The big baguette , the extra chocolate bar , two bananas , two litters of water and a ‘ small ’ slice of blueberry cake from the day before didn ’ t leave much space in my backpack for all my photography gear .
“ Civilisation ends here , adventure starts now boys ” - says Phil , putting some rhythm up the fire road , clearly over excited to ride this trail once more . The uphill is mostly open fire road , zigzagging old barns with no one on sight . The climb starts around 1600 meters high and goes up to 2500 meters on a perfect mix of pedalling and hike-a-bike , though not directly to the top . The riding also leaves you breathless at each new step , making your body struggle and desire particles of O2 and H2O .
Reaching 2000 meters altitude we come to an intersection above Etiez , a transition between large fire road to singletrack wonderland . It goes up and down into blueberry territory . Right , left , right , left , left . There ’ s never a 90 degrees corner where you need to slow down or almost stop - instead , there ’ s enough flow to keep you on pace on the uphill sections and maintaining on the downhill . Of course , all of this makes your breathing even more dense , and your heart beat out of the comfort zone . I feel the need to ride this trail without stopping but I also feel the need of slowing down , to look around - and look up - to the next 500 meters of hike-a-bike to the top of Col du Mille cabane . “ Is that where we ’ re going Phil ?” - I ask . “ Yes and I promise you a delicious coffee when we arrive on top ” - he answers .
With a pocket full of wild delicious blueberries I manage to find the perfect balance on the next hike-a-bike section . One hand on the crank-set and the other hand just doing ‘ pocket-to-mouth ’ movements . As everyone knows , blueberries help reduce muscle damage after strenuous exercises and help in improving memory , two things that I surely need for the next day of riding , and for the years to come .
Riding this flat singletrack , the epic traverse gets even more special when we find a couple of horses trotting at fast pace . They stop by our side on the edge of the singletrack , smell our clothes , backpacks and bicycles . After two minutes of petting in an unknown scenario , the curious horses proceed on their way , running freely in the same singletrack , not looking back . We lost their track in the enormous mountains .
As we arrive to the very windy and super cold Col du Mille peak , I start pedaling faster and faster to get the much deserved coffee that Phil promised me , soon to realise that the hut closed the day before for winter season maintenance , a week prior to normal date . I just laid on the floor in fetal position , smashing a handful of fruits that were still in my pocket . Damn ! As you can imagine for an adventure as challenging as Kilimanjaro , you are faced with a lot of challenges along the way . Small mistakes and slip-ups can be devastating , and can jeopardise the whole journey . Keith ’ s challenges were small in comparison to some , he says