Nicole Shields, left, and Hamish Legarth enjoying the paved roads of Tatu City, Kenya.
Two Olympians have ridden 4500km through Africa, raising money to give free bikes to the continent’s citizens.
But despite lost gear, near collisions, duct tape tyre repairs, traffic chaos, knee-deep potholes, dusty roads, truck fumes, being chased by wildlife, sickness, cramps, camps, rice, roadside meals, smelly clothes and being ripped off in 40C heat across 80 days, the pair pulled through and remain good mates.
Hastings-born kayaker Hamish Legarth and Central Otago-born cyclist Nicole Shields met at Waikato University and remained good friends while training for competitions in Cambridge.
Shields convinced Legarth to join her on the odyssey through six countries to help raise money for World Bicycle Relief, a charity that gives bicycles to Africans who typically have to walk long distances.
The charity has designed the Buffalo Bicycle, a two-speed bike with a two-chain drivetrain featuring a 100kg capacity rear rack designed to handle rugged terrain over a long distance with a heavy load.
World Bicycle Relief gives these bikes to people for free and donations are still being accepted through the pair’s travel blog.
So far, they have raised more than $37,000 – enough for nearly 140 Buffalo Bikes.
The 4500km journey started in Uganda and led through Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, Malawi, before cutting back west through Zambia, finishing at Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe.
After 80 days on the bike, Legarth said the falls were an awesome place to finish the trip.
“It was a nice way to integrate back into normal life.
“My bottom was very pleased to not have to sit on the saddle anymore.”
Being an Olympic cyclist, Shields was unable to sympathise with Legarth’s bottom, but said crossing the finish line was an awesome feeling.
“I was in a cafe the other day and I saw a map of the world and seeing how far [our trip] was on a map was really cool, especially the further we get from it.”
Now both back in New Zealand, the pair has a clear highlight from the trip.
“For me, seeing the people was probably the highlight, especially all the kids,” Legarth said.
“As we’d be biking past, the kids would see us coming from a mile away and they’d all run out to the side of the road and be like, ‘Mzungu, Mzungu’ and wish us on our way going through.”
Mzungu in Bantu means wanderer, originally pertaining to the first European explorers to the East African region.
“That’s such a cool reception to get the whole time,” Legarth said.
“I’ve actually kind of missed that in New Zealand ... no one’s excited to see me anymore.”
Shields said her highlight was also the people, but visiting a school in Tanzania to meet students receiving bikes from World Bicycle Relief stood out.
“Being able to talk to those kids who had just got bikes donated and how that had changed their lives,” she said.
Each bike gives the students up to an extra six hours a day that they would have previously spent walking to and from school.
That spare time gives them the ability to complete studies and extracurricular activities, among other things.
“It opens their world up so much more,” Shields said.
“Some of them had to wake up at 4am and then walk 15 km to get to school ... and then turn around and do 15 km back home as well,” Legarth said.
“They’re now able to attend more regularly and do more things before and after school and help out with the family, which is such a big thing as part of the communities there.
“I was actually really sick at that time, but that was a pretty special day,” Shields said.
Shields suffered an infection in the days before the visit, leading to her to stay at Tanzanian doctors for a couple of days.
Earlier in the trip, the pair took what turned out to be a counterfeit malaria test in Kenya which both gave positive readings.
After visiting a clinic in Nairobi it turned out they both had worms, stomach flu and Blastocystis.
Illness wasn’t the only thing hunting them, the African wildlife was also keen to have a go.
“We got chased by a buffalo [in Kenya], and that was a pretty scary moment, one that could have gone badly very quickly,” Legarth said.
“Luckily we saw him coming and so we got a big head start on him, but he caught up quick.”
Both are now back in training, with the goal of competing in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with Legarth training on Lake Pupuke in Auckland and Shields in Cambridge.
“I wasn’t too sure what I wanted to do, but this Africa trip confirmed that I want to keep kayaking and give that a shot,” Legarth said.
“It was tough on the bike and I’d trained harder than I’d ever done before.
“It will be really interesting to see how that translates in the next few months ... but it’ll be super interesting to see how it’s impacted us,” Shields said.
Jack Riddell is a multimedia journalist with Hawke’s Bay Today and has worked in radio and media in the UK, Germany, and New Zealand.