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Supporting appealmobile on his world travels

Saturday 16 June 2012

It's To Be Expected at Our Age

It's to be expected at our age and I am talking about the bike and myself and the inevitable breakdowns
.
I had planned to reach the Cape North on midsummers day, alas because of persistent problems with the bike and sourcing spares I failed to meet three rescheduled ferries.
The last failure was more to do with myself. Due to patiently waiting for responses for spares and a complete engine for the bike in Spain I decided to purchase a second Yamaha xs 250 to get my second bike on the road and ready for sale. However I turned up at the sellers house, expecting to have assistance to load into the van. It was not forthcoming and I attempted to lift it in by myself and have subsequently bulged another couple of discs. I was left with the bike half in and half out of the van while I lay prostrate in the street for two hours until a friend arrived with necessary painkillers, to enable me to stand and drive the fourty miles home.

That was three weeks ago and I still can't walk more than a shuffle and for only a hundred yards at most before I seize up in the middle of a road. It is a slow process of healing and one of the reasons I started out on this journey with the Derbi. The hunched riding position is the most comfortable pain free I can get myself into.
So what now of the bike and the plan?
Well I still await some parts and if they haven't arrived soon I will fly to Spain and bring them back by bus. The Norway trip has been cancelled as I wouldn't have reached Cape North on Mid summer night as intended.
What I have decided to do instead, is to ride to Australia as the first stage of a round the world trip.
I intend to ride first to Italy, where the Italian Road Runners are attending the 4th Bikers Rock and Roll Beach Party. That is late September so I should have enough time to recover enough to make this trip.
From there I will ride across the Ukraine into Russia and then onto Kazhakstan and into China. I intend then to travel south to Nepal and down to Indonesia. I believe I can ship the bike to Australia from there and fly over to meet it. However I may leave the bike there and pick one up in Australia to do the whole of the continent before returning to take the bike up through Vietnam and china and finish in Russia.
That is the preliminary plan, but I anticipate the route or final route after Australia to change in the process of time.

Meanwhile I continue to throw painkillers and alcohol into my system and await the final pieces for the Derbi

1 comment:

San Jose said...

Don't miss Katy Perry's 3-D movie out next week!