Trans Americas 2009 - The Blog

What a good idea going to bed so early was. I slept in fits and starts right through until 7am, waking only to get up to stretch and relieve the pain, although I did wake at midnight with a huge cough that had me scream so loud I must have woken the whole hotel. This morning I'm stiff but more mobile than yesterday, so the recovery process continues...

After a big breakfast to make up for not eating last night (2 bowls of cereal, a bowl of strawberries and a yoghurt) I went back to the room and brought the blog up to date. Kevin phoned to tell me my bike would be ready for collecting this afternoon, so I arranged to meet up with the others at 12.30 and get a taxi to the dealer. And that's exactly what we did, settling the bill (about $300) for the service and brake fluid change. The service guy said everything was fine, then just as we were about to leave mentioned that my handlebars didn't point in the same direction as the bike. And he was right, too, as riding it the short distance to the petrol station revealed. The bars are angled so that I'm steering right when going straight, but it's not the bars that are bent, it looks like it's the whole front end of the bike, as the forks and yokes are at the same angle as the bars, whilst the wheel is pointing straight. I rode it gingerly back to the hotel and parked it in the underground carpark, where it will have to wait until tomorrow when Jeff and Kevin are back before we can start trying to fix it. It's so bad to ride I'm not sure that in its present condition it can continue, which is naturally a major cause for concern...

The rest of the day was spent relaxing and doing very little, before meeting up with Julia and some others to go out to dinner with an Irish journalist that has joined us for the last leg of the journey. I don't feel much like socialising, but go along anyway. The meal was very good and despite the group consuming the usual vast quantities of mojitos I managed to stick to just a couple of glasses of wine, determined to give my body the best chance to recover. The journalist (Finn, but I don't know how to spell it) seems ok, but I can't help but wonder what story he's after here – surely if he wants to write about a long motorcycle trip he should do the whole thing, as one of the most challenging aspects of this trip is the sheer time away? Then again, if he wants to experience a 5-week journey to the southern most road, why not join the Patagonia group who are doing just that? Whatever reason, let's hope he gets a real sense of what this trip has been about...

Back at the hotel I turn in straight away and try to sleep. My mind is constantly running through the scenarios regarding my bent bike, and none of them look good. Let's hope Jeff can work some special van-man magic on it so I can finish the trip... it would be a crying shame after all I've put myself through these last few days if it was to end now...