Why Obruni, why?

"Obruni", the Twi word for White Person.

Twi is the language most spoken in this Brong Ahafo region, although English is still the official language of the country.

As I come up a hill, huffing and puffing, giving it my all, this woman hangs out of the taxi and yells at me: "Why, Obruni, why? "

Somedays I have to ask that to myself as well, why 'o why you do this? Along with all the funny things us obrunies do, cycling for fun is just one of them.

We have two favourite routes we like to cycle in the mornings. The one we named the '40K loop' and the other the 'Tutuka dam loop'.

The 40 km loop is mostly tarred road through 3 town and the other route is gravel road with loads of hills and is much more exciting to cycle.



The rainy season unfortunately also caused the dam level to raise with more than a meter, causing the dam to overflow and flooded part of the road around the dam. Part of the road on our other route also flooded.

This morning I had to take another route, so I decided to take the road to Sunyani, the nearest big town, from here.
I cycled a good 50 km, which took me 2 hours 35 min.

I must look very funny to the locals with my biking helmet and tight cycling pants, or maybe it is my red face.. Anycase it is enough for a fighting couple to stop, point at me and laugh out load. Happy I made their day.

Then there are the mothers who point me out to their children, the men who want me to stop, the friendly old man who cheers me on, never a dull moment on these roads ;)

~~ 25 weeks left ~~

Week 4 of training

Last week was a great cycling week! Did 200km in 5 days.

This weekend the teachers organised a time trail over a 40 km route. I did it in 1h53min. Our local Iron man did it in only 1h20min.
It served as a bit of a wake up call... I should focus a bit more and stop smelling the flowers along the way.

This morning I went as fast as I could over a very hilly 26km in 1h26min. Tomorrow I will do a longer route again, against a lower heart rate and then alternate the days with shorter harder and longer lower impact days.

I am now drinking a protein shake before and one an hour after cycling. This extra 48 g of protein makes a BIG difference. I not tired all the time anymore and it even lessens the cravings.

Next Monday we leave for our 3 week holiday to Thailand, Vietnam and Cambodia. So I have to put all in this week!

glorious ghana

Michelle conquering the HILL

Our company on the road. They work for the mine and greet us every day when we pass.

The hill was a bit too much for the little boy.

exhaustion, emotions and expectations

Three weeks into training and I am exhausted and hungry, all the time.



Cycling on the roads of Ghana is still so incredible. We are so lucky to train here, expecially this time of year when the rainy season brings some coolness.



With great expectations we set off to watch the Ghana game on Friday night, on our big screen in the club house. (the club house is our local get-together place with free Friday night beers, probably to keep us happy..but that is another story and probably the reason why cycling on Saturday mornings are so difficult)

And then.. well it ended with sad tears of disappointment and disbelief. The mood of the night was spoiled and cycling on Saturday morning was great. Michelle, my new cycling buddy, and I set a new personal record on our favourite route.



Tomorrow we are going to the big city of Accra for some shopping and to watch Eclipse. I am very excited. In the Accra mall - I am usually one of 5, or the only person, watching a movie.. so at least I will not look ridiculous coming out of the cinema with all the teenagers, as happened in Cape Town.