Happy Christmas Y’all!
Yee ha - wishing everyone a rootin tootin Christmas all the way from Texas, USA!
We’ve been in the state for a few days now on the final part of our mission to Austin and my friend Vanessa’s before the festivities begin.
Currently though we are still 90 miles away….
90 miles in which, we have just been informed, Lance Armstrong trains.
90 miles through an area commonly known as ‘hill country’.
90 miles in which it is forcast to rain and thunder.
Oh dear.
It’s been quite full on these last ten days.
The race to get to Austin has had us cycling every day since Tucson - with quite a few hitting the 100 mile mark. We’ve been pedaling hard through the fairly desolate green desert that makes up: Wild West Country.
Billy the Kid, Davy Crockett, Butch Cassidy - I’ve been day dreaming of them all. Much assisted by the fact everyone actually does wear cowboy hats. How brilliant is that? Jamie found one at the side of the road so we have been joining in too.
Anyway, incredible though it has been, the fates have not always smiled. The sun has been shining but the wind raging in the wrong direction. The colours and scenery have been dramatic but the days turning to nights all too soon. Mostly though, we have been struggling with continuous punctures, broken gearing and - most problematically - a ripped tyre.
Rrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrripped
40 miles from the nearest town.
We ate doughnuts and debated our options.
I could cycle on and try to get a new one, Jamie could hitch back to the previous town to nab one from a bike he had spied by the roadside or we could attempt to fix it.
Back in Uzbekistan our fantastic and knowledgeable host, Hans Bedowski, told us of the trouble he had while cycling in West Africa. His bike would pick up punctures from Acacia trees, rusty nails and bad road surfaces almost daily. The tyres of the locals would not. One day he asked a friend how he avoided punctures. He was told that he simply needed to line his tyre with goat skin.
Back on the Texan roadside we recalled the tale.
We looked around.
To our left was a deer.
A dead deer…
And right next to the deer a handily sized, tough yet flexible piece of rubber.
Using the remnants of our Iranian super glue, Jamie stuck it to the inside of his tyre. 10k later, as the pressure began to build and the rip widen, we found a new bit and tried again. And again. Eventually setting up camp before continuing at a snails pace (aka ‘the speed I am happy to fly off at if it explodes’) this morning.
Thankfully finding a replacement in the local hardware store, we raced to get as close to Austin as possible this afternoon.
But the terrain was pitted against us.
It has been hills all the way and it will be more of the same tommorrow.
But we will make it.
Sometime.
Somehow.
There will be much over consumption of mulled wine.
And a few days off.
We are planning to do a spot of resting, a touch of relaxing and a soupcon of mischief making.
We will also be working on a bumper ‘2009 in pictures’ post though so keep an eye out for that. It’s going to rock. Though I am demanding we include photo’s in which I do not look like a: Shrek b: a hobbit or c: a b-boy wannabe with no coordination, skill or sense of shame. (See Jamie’s last blog on health if you have managed to miss those delights. Thanks Jamie. I see you failed to include photographic evidence of your spider bite on the… ahem…)
Anyway, I had better get some sleep before our mammoth hill based bonanza in the morning but before I do - just one last thing.
Our challenge was to cycle 12,000 miles round the world promoting solar energy. We still have about 1,500 to go before we hit Miami and head home but it may be the case that - since I was left in charge of route planning - we have already done about 11,700…
So should you, in a preemptive and festive display of generosity, want to make a donation to SolarAid, the charity for which we are fundraising, please do not let me stand in your way… Actually, if you did try to do this in the last couple of months the link was not working so please accept my apologies. But do try again. http://www.justgiving.com/thesolarcyclediaries
And also - of course - have an absolutely amazing Christmas!
Susie xx
December 24th, 2009 at 3:36 am
Hi Sis - glad you are getting some R&R over Xmas!!
Tried to call you yesterday and left a message (I called at 1pm here like you said but I guess you were sleeping?)
If you get chance, drop me a line at some point over Xmas - it may be easier for you to call me as I probably won’t be:
a) hurtling down a scree slope backwards
b) skinning a dead deer for ‘parts’
c) breakdancing on my head after drinking a vat of wine (scractch that one - it is fairly possible actually)
d) attempting to explain to a gun toting texan that I am not a taliban spy (’on accounts of you bein so darned underfed an’ all…I knows whit an amorican looks like darnit and it aint likes yoose twoos’ )
e) being beaten to a pulp by Jamie for ‘accidently forgetting’ about the extra 1000 miles you now appear to need to cycle
If I don’t hear from you then Happy Holidays!!! (as they say in the US in a manner designed to provoke the gag reflex in all non yanks…)
Take care
love
Pete
December 24th, 2009 at 3:52 am
Wishing you a happy and relaxing Christmas and hopefully less punctures in the new year. Good on you two…….Love Dad……(Mick)
December 24th, 2009 at 11:02 am
We’ve done the journey you are on now but in an air conditioned car. Still glad to hear you are still plodding on. Wishing you a very happy Christmas. Hope you get some rest and some booze. Have a good new year. Well done both of you for doing so well so far. Last lap soon. Good luck Best wishes from all at Merry Lodge, including new baby Molly. xxxxxx Jane..
December 25th, 2009 at 2:00 am
Happy, happy, happy christmas!
Hope you both have a lovely christmas, well done so far…… if you take a detour to New York you can round it up to 15000 miles. Put your feet up and have a mince pie or two.
Take it easy!
Riky, Sarah, Lily and Rosie.
December 25th, 2009 at 8:02 am
Hiya kids ~ Have a wonderful Christmas xxx
Glad you made it ok to Austin!!! Fantastic … Loads of Love to you ~ (….and all other bloggers!!! xxxxxxxxx Anna xxxxxxx
December 25th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
Merry Christmas both. Hope you’re having a great time and not resorting to carrion for xmas lunch.
I think my only experience of Susie navigating was with her in the boot of a Metro reading a street map by the flame of a lighter. “This road seems to go all the way there, and it doesnt leave the page either”. I’m not surprised you’re a little over the expected milage!!
All the best for the final leg. Looking forward to more stories.
December 27th, 2009 at 9:40 am
Hi Kids
Nearly there, just acrossed America then home its been a long ride. I hope you both had a nice Christmas even though you were not with your family, we have had a nice Christmas albeit quite. Saw your mum last night Jamie, she is looking well. We both had a hold of Ben’s new baby he is gorgeous. Lewis organised a fun quiz,Tamlyn took over as quiz master, it was good fun. Tamlyn and Paul are off to News Zealand tomorrow so we are dog sitting for the next two and half weeks. Its mainly for work, as one of her artists is producing material for the new Lord of the Rings film, we are both extremely envious.
No more news be in touch soon.
Love Barry & Val
February 2nd, 2010 at 8:49 pm
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