2016.7.15
很多朋友都很期待这个星期五，因为我们的15000km的骑行就要在今天拉开序幕了，内心激动ing。
先来看一下我们的装备：
再来看一下路线，一天时间跨越一座城市：
出发前，车子出了一点小问题，费了一点时间修理。
上路
感谢热情的朋友来为我们送行，期待在某个城市与你们的再次相遇。
晚上11点50到才到天津：
Day 1, Beijing to Tianjian (140km)
Breaks and falls, and breaks…
We may have mentioned before that we’re not the most diligent organizers. It’s not really for want of trying, so much as our pattern is to take on far too much, complicate the hell out of things, discover at the 11th hour that our designs just can’t be realized in the time we have left, and go into a frenzy of makeshift contingency solutions.
The dream was that we built trailers for our bikes, that niftily converted into a little mobile hut for us to sleep in. Such a beautiful dream. We awoke to reality three days before departure, when our prototypes collapsed into a messy heap of expensive sheets of honeycomb polycarbonate and carbon fibre framing pipes.
The Wild West had The Lone Ranger to come to the rescue. China has Taobao. Thousands of dollars and dozens of hours later, we had front-mounting bicycle racks, panniers and a tent, all delivered to our door. By 2am the morning of our departure everything was installed and ready for the last few items of laundry to be dry enough to pack. Except that the load exceeded the weight-bearing capacity of the racks (25kg), so at 6.45am it was off to Walmart for rear racks. By the time our ceremonial farewellers arrived, we were almost ready. And managed to pedal away from our former home within half an hour of our scheduled 9am departure, despite a few minor breakages (entailing a detour past another Walmart).
Tips for beginners: high performance bikes (meant for racing) don’t lend themselves to journeying. Our #swiftcarbon bikes are beautiful, and a pleasure to ride. And they’re fit for purpose, so don’t take typical racks and can’t fit a kickstand. And with 30-something kg aboard, balancing them is — well, let’s just say that between the bikes and me, today there were some tumbles.
Discoveries: cycling for 12 hours isn’t that hard. But bicycle seats are. Frankly, your ass becomes two-thirds numb, and one-third agonizing. We needed occasional breaks for relief. It didn’t take long to recover butt sensation, but every time you start again, it’s just a little harder to get going.
Sustenance: we didn’t have time for breakfast, but bought a couple of chocolate-hazelnut bars at Walmart. Because we’re such health fanatics. We’re carrying protein powder, because it’s light and high density nutrition. The plan for lunch was to mix it into a yoghurt bought from a store halfway through the trip, but I knocked over the bikes (unstable!) and disaster ensured. We salvaged about half a cup of yoghurt each, and mixed the protein powder into it. Delicious, and almost sustaining. So we poured another serving into bottled water, and were pretty satisfied. Our backpacks have bladders that carry 2 liters of water. It wasn’t quite enough for 12 hours, but we replenished with about a further litre each (and a delicious, but strange, hard-instant-noodles-looking Chinese snack — decidedly not health food). By the time we reached Tianjin we were starving. The first option we came across was street food being cooked on a corner — Chinese barbecue, or 串 (chuan). My god, it was delicious, and not just because we were ready to eat our own arms by then.
People: my spectacular bike-to-road gymnastics gave China the opportunity, again, to show its true colors. My first fall was on a busy corner in Beijing’s CBD (yes, about 20 minutes after we got underway). In moments there was a small swarm of concerned passers by, helping me up, picking the bike up, collecting the panniers that were now strewn across the road, and asking if I was okay. Thomas didn’t really get a look-in through the throng.
My second fall was about halfway to Tianjin. Just after Thomas helped me out from under the bike and luggage, a guy materialized out of nowhere, like a fairy godfather, thrusting a small tube of ointment at me and gesturing at the cut in my arm I hadn’t realized I had. Soon after, he was back with some liquid that stung with the power of 47 wasps, explaining in Chinese … ah, something. I’m sure it was very informative, and certainly it was super sincere and thoughtful.
But there’s also a lovely curiosity and encouragement from strangers. We were stopped by a couple of guys on motor scooters (who, to be fair, basically ran us off the road in their eagerness to meet us), for photo opportunities. The same thing happened at the street food place. We were offered beer by strangers, and also asked to pose with them for photos.
In summary, it was an awesome start to our adventure. Some laughter, some frustrations, some triumphs, and a bit of pain — but we’re in high spirits and are surrounded by support.
Bring on Day 2…
“2crazy老外”公众号记录的是2个北京老外15000km北京-巴厘岛骑行之旅的全程直播。
我是Dan，来自新西兰，Thomas来自美国。我们决定辞掉工作，离开刚翻修过的北京四合院，骑行15000km一路向南去印尼的巴厘岛。一路狂飙，一路疯狂！
过程中欢迎你来发起任务，我们会帮你把祝福和礼物带给你的亲人和朋友，即使我们对中文一窍不通！
人生不止苟且，还有诗和远方，加入我们，来一场疯狂之旅，一起挑战不可能，一起去看最美的风景！