ken4ord

Well Chaps, we just had another stellar day in Menagesha paradise. It was great I was on fire and charging slopes. We even had an out of towner with us great day out. I love the riding here.

Well yes and no. Yes there much bigger things to worry about than riding a bike, but giving people a chance to experience something they might never get to normally, is somewhat priceless. Giving people dreams when they don't have any is beautiful thing. Tourism to far off places also provide income to people who need it, sad part is most tour operators only care about money and exploiting cheap labor. Good to do your research before choosing a tour operator.

No not really, but in a lot of the parks they require you to have guards. Guides are different, and they usually require you to have them as well. I find it annoying as I like to go on my own and winging it. Here in Ethiopia, they don't understand that and part of it is for good reason as there some areas in this country you would probably go 'missing' without one. There is some pretty wild areas in this country. The flip side of the coin you provide work to people who struggle to eek out an existence.

Life must go on, I continue ride even though good medical services are limited, but with that said, I tend to tone it down a bit.

I would add one more thing on your list and that is do a recon trip. I live in Ethiopia and there is a ton to do and see besides mountain biking. I have also planned far off adventures as well some that I have succeeded and others still waiting to be done. For those that are waiting to be done now I know I will succeed the next time as I have on the ground experience. Living in Ethiopia and actually going to the Simiens I now know it is not the best place to ride in Ethiopia. No doubt for sure it was a grand adventure, but there some much better places to go on a bike in Ethiopia than the Simiens. Another comment I have, the one hanging out with the children. My experience is that it is sometimes best to seek out your elders. They are generally respected in villages and they will make your life much easier and make sure that you are taken care of, unless of course you village elder is a lazy drunk, then you are fucked. The look of the village can tell you about how you will be treated. And whatever you do, do not do free hand outs (money or candies or anything else), all this ever does breeds begging. Of course tipping or paying for service no matter how small is respectable. That is my 2cents, and one other tip, if you come to Ethiopia plan a few days to ride Menagesha it is the bomb. Other places to check out Wenchi Crater and Mt. Zuqualla. My next big adventure will be either riding the Bale Plateau or follow the camel trains from Mekele down into Afar. Whatever you are thinking about just do it, whether you succeed or fail it will be an adventure.

I currently live in Ethiopia, and yes it can be a bit weird knowing that your bike is the equivalent of 4 years salary. After living in developing countries for the last 11 years you get over it. You realize we are all people it not what you have or do t have that makes a person. When traveling to these far off places you need take healthcare into consideration. Make sure you have meds with you, first aid and expect help to be a long ways off. Make sure in the end you get medavac insurance and figure out the closest place to evacuate to in case necessary. Have your game plan ready. I had one serious accident in Bagladesh, tore open my leg and broke my wrist, luckily there was a facility in Dhaka that good enough to take care of my injuries, getting was a whole story in itself, needless to say trying to get on a rickshaw with your bike with these type of injuries and riding it to the hospital is far from getting airlifted from your local mountain.

Been trying to Upload more videos on PB but it hasn't been working for me, so here is the links to them on YT. Entoto, backyard riding, it was fun revisiting this area though much shorter than other place, there is some kick ass trails here. http://youtu.be/1CmgEUKKaAc The latest trail unearthed in Menagesha. http://youtu.be/TJAfFN-P1qY

Hell yeah! I just got done watching the video and you definitely captured Menagesha. Even though I am here I will watching that for some stoke. I want to go ride right now. Can't wait for tomorrow morning.

Thanks Grant for a great article. Ethiopia is a freaking great place to ride. Since Grant's visit we have added in a few more trails in Menagesha, and there is more to come. There was a team of folks that just recently made the mistake to go all the way to the Simiem mountains for some serious hike-da-bike, little did they realize they were missing the true good that can be found right next to Addis. It sounds like the nearby park is interested in developing some mountain bike trails and within the last 2 weeks we have uncovered 5 downhill/Enduro runs with to weed out of the hills. I also went down south and did some exploring down in Arba Minch, which had some nice 1000m descent accessible by dirt roads. And the off to the Bale Mountain where I think I have figured 1500m descent that I will have to get back too. With all that said there is little in the way of mountain bike tourism industry here. If someone is telling you they can plan your mountain bike holiday to Ethiopia, I would be extremely wary, Ethiopia uncharted in the way of mountain biking, very few lucky peoe know anything about riding in Ethiopia, including the Ethiopian themselves.