the exact same route I travel going to the hospital everyday. At the Place, I headed back north on Avenue Cheikh Anta Diop. Unlike the highway styled VDN and Route de Yoff, this road is more of a typical two-lane city street. Unlike the highway styled VDN and Route de Yoff, this road is more of a typical two-lane city street. I went through the Mermoz, Ouakam and Les Mamelles districts before hitting the large hill/small mountain by the lighthouse. After this point, I was a little concerned because I was unsure of exactly where I needed to make turns and what not. Just because it is easy to see on paper (map), doesn’t mean it is necessarily easy to come across in reality here. I was getting close to the area that I really wanted to see…Les Almadies. This is where Club Med and Le Meridien are. Because of the fact that I missed veering to the left (I still don’t remember seeing the street), I didn’t see any of Club Med, but did see Le Meridien. It is supposed to be the nicest hotel in all of Senegal and it wouldn’t surprise me if that were the truth. It was absolutely amazing. Situated on a massive compound, I believe it has one or two golf courses, which are nearly non-existent in these necks of the woods. I realized my navigational error soon after passing Le Meridien when I kinda came to a dead end/dirt road. I decided to turn around, but was alittle disappointed that I didn’t get a chance to see Club Med. After Almadies, I went through Ngor, passed by the airport entrance and then got back on the a little more congested Route de Yoff, before making it back home around 8:30. In the end, I managed to go about 40 K. It was a nice Sunday stroll.

(If you have made it up to this point in the read, I congratulate you)

It was kinda weird getting back into Patte D’Oie…kinda surreal like. I was here on my new red Trek mountain bike, helmet, cut off t-shirt, shorts, sunglasses, bandana and definitely looked like I didn’t belong there. I can only imagine what those who saw me were thinking…”Who the hell is this kid…f’n Toubab...is he lost.” Honestly, I questioned it myself…another reason not to bust the bike and spandex out everyday.

In the end, my bike trip was fairly successful. I was planning to take pictures and even brought my camera, but ended up not taking any. I feel that by biking it is the easiest and best yet least feasible way to get around and see Dakar. Hopefully, I can do some more Sunday rides in the future to get a better feel of the city and its surrounding areas.