Trail Hunt

The Dirt on Dusty Nigerian Trail Riding

• Dirt roads that branch off from the main paved road or highway are often a great place to start. So are roads near lakes, dams or quarries.

• Find a safe place to park, one where there are people around to keep watch.

• Lather up with sunscreen and make sure water bottles are full. The African sun is unforgiving.

• Be sure to bring some sort of navigational device. One of the many challenges of mountain biking in the Nigerian hills is remembering your way back to the car. Nearby hills are usually good reference points, but it’s safest to have a GPS with you, particularly in the rainy season when trails are overgrown.

• While the Nigerian bush is relatively safe, it’s always best to go out as a group. Finding biking partners is usually pretty easy if living in or around biggish cities like Abuja. Expatriate listservs or events are also good places to find people to ride with.

• Decent bikes can be hard to come by locally. Bikes sometimes come up for sale when expats leave, but it’s a safer bet to bring your own bike from abroad.

• Come prepared for the African thorn, which can easily cause punctures. Carry a bike pump and patch kit, or, better yet, a spare inner tube. Anti-puncture tires can also help, though I remain skeptical that these are strong enough to resist the particularly long, hard and pointy African thorn.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 1st, 2011 at 12:21 pm and is filed under Going Hard. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a comment, or trackback from your own site. Add to del.icio.us.