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Published: October 2nd 2006
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Nick:
After our last update, we spent 2 hours riding along at a constant angle to allow for the constant wind. Ever noticed how if you stick your head out of a moving car, you can't breath? Well we had that for two hours thanks to said wind. My intercostal muscles are now well 'ard!!
Our journey destination was the remote Dairy farm of Marahue on the banks of the Rio Colorado, home to the parents of Emily, our friend in BA. We had been warned about the road, but I still adhered to the theory that it'll all work out.
Well we reached the small town of Pedro Luro, turned left as indicated and then left again. I shortly applied the brakes and brought the bike to a stop. We had done 500 mtrs of the 30km of this road and I was already collecting the teeth that the road surface had loosened, in the palm of my hand for later consolidation. Not good.
Suffice to say that the going was slow as my first foray into off-roading unfolded. I lost count after the 6th near cardiac arrest as the 450kg bike squirmed and almost spat us off.
The aftermath:
damn your eyes Newton and your "gravity" The surface was sporadically firm, but often gravel and worse still, sand. Riding a bike on sand is a little like trying to roller blade on jelly.
After about 19km, we threw in the towel and Kristina got off and walked, whilst I rode on slowly. At this point one of the of the farm's owners, Rosie, passed us in the car and it was somewhat encouraging that we at least had the right road. She agreed to pick up Kristina on the way back. So on we went and light started to fail. I stopped for a breather and I was approached by a curious cow....Whilst trying to strike up a conversation I was then passed by a tractor whose passenger looked alarmingly like Kris. It seems that feminne wiles had paid off and she got a lift. So I followed...slowly... Things were going well for a while but visibility was limited to the veil of light my lamps could project so I did not see the sand trap ahead of me until I was in it... The front dug in and twisted as it had done before and I fought tooth and nail, but to no avail,
Worth the discomfort
to see this little dude popping to say "Hello World!" the rear wheel, driven by the motor made a fierce attempt to over take me and succeeded and I went down. Not fast, but not elegantly either and momentarily the weight of my bike was transferred through my footpeg into the meaty mass that is my right calf muscle..."I say, that smarts a bit, eh what" Fortunately, minutes later, after I had made a number of attempts to shift the bike by even an inch, a car arrived driven by Karen, the fiancee of Emily's brother, Diego. She went for help and I drank water to stave of the blood clots and gangrene I was already deciding were inevitable. Help arrived in the form of two pick-ups and three farmers (Emily's family) who no doubt do bicep curls with tractor wheels. Under their instruction I rode the bike, once it was upright, up the verge and they then lifted the back and reversed a pick-up under the bike: genius!! It was thus that I arrived at Marahue, not how I had expected, to a wealth of hospitality and good food. My calf swelled to the proportions of a greedy pelican's pouch, but no worse. A good night's sleep and it
Not very blue and with fewer tits...
but the calfs seemed to get some comfort from my presence, too! :) was a lot better. Today was spent forgetting the drama, by walking amonst the cows (one of whom gave birth under our noses...figuratively speaking) and going for a long walk nature watching (there is a lot to watch, even ducks, which those who know me will know is a good thing). Tomorrow we depart, and I hope my lessons learnt will get us back to tarmac in one piece: time will tell, but either way this has been
so worth it!! If the kaleidoscope of colours I expect to see on my leg, meet expectations, I may even post a piccie...if you're lucky!
Krissu:
To sum this all up: BIKE + SAND= AI-AI-AI! And my worst nightmare - walking cross South-America has become scaringly close to the reality.... The first 5km or so were not bad, though. I was quite enjoying stertching my legs and I saw loads of bats on my way towards the darkness. And then a local tractor driver insisted on giving me a lift: a nice experience, only that I had to hold myself with my teeth and nails on the front wheel cap to save myself falling off from the monstrum! Nick has told you already what happened next. He arrived to the farm elegantly, sitting in a Toyota truck next to the moto :-) I must say that he´s been a really good patient - for a boy :-)
Today was lovely: despite a few drops of rain in the morning we have been in the fields for many times to check out the pregnant cows and yes - IT´S A BOY! Our first cow-baby :-) Rosie showed us many exotic birds in the local bush-area (it seems that all the plantation in SA has thorns/spikes at least 3cm tall!) Whilst Nick was typing up his part of the journal, I helped John and Karen to feed the baby cows. Have you ever seen a cow-mama that is blue and has 21 tits? Well, I have! And I can confirm that the babies love her very much :-)
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Karyn
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Hi guys glad to hear you are surviving the wilds and having fun with the cows. i am now so over the interview thing. i am waiting to hear from ROCHE tomorrow so i can't stop having Steve annoyed by having to speak nicely about me to strange Australians. is great tht you guys are providing such entertaining blogs keep having a great time. big hug KArynx