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Hannibals trail Photo ContestWashout Baluchistan- - -
International Magazine on Bicycle TouringBicycleTraveler
Hilleberg tent -
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ARTICLES
EQUIPMENT
24
BIKEPARADISE By Michael Tran41
A REALMANINBALUCHISTAN By Loretta Henderson
13
ONTHETRAILOFHANNIBAL By Sam Wood
26
PHOTOCONTEST By Various Photographers
18
TESTHILLEBERGNALLO3GT By Friedel Grant22 TRIPGEAR By Grace Johnson15
over Photo: KEES SWART www.keesswart.nl
hoto Left: PAUL JEURISSEN
38 GIJSSTEVERS By Grace Johnson
CONTENTS
44
PARTINGSHOT- FRANCE By Charlie Baxter
06
UPSANDDOWNS
PHOTOGRAPHY
INTERVIEW
BicycleTraveler
20
IMAGEFROMTHEROAD- VEITNAM By Karlijn Jukes
THEWHY QUESTION By Edward Genochio
TV PRESENTATION By Sam Wood
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IMAGEFROMTHEROAD- OMAN By Paul Jeurissen
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IMAGEFROMTHEROAD- NEPAL By Dirk Huyghe
47 WASHOUT By Steve Fabes
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IMAGEFROMTHEROAD- OMAN By Paul Jeurissen
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IMAGEFROMTHEROAD- INDIA By Paul Jeurissen
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6/48JUNE 2013 - WWW.BICYCLETRAVELER.NL6 Hannibalwith the BBC
On the trail of
BY: SAM WOOD
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E` vietato no shorts allowed! We weresurrounded by a patrol of towering Italian
Cuirassiers, the President of Italys per-sonal bodyguard (they have a minimumheight requirement of 190cm). Not onlywere we dwarfed, but we felt even moreunderdressed than usual in this the mostfashionable of countries. We were grub-by after six weeks of bike touring throughSpain, France and Italy.
The Cuirassiers guard the QuirinalePalace, which contains the only existingbust of the Carthaginian General Hanni-bal. In 219BC he had led his huge armyand 37 elephants from Cartagena insouthern Spain all the way up and overthe French Alps and into Italy in an at-tempt to defeat the powerful Roman Re-
public. We had followed his route so faron bikes and now, 2,500 long kilometreslater, found ourselves clacking aroundthe drafty side entrance of the QuirinalePalace in our riding shoes, being barredentrance to see the inspiration for all thathard work.
Sam, Danny and Ben Wood cycled nearly 4000 kilome-
tres in Autumn 2010, following the trail that three ancient
brothers Hannibal, Hasdrubal and Mago Barca had tak-
en over 2000 years before. The Barcas were invading It-
aly with a huge army in an attempt to defeat Rome and the
Wood brothers were presenting a BBC TV documentary about this ancient conict.
OLARGUES, FRANCE -the bridge inthe foreground (12th C.) was known as the
place to go in medieval times if you wanted
to make a deal with the devil!
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Following the 4,000km route thatHannibal marched was an idea born ofmy love of cycling and history. Alwaysup for adventure, I proposed to my broth-ers that we take on this epic journey onbikes. And seeing as we had had greatfun lming home movies as kids about
Chuck Norris, zombies and King Arthur,why not lm it as we go?
All being in Europe at the time, wesent in a proposal to the BBC, which was
so well received that they commissioneda documentary series based on the idea!We were utterly shocked and perhapsslightly apprehensive we were com-plete novice documentary presenters.My eldest brother Danny had at leastdone TV news reporting but was no keencyclist. Ben and I had done plenty of ridingbut had never stood in front of a camerahoping to talk semi-intelligently aboutanything. Following Hannibals armys
Photo:SAM
WOOD
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At the beginning of the trip- we joked about
epic journey on our bikes with a BBClm crew in tow was a dream come true.
So we trained hard and got our equip-ment together. We had some brillianttouring bikes for us which we tted out
with huge panniers to house all our gear.We would attempt to experience the tripas close as possible to how Hannibalsmen may have done (which in all hon-esty, was not very close) but we travelledunder our own steam, camped in tents,
cooked meals and carried everything weneeded. And once the BBC put Ben andI through a crash course in TV present-ing we all of a sudden found ourselvesarriving Murcia airport in southern Spain.
Our location manager Jason metus there parking our support vehicle,which doubled as the crews living quar-
ters, illegally but conveniently right out-side the front door of the airport. I initiallythought perhaps this is what happenswhen you are on a lm shoot you do
whatever you like and ignore all the rulesfor the sake of your bloated ego.
THEN I NOTICED Jason was busy
fending off Spanish parking police. Itturned out the camper van was just toobig to get into the car park. We hastilypacked up and headed off to Cartage-na, lucky to escape without a ticket. Onreaching our rst campsite, we spent the
rst few sweaty hours on location get-ting our bikes back into one piece, all thewhile joking about how we were going ona paid holiday.
These jokes paled rapidly as we start-ed to understand what it took to put to-
gether a TV documentary. The actuallming required patience, imagination
and expertise qualities the BBC crewhad in abundance. Hours of wide shots,close shots, wide non-sync (no sound),GVs (general vision), PTCs (pieces tocamera), POVs (point of view), pullingfocus, tilt shots, tracking shots . . . Whatwe imagined as a physically strenuousbut mentally fun touring bike holidayquickly became an intense lm shoot
with a strenuous touring ride squeezedin around it.
EARLY STARTS AND late nishes
designed to make the most of the goodlming light meant riding in between,
during the hottest hours of the day, andhaving much less time than we had an-
ticipated to cycle the allotted distanc-es, so night time catch-up riding was aregular necessity.The rst leg of the trip took us from Cart-agena, at the bottom of Spain, up thecoast to cross into France over the Pyr-enees. In hindsight, this leg was easy
respectful drivers, mostly good roads,
lovely scenery but often touristy towns,and no great hills to climb.We stopped briey in Alicante as La
Vuelta (Spains equivalent of the Tour deFrance) rolled into town. Matthew Lloyd(Silence-Lotto) very graciously got upextra early the next morning to chat tous before Stage 10 of the race. Able tolift his bike literally with one nger, I tried
to convince him into a swap, but he washaving none of it, and as he went off tobreakfast with his teammates we lum-
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bered off in the opposite direction think-ing what a nice bloke he was and dream-ing of light road bikes.
The Pyrenees passed by surprisinglyquickly as we skirted the beautiful Medi-terranean coast, but once over the moun-tains we had the mistral wind shriekingaround our ears and seeming to pushour laden bikes backwards, leaving usphysically and mentally broken and withtens of kilometres to catch up on.
Over the whole trip, however, we wereincredibly lucky with the weather; onlythree days of rain out of eleven weeks onthe road, the heat of September in Spainnowhere near the highs of July and Au-gust, and winter hit the French Alps justas were leaving them behind a metreof snow lling the pass I had traversed
just the week before.
WE WERE ALSO incredibly luckymechanically plenty of punctures andblown tyres, one wonky rear derailleurand a pedal fell off, but no signicant
breakdowns over the 4,000km.The Alps were one of the highlights of
the trip denitely the hardest but alsothe most rewarding. With a sibling raceup Mont Ventoux warming up our climb-ing legs, and being pretty t by then,
we were excited to be there, but after aweek of long mountain hauls and hugeamounts of lming, often arriving at 10 or
11pm exhausted and famished, we wereon the brink of collapse.
We did, however, enjoy some beauti-ful quiet night-time rides with huge shad-ows of anonymous mountains and the
eerie feeling of vast chasms at the edgeof the road. These evenings you couldeasily imagine Hannibal and his menlooking at the same night sky and think-ing the exact same thing what on eartham I doing here?
AT THIS POINT we split our trio aswe each explored a possible route Han-nibal may have taken over the nal
passes into Italy the greatest mystery
of his journey. We each found ourselveslooking for clues as to Hannibals pass-ing, and being the youngest I got Col duTraversette, a walking trail which reach-es 3,000 metres and has snow all yearround. My bike survived the drag but ittook me days to physically recover.
Back on our bikes and forty kilometres
all downhill from the pass at Col Agnelmeant that before we knew it we were inclassic northern Italy. We headed souththrough rolling Piedmont away from thewinter cold, through Emilia Romagnaand into the beautiful countryside of Tus-cany and Umbria. Hannibal spent ve
epic days traversing the Arnoswamps
here his men couldnt rest in the mud-dy marshes and Hannibal himself con-tracted an eye infection that led to theloss of one of them.
We then headed to Rome and to ourconfrontation with the Presidential body-guard. To nally be in the presence of
Hannibal after a few thousand kilome-tres of cycling in his honour was strange-ly moving. But there was no time to stopand relax -- we had to get on and lm our
PTCs, POVs and GVs!
ow we were going on a paid holiday.
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For more information on the documen-tary and journey please take a look at
www.woodbrothers.tv. In 2012 we took a
group on the same epic ride but without the
campsites and cameras! It was a spectacular
and beautiful cycle combined with fantastic
food, hotels and history. In September 2013
we will be doing it all again. If you fancy
joining us then visit www.rideandseek.com.
After Rome we crossed to the eastcoast towards Taranto in the heel of Ita-lys boot. Italy seemed to be changing aswe travelled further south. The sophisti-cated north was long gone and we rodethrough hundreds of kilometres of olivegroves and vineyards often guarded byunchained dogs which would liven up along stretch of road. Its surprising howfast you can go with a salivating dog onyour wheel.
To nish the journey we rst had to get
to Hannibals homeland, Tunisia, a ferryride away. We wanted to get to Zama, a
long day ride west of Tunis, and wherethe nal battle between Hannibal and the
Romans took place.
HANNIBAL HAD returned from Italyand lost a battle at Zama against an in-vading Roman force and retreated to thecoast, much as we had done. For a time
he was involved in Carthaginian politics,but after some political intrigue he wasforced from the city and spent the rest ofhis years roaming the Eastern Mediter-ranean, looking for allies to continue hisght against Rome.
Eventually the Romans caught upwith him and surrounded his house.
He took poison, saying proudly, Let us
put an end to the life that has given theRomans so much anxiety.
WE DIDNT TAKE poison, althoughwe sometimes wished we could have ad-ministered some to each another! After11 weeks, nearly 4,000km and over 200hours of footage we were nished, men-tally and physically, but hugely satised
with our accomplishment and relieved atjust having survived it!
2 years on, the BBC has aired OnHannibals Trail many times in the UKand National Geographic bought the
show and have been showing it world-wide (besides USA unfortunately!) Mylegs have recovered and I spend muchof my casual riding time thinking whatcycling adventure to do next?, or Which
other great commanders or epic journeyscan we follow?
Photo:ZISSIKAUCH
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S L O W E R L O U D E R Moreexpression!
These were the words I heard mostfrequently while doing my pieces to cam-era (PTCs) during lming On Hannibals
Trail. An honest appraisal of our perfor-mances would be, in my opinion, that inEpisode 1, I was pretty bad, by the end
of Episode 3 I had stopped being scaredof the camera and by Episode 5 and 6 Icould (hopefully) almost be mistaken fora TV presenter.
Neither Ben nor I had any previous TVpresenting training, whereas Danny, hav-ing worked in Media for years, was com-pletely comfortable. Luckily, on the other
hand, Danny was very worried about theriding having rarely ridden farther thanthe corner shop!
Fortunately the BBC support crewswere amazingly patient and supportive,and as well as a crash course in present-ing, given to us by one of our directors onthe lawn in front of BBC at Shepherds
Bush, we did learn a few general tricksof the trade and a few bike specic onestoo: Basic TV Presenting
Speak as slowly as you cannothingis worse than a presenter who speakstoo quickly to be understood. One wayto slow ourselves down was to pre-tend we were talking to a young child.
Speak Loudly. This seems odd aswe were wearing microphones but it
is essential for clarity and speakingloudly generally adds expression andslows you down too.
Express yourself. This is a hard oneas for me I was always being told touse my hands and emphasise wordsmore, however for someone like Dan-
ny who is fairly dramatic he was occa-sionally being told the opposite. Theconsensus of our lm crews was that
dramatic emphasis is essential andthat physically hands should alwaysbe up if they are in the framed shot.Emphasis with hands or on wordsshould only be done 2-3 times maxi-
mum per (30-45 sec long) PTC oth-erwise you appear like a bird apping
its wings.
Always look at the camera, pretend itis a friend or your audience or what-ever you like as long as it keeps youlooking as this engages the audience.
Smileit may seem odd but it drawsthe audience in, so look happy other-wise your audience wont either!
If you can, walk and present or havethe camera move. If everything is still,unless you are very dramatic and ani-mated, it is hard to maintain the audi-ences interest. If you are walking andtalking, although it can be harder, it isa lot easier to watch.
TV PresentationBY: SAM WOOD
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If you have one, listen to your Director .It is very hard to judge how you lookwhile you are performing and we
quickly came to realise that the Direc-tor is the most important person on alm shoot and their word is nal.
If you are doing a PTC start and endlooking at the camera and make sureyou pause a little so the editor (possi-bly you) has a few frames to work withwhen cutting up your programme.
Practise recording yourself and watch
the play back. You only realise howsilly you look and sound until you dothis. And you only realise how muchbetter you sound when made to speakslowly, loudly and with expression you still look silly though!
BIKE CAMS are great but they take a
bit of practice, here a few tips which mayhelp you get the result you want:
Choose quiet and smooth roads, play-ing with a camera while cycling alongis dangerous enough without addingcars into the equation. Also trafc noise
destroys any audio you might want to
record and rough roads are uncomfort-able for both you and your audience.
Take shots from multiple spots on thebike. If your camera has a clamp use iton your handlebars, seat stem, front/back pannier rack anywhere youcan (these are called GVs generalviews and you use them in all aspectsof lming) especially if you plan to also
to do PTCs on the bike while cycling.This will allow you, when editing, to
cut shots of the moving road and biketo join shots, x errors, cover up when
a y goes in your mouth, etc. You can
always continue the audio over theseGVs and cut to you talking while rid-ing to give the sense of movementand travel.
Make sure your bike cam has a goodclamp! A rattling picture is impossibleto watch.
When choosing a bike camera, if youcan afford one with a separate screen
to the camera body then this can bean excellent investment. There isnothing more frustrating than thinkingyou have lmed a great shot only to
nd that the camera was aiming the
wrong way or the light was terrible.
Lastly if you are lming from the bike
take care and make sure you have afriend riding with you who can keepan eye on your line! The last thing youwant to do or lm is a crash!
If you have any questions, feel free toemail me: [email protected].
Cyclist, archaeologist, follower of historictrails by bike. Sam Wood is the co-founder
of Ride and Seek Bike Tours who specialize
in adventure cycling in the footsteps of his-
toric legends like Hannibal and Caesar.
www.rideandseek.com.
For those who have already shot a
bicycle touring video, why not add it to the
World Cycle Videos group on Vimeo at:
http://vimeo.com/groups/wereldetser.
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When were on a bike tour, theres no place that feels more like home thanour trusty tent, the Hilleberg Nallo 3GT. Its not the cheapest tent on themarket by a long shot (about $1,100 U.S. for the current model) but price doesbuy quality and in our experience this tent is extremely durable and depend-able, even in the worst of weather. Among other things, weve tested it in 15
straight hours of the hardest rain weve ever seen (we stayed perfectly dry),and in gale-force winds (the tent exed gracefully with the gusts).
Test
By: FRIEDEL GRANTHilleberg Nallo 3GT
Photo:FRIE
DELGRANT
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We love this tent so much that weveactually bought two of them. The rst
one was the tent that accompanied usfor most of our 3-year world bicycle tour.When we decided to replace it, wed usedour rst Nallo 3GT over 400 times. To put
that in perspective, if you bought this tenttoday and used it as much as we did,youd pay around $2.50 U.S. for eachnight of worry-free camping. Bargain!
When we replaced it (30 months intoour trip), the Nallo 3GT was still function-ing perfectly but the outer shell had suf-fered some heavy UV damage and we
werent sure how much longer it wouldlast. We were offered a newer model at ahefty discount so we jumped at the chanceto renew our tent. Had we not been soimpulsive, the old one probably wouldhave lasted quite a bit longer. We couldalso have renewed our tent by simplybuying a new outer tent from Hilleberg,
although we didnt know that at the time.Our second Nallo 3GT has been used
about 100 times and we expect it to lastfor at least as long as the rst one. With a
little luck, it will last even longer because
were now more vigilant about protectingour tent from UV damage by using a tarpand pitching in shady places.
You can set this tent up with the frontfully open. This is great in light rain, andon hot days (it allows for a lot of air ow).
We can sum up the reasons why wereally like this tent in a few short points: Quality. The Nallo 3GT really does
stand up to everything. Weve tested itin heavy snow, pouring rain and erce
winds and its never let us down. Lots of space.We have the 3-per-
son model. Its perfect for 2 bike tour-ists plus all the associated gear. Wecan put all our bags in the porch, andstill have room to sit and read. Thatmeans we dont feel claustrophobic,even on rainy days when we might beinside the tent for a few hours.
Light.At 3 kg, this is one of the light-
er 3-person and all-season tents onthe market.
Easy to pitch. There are only 3poles and set-up is intuitive. Not longafter we bought this tent, we had to
NALLO3GT
WEIGHT: 3 KGFORMOREINFOSEE:
WWW.HILLEBERG.COM
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EQUIPMENT
BT
set it up in the dark. We had no prob-lems. Hilleberg say you can pitch thetent with as few as 4 pegs. On veryrocky ground, weve pitched it withoutany pegs, simply by using rocks tosecure the corners and tying the guy-lines to nearby trees, bushes or otherxed objects.
Great customer service. Hil-leberg have promptly answered anyquestions we had about the tent, andhelped us to nd a solution when the
zippers wore out. This was easily xed
(http://travellingtwo.com/resources/
keep-your-tent-zipping-along).
Multiple set-up options.In addi-tion to the standard set up, you cancompletely open the front of the tent.This is really nice in the summer, orany time you want a lot of air owing
through the tent.
Nothing is perfect, of course, and thereare a few downsides to this tent: Too short for tall people. If
youre over 6 feet tall, youll struggle tostretch out fully in this tent. Andrew is511 and his feet nearly touch the end.
Expensive. This is denitely not the
cheapest tent on the market. Its go-
ing to last you a long time but if youreonly planning a few shorter bike toursthen youll probably do just as well witha cheaper tent such as MSRs HubbaHubba model (another favourite ofours). Alternatively, watch for sales.Sometimes you can get a deal on lastyears model. You can also try to pickup a lightly used second-hand model.
Occasional condensation. Onvery cold nights in damp climates,we try to keep all the heat in by fully
closing both the main entrance andthe door that separates the porchand sleeping area. That does leadto some condensation. Most of thetime, were not camping in extremecold and so we dont entirely seal thetent. You can leave the doors partiallyopen (while still keeping the mosquitonet panels closed) to improve airow.
Sometimes too big. This is aroomy tent and you need a relativelydecent amount of space to put it up.This isnt often a problem but some-times we have to hunt an extra few
minutes for the perfect spot. Groundsheet sold separately.
Its not all that unusual for tent ground-sheets to be sold separately, and youcan expect to fork out about $100 U.S.for the ofcial groundsheet for this tent.
The footprint is almost essential, as itmakes the porch usable in all weather
(even when the ground is wet). Alterna-tively, you could just lay a small sheetof plastic down, but then thats onemore (relatively heavy) thing to carry.
On the whole, we feel the advantages ofthis tent far outweigh the disadvantagesand wed heartily recommend it for any-
one planning an extended bike tour. Toparaphrase a famous commercial:Cost of a Hilleberg tent? $1,100 U.S.
Cost of the groundsheet? $100 U.S.
Cost of knowing that you can sleepthrough the worst storms? Priceless!
Friedel & Andrew Grants extensive website
www.travellingtwo.com contains their trip
reports, resources for bicycle travelers and
the e-book Bike Touring Survival Guide.
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PAUL JEURISSEN
www.pauljeurissen.nl
Oman
ImageRoad:
thefrom
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PAUL JEURISSEN
www.pauljeurissen.nl
India
ImageRoad:the
from
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TRIPGEARA look at equipment for bicycle travelers.
An ultra-light packing bag to help keepsmall accessories organized whiletraveling. Its made of silnylon rip-
stop which allows you to see whatsinside the sack.
Weight: 0.6 oz (18 gr)
Price: $ 15. U.S.www.eaglecreek.com
Pack-It Sack
By: GRACE JOHNSON
Why not carry a bit of extra comfort?
The Quechua compressible pillow hasa soft front side, you can stuff extra
clothes in the backside and measures15x13 in. (38x32 cm.).
Weight: 6.3 oz. (180 gr.)Price: 7.45 Euros
www.decathlon.co.uk
Compressible Pillow
This ultralight and ultrastrong 1.3Lpot from Evernew has a silicone-ce-ramic non-stick coating which makes
cleanups a breeze.Weight: 5.7oz. (162 gr.)
Price: $ 77. U.S.
www.evernewamerica.com
Titanium Non-Stick Pot
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The Eureka Veloci SUL tent offers alot of storage space in the vestibule for
your bike bags and even your bikesWeight: 8.4 lbs (3.8 kg.)
Price: 549.95 Euros
www.eurekaeurope.com
2-Person Bike Tent
EQUIPMENT
With the Fiber Fix emergency repair kityou can replace a broken spoke of any
length without having to remove thefreewheel cassette.
Price: $ 11. U.S.
www.fberfxspoke.com
Spoke Replacement
Suspension SeatpostThe Thudbuster seatpost from CaneCreek absorbs the bumps of rough
roads so that you ride more comfortably.Weight: 20.1 oz. (570 gr.)
Price: $ 175. U.S.
www.canecreek.com
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A
s I sit and wait at sun rise in theno-mans land between Paki-stan and Iran, I patiently wait for
the Iranian border gate to open. I havelearned that the Baluchi, Pakistan peopleare as jovial as it gets, with a laugh that
jiggles their bellies, a laugh that Santawould be proud of. The Pakistani militarypolice and I have become intimately ac-quainted lately when I was scooped upin Quetta in the Baluchistan province
and prevented from cycling the majorityof the way to the border by some surpris-ingly super fun police.
I cycled the remaining KM to the bor-der at sunrise keeping a low prole. I
park Pandemic the magic bicycle withthe Pakistani border police, sit and waitfor the Iranian gate to open. I get to chat-
ting with one of the guards. He tells me,he is looking for a wife and the rest ofPakistan has gotten too liberal and itis not good. Funny enough, he is veryhandsome and has a likeable demeanor,which is, until he starts talking. He is whatI would call an unique conservative manand not your average Pakistani. He tellsme with a big friendly smile , that he is 25years old, that he cant wait to become aman, he asks me how many women theboys at home have slept with at 25, and
says he has only slept with one, he tellsthat my downtown area has gotten tooold for these sort of things because of
the cycling. As the sun continues to rise,I am trying not to laugh and therefore en-courage any conversation that may takeus further downtown or encourage a de-bate about the present tness status of
my aging hoohaa.I put on my best curious travelers
smile and sit back and listen. He con-
tinues with his views about how womenare to stay at home and only after hav-ing birthed two boy babies will his wifebe allowed to leave the house wearing aburka with full face coverage to go to themarket. She will not be allowed to havefriends, an education after 10th grade,and marrying at 15 is good. He is con-
sidering having a couple of wives, he is
allowed 4. However, he is not sure hecan afford it. You have got to love moneyfor at least that, I think to myself. I askhim about some burn marks I have seen
I wished him well
fnding his 4 wives
Story & Photo: LORETTA HENDERSON
While talking to an atypical Pakistani, Loretta decides
shes glad that polygamy is expensive.
BaluchistanA real man in
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on some womens faces, he tells me she
did something at home and its ok thatthe man burns and/or beats her. As myteetering smile and eye balls pop out, Iforce myself to keep listening. I am gen-uinely fascinated and try to be respect-ful of differences; however, I think mytongue might be bleeding.
I asked the guard what he thinks aboutme. As a women bicycle travelling alonein Pakistan, I have often felt guilty aboutmy tremendous freedom and signicantly
concerned about my sisters of the world.
He says he thinks it is ne and wonder-
ful because I am not a Baluchi woman. Iwished him well nding his 4 wives, apol-ogized that I wasnt a polygamist and offI went pedaling into Iran on my aginghoohaa grateful for the education andthat much more concerned about someof my sisters in Baluchistan.
Loretta tries to be respectful of cultural
differences as she pedals around the world.
Follow her solo female cycling adventures
at: www.skalatitude.com
BT
Lorettas bicycle is safely transported to the Iranian border.
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WHY?An answer to a flm producer who wanted to
know why I was going on a bicycle journey.
Te
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uestion
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Sometimes I think its Why? in the
sense of I seriously want to know whatit is that gets into your head or your heartor your soul and makes you want to do athing like this.
And sometimes I think its "Why?" in thesense of "What story can you tell that justi-es this expedition in terms of the prevail-ing social interpretation of worthiness?"
I'll give you my take on this you maynot like it, but here is what I think.
A lot of expeditions pick a story tohang their ride on, either because they
think in advance -- probably rightly -- thatit will play better in the mediasphere; orbecause, belatedly, some journo/pro-ducer/PR jock has told them to.
So you get all these "In the footstepsof...", "Retracing the ancient....", "Could
Alexander the Great have come thisway?", "The sweet and sour trail: eating
Chinese from Shanghai to Shoreditch,BY BIKE" type of themed expeditions.(OK, actually I quite like that last idea.)
89.5 % (forgive my rough estimate) ofthese things are phony. The participantsknow it, the intermediaries (journalists/producers etc) know it, and I think theaudience knows it too, most of the time.
It's pretty obvious, most of the time, thatthese adventurers don't really give muchof a damn about their meeeedjia-friendlytheme: they are really doing what theyare doing because they want do some-thing out of their skins, to go hard anddirty, to hurt like hell and achieve what-ever it may be, climbing Everest or pogo-
sticking across Antarctica. If they have totell everyone that they're pogo-stickingin Shackleton's footsteps in order to getnancing or recognition, well, so be it.
HOW OFTEN HAVE you watched orlistened to or read about this kind of jour-ney, and you think to yourself: OK, I knowthe game here: it's a hell of an adven-ture, it's exciting, I'm hooked, good luckto these guys, bloody-hell-rather-them-
A
funny one, this. The "WHY?" question is the
one everybody asks - friends, relatives, jour-nalists, and proposal-mauling folk such as your
good self.... (I mean that in a positive sense.)
BY: EDWARD GENOCHIO
PHOTOS: PAUL JEURISSEN
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explored before. His passion for drain-age ditches is obvious and he can talkauthoritatively about the subject like no-one else can. He hasn't read the booksbecause he wrote all the damn books,for heaven's sake.
But he is a rare bird.Most "themed" expeditions that nd
their way into books/newspapers/lms
don't have this kind of expert. Maybe
the leader has read a thin paperback onAfghan tribal dancing before he set off,but we all know why he is really hompingover the Hindu Kush.
Because it's there.
FOR ME, GEORGE Mallorys "Be-cause It's There" line is one of the most
abused quotes in expedition history. Readit the wrong way, and it sounds like a ca-sual, lazy-witty, now-leave-me-alone-you-pesky-little-base-camp-hugging-media-types sort of off-the-cuff remark from atired guy whose mind was more focusedon climbing mountains than on cookingup sound-bites for tiresome journalists.
But I think it's not that at all.To a mountaineer, a mountain is likea blazing beacon, a huge neon-lit chal-lenge in the sky that screams (or whis-pers, menacingly, or seductively), Comeon, climb me, you bastard, if you're goodenough. The mountain gets into themountaineer's soul. It messes up thesurvival instinct that evolution has doneits best to hone, and replaces it with akind of obsessive-compulsive mania: I
than-me (or: cor, I wish I was there),but, really, what has Marco Polo got todo with this? When he came through
town I'll bet he didn't have to trot past 15miles of white-tiled ribbon-developmentgarages and cement factories, and no, Idon't suppose he was choking on blacksmoke from the constant stream of DongFeng trucks either. Marco Polo was then;now is now.
There are some honorable excep-tions of course. Thor Heyerdal and KonTiki, that kind of made sense becausehe had to have some reason for makinghis rafts out of whatever it was he madethem out of, stone-age Polynesian coco-nut matting or whatever. But even then,you pretty much knew that at bottom
those guys were having an incredibleadventure, the Polynesian migration (orwhatever it was) theory was a pretty neathook to hang it on, but let's be honest itdoesn't really much matter whether thetheory was right or wrong, it was a hell ofa journey.
FROM TIME TO TIMEyou get a realexpert on ancient Mongolian drainageditches, and I mean a real expert, some-one who lives and breathes ancientMongolian drainage ditches, someonewho knows ancient Mongolian drainageditches better than the ancient Mongo-lians did. For him, the 3000 mile cameltrek across the desert is almost inciden-tal to the prize at the end of it, to explorea drainage ditch that no-one has ever
Long lines on maps from A to B;- these are th
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must climb that bloody mountain, andhonestly I don't really care three hoots ifit's the 90th anniversary of Mallory andIrving or even that today is European An-ti-Littering Day. I need to climb that thingbecause it's there, because it is com-manding me to climb it, because my soulwon't rest until I have climbed it, becausethat is who I am, that mountain has be-come me, and I have become it.
I'm being a little presumptuous to putall these word's into Mallory's mouth, Iknow, but I'd take a bet anyway that hewouldn't disagree. "Because it's there" isthe real reason that drives most adven-ture-expeditioners, even if they feel theyhave to say something else to please themeeedjia, sponsors, and maybe even
their own (misguided) consciences.A story well told is a story told with
passion, and when you're only three-quarter-hearted about ceremonial mega-lithic urinals in Ghastlistan (are they ofEtruscan origin?), it shows -- even if ev-erybody (even the audience, becauseit helps them feel more high-brow and
less voyeuristic) is trying to pretend thatit doesn't.
I COULD MAKEup a good story as towhy it is historically or culturally or educa-tionally essential, or vital to the interestsof world peace, that I ride a bicycle fromShanghai to Shoreditch (I might ditch Ex-eter because nothing in China alliterateswith it; oh, now you've got me going, ifyou can't nd a valid humanistic or intel-
lectual peg, try a verbal one, Shanghai toShangri-La -- that would be nice, actually,the perfect contrast between a sea-levelurban-industrial cosmopolitan-consum-erist skycraperland nightmare and an as-cetic little dream-world of peace, karmaand yak-dung high up in the mountains;and, as it happens, they've just ofcially
re-named a little Yunnanese town in theHimalayas "Shangri-La" (I kid you not --
look it up: it was called Zhongdian until auntil a couple of years ago)) -- anyway, Iwas going to say, I could make up a storyabout why I'm going, or I could tell youthe truth: because it's there. I'm not amountaineer, I'm a map-gazer: big blankempty spaces; jumbled piles of contours;roads in places where you ask yourself,
not just how the hell did they build a roadup there, but why the hell?; long lines
from A to B; - these are the things thatcall out to me, saying, "Ride me!", just asEverest bellowed "Climb me!" into Mal-lory's lug-hole.
Enough.
Photographer Paul Jeurissen and his partner
Grace Johnson are now Bicycling around
the world in search of inspiring cycle images.
www.bicyclingaroundtheworld.com
Edward Genochio rode from England to
China and back again and is now writing a
book titled But Isnt There A Bus? read
more about his trip at:
http://www.2wheels.org.uk.
things that call out to me, saying, "Ride me!"
BT
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Photo Contest
The winning imageCalifornia, U.S.A.
Photo: SOLIDREAM www.solidream.net
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In January 2012 www.travellingtwo.com together with www.bicycletraveler.nl held aphoto contest to nd a cover photo for the next edition of the Bike Touring SurvivalGuide. More than 700 pictures were entered and on the following pages you canview a selection of inspiring images thatcapturethe feeling of traveling by bicycle.
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Huascarn National Park, PeruPhoto: MATT KELLY www.pedalpanam.com
ChinaPhoto: RYAN DAVIES www.ryandaviesphoto.com
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Sofala, Mozambique
Photo: ENRIQUE GABAS PERE www.ickr.com/photos/29759203@N06
SloveniaPhoto: CHRIS GRUAR www.cycling4cancer.com
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Little Petra, Jordan
Photo: ERIC REXwww.goingbybikes.com
Chengdu, ChinaPhoto: LVARO MARTN www.rodadas.net
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plug that you came across? If
not, what sort of problems did
you have?
A: Yes, it could be re-charged in anyelectrical plug. I carried an adaptorand an extension cord with 4 plugs soI could charge my phone, laptop and2 batteries at the same time. In Sudanand Ethiopia I had problems nding
'quality' electricity. Either there was noelectricity at that time of the day, or thecurrent/voltage was too weak to chargethe batteries. Luckily an electric bike
functions just like a normal bicycle!
Q: On the Gazelle website
they write that the e-bikes are
splash-proof. During your
trip did you have any problems
with the battery and motor in
regards to heavy rainfall, dust
and sand?
A: This is the thing I was most sur-prised about. I thought the electricalsystem would be fragile but it wasnt.The batteries and motor survivedtemperatures ranging from -15C to+45C, sandstorms, rain, hail, snow
storms, mud and bumpy roads. Theonly problem was that after heavyrainfall the display sometimes foggedup. Even then it still worked, but someof the numbers were no longer visible.
Q: How did the e-bike perform
with headwinds?
A: The motor added some extra speed.I usually cycled 80km a day withheadwinds.
Q: Did it help while cycling up
the steep hills of Ethiopia?
A: Carrying the extra weight of theengine and batteries almost nullied the
help of the engine when going up reallysteep hills with a grade of 10% or more.
Q: What was it like cycling
dirt roads?
A: The motor added some extra speedand gave more grip, as you have two-wheel drive. This was especially notice-
able on sandy roads.
Q: And on smooth, paved roads?
A: The electric bicycle added comfortand extra speed. Without electric helpI would normally cycle 18km/h. Withthe motor on I averaged 25km/h on at,
windless, paved roads. On the highestlevel I would have a range of over100km using the two batteries.
Q: At which times during your
trip did you choose to turn the
electric motor on?
A: I generally had the electric motoron at the highest level all the time. Ondays where I could not nd electricity or
wanted to cycle further than 100 km., Iwould switch back to medium (range180 km.) or eco (range 300 km.)
Q: What did you fnd was the
biggest advantage of using an
electric bike?
A: The main advantage was that I
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arrived at the end of a 100-150kmcycling day and still had energy leftover to socialize or work on the com-puter. After a day of cycling withoutthe motor (for example in Ethiopia) allI could think about was going to sleep.
Another advantage was that I was ableto cycle this 20,000km journey in 10months instead of the 15-20 months itwould take on a normal bicycle.
One disadvantage was that I losta bit of freedom. I quickly becameaddicted to main roads which have ho-tels and restaurants where the batteries
could be charged, and thus avoided thelong, off-the-beaten-track routes.
An explanation on e- bikes from the editor
of Electric bike magazine, Peter Eland.
Electric bikes are many things to many
people. Some want to extend a trip or
arrive less sweaty, and others need ahelping hand on the hills, or to keep up
with tter riding companions. And many
just love the fun-factor of riding with
electric assist: it attens the hills and
takes the trudge out of headwinds.
In our reviews in Electric bike
magazine were somewhat cautious
and imprecise when it comes to giving
gures for range. This is because any
gure is heavily dependent on factors
including rider weight, rider effort, hills,
headwinds, tire ination, power mode,
air temperature and more. And these
are not minor inuences. A lightweight,
t and frugal user on the at could get
ve times the range of a heavy, unt
rider in serious hills, for example. So
in isolation, any one range gure is
relatively meaningless.
So how can you tell whether a bike
will have enough range for you? The
best way is to hire one and try it on your
route, or take the advice of an experi-
enced dealer. For what its worth, most
full-size machines seem to be designed
around an average of 20-30 mostly
at miles with gentle pedaling. If your
needs are likely to exceed those condi-
tions, your options are to seek out anextended range model or just carry a
spare battery!
Issues of Electric bike magazine
can be downloaded for free at:
www.electricbikemag.co.uk
www.bicycletraveler.nl
Subscribe now, its
FREE!Subscribers can
download earlier issues
ofBicycleTravelerat:
BT
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Ups and Downs: A Cycling Journey across the Alps by Michael Tran tells the story
of his bicycle journey from Paris to Munich. This humorous and entertaining book
combines two of the authors greatest passions in life, bicycle touring and graphic
design. For more infromation see: www.facebook.com/BicycleTouringVisualStory
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KARLIJN JUKES
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DIRK HUYGHEhttp://bikeandtrek.com
Nepal
ImageRoad:the
from
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Washout. Some days just are, nothing you can do or pre-
pare for and no level of positive thinking will change that.
6.15 am Wake up in my tent. We(Steve and and my friend Nyomi) hadcamped with the police in the out-skirts of a small town. I tell Nyomi
Im excited about the day ahead,my rst day riding through Masai
country (Kenya). Im optimistic wellcover a good 140 km before sunset.7:00 am Tent down, bike packed,mango consumed, police thanked.7.01 am Attempt to pump up back tyre.Pump breaks and air escapes from tyre.
8:00 am Multiple attempts to xpump using gaffa tape, o-rings and myleatherman eventually fail8.01 am Punch air, throw pumparound petulantly, curse everything8.10 am Wander into town. Cant nd
any bike pumps for sale but manage toget tyre re-inated
9.15 am Set off9.25 am Puncture9.30 am I repair it, cycle some tenkilometres on Nyomis bike into townand back to get tyre re-inated9.50 am Return with tyre9.51 am Realise I have another slowpuncture. I repair another tube and thistime Nyomi cycles back into town withthe wheel to get tyre re-inated10.15 am -Nyomi returns with inated tyre
10.20 am Realise Nyomi has a puncture
10.30 am Fix Nyomis puncture andinate tyre with our other pump (the
one that only works with the valves onNyomis bike)10.45 am Nyomis pump breaks. Tyrenot fully inated but we cycle off anyway11.15 am Nyomi gets a puncture. Wex it and re-inate the tyre by screwing
together parts of the two broken pumps12:00 pm We lose a bolt in the sandand spend half an hour searching for it12.30 pm We sit down for lunch.
Nyomi sits on an ants nest, I sit on athorn bush.13.30 pm We set off again15.30 pm Thunder, lightning andheavy downpour. We get a soaking.16.00 pm We agree to ofcially class
the day as a washout and a write-off.Weve covered 26 km all day.
16.30 pm We nd a cheap hostel anddecide to focus on tomorrow. As I liftup my bicycle to get it over the stepsthe back wheel falls off. Id forgottento tighten it back on again after I xed
my last puncture. Crowd of onlookerslaugh. So do I.
WASHOUTBy: STEVE FABES
Dr. Steve Fabes aims to cycle the length of
the 6 continents while raising money for the
U.K. health charity Merlin. You can follow
him at: www.cyclingthe6.blogspot.com.
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TravelerBicycle
Parting shot
With a at tire and no extra inner tubes my friend shows his true Boy
Scout skills by shoving grass in the tire! Amazingly this held until the next
town, admittedly going at a rather weedy speed. ~ Charlie Baxter
Photo:CHARLIEBAXTERhttp://charliebaxter-cb.tumblr.com