I’m as resourceful as anyone when it comes to figuring out plausible excuses (and creative rationalizations) not to lead a conventional life. But I doff my hat to Gwendall Castellan and Tania Lo, the brain trust (and muscle power) behind the Antipodes Expedition. What the hell is it? Oh, just a 23,000 km bike trip/adventure/online project/reason to spend a lot of time in little towns with great tequila. The idea is to bicycle from Ushuaia, Argentina (at the southern end of South America) to Inuvik, in the Great White North of Canada. Not sure if these two geographical points are true antipodes (which are two points opposite one another on the globe; draw a line from Point 1 through the center of the earth and out to the other side, or Point 2. Points 1 and 2 are antipodes). Anyhow, geography arcana aside, these guys are posting great trip reports and a blizzard of funny, moving and beautiful pictures. They are in Mexico now, and have been on the road (picking up a few other team members along the way) for more than a year. They hope to be in Inuvik by late summer (that will be an interesting race against frigid temperatures). Here’s one of their reports:
“On the road at our speed, we hear of many others doing similar trips on bikes as well. Gwendal started over a year ago in Ushuaia two weeks after this speedy spaniard and it wasn’t until Cartagena, Colombia that we met him for the first time. Most often, the chance encounters happen as we cross another cyclo-tourist(s) going the opposite direction. This usually entailes some happy smiles at the parallel world we can immediately relate to even with a complete stranger. A few curious stares at their rig (bike and baggage systems) and we’re off as the hours are short when there’s a destination to be had before sunset. This one particular early morning leaving Tuxtla Guiterrez to avoid the heat, we were met by some police officers excitedly warning us of three cyclists a half an hour before us, heading in the same direction.
Feeling weary from Gwendal’s sun allergies, my quadricep aching and the recent chiapan hills, we thought it improbable to catch this intrepid group probably 10kms ahead of us. They even got up before we did! To our surprise they waved us down a few turns later at the Pemex (gas station).
The six of us rode two-by-two switching conversing partners after every break for the next few weeks. As we found out, it takes many stories to catch up to over a year on the road. Gwendal had briefly met Marcel and Maria on the Carreterra Austral in Chile over 10,000 kms ago but only for a short 20min visit (they were going opposite directions then). Dominic, their third and newest member, had recently joined them in Guatemala city hoping to make it to Mexico city for his one-month hiatus from BC’s strange winter/spring.
Much more experienced world-cyclers, we were able to gain many useful, and subtle to the untrained eye, tips such as eating cold oats in the morning. A trick which speeds up the routine by at least 17 minutes. All minutes and especially grams are counted and shed in order to make the most of the treasured hours off the saddle. We did acquire their mirrors and found some kick-stands that somehow had eluded us until now. Safety is always first, especially on the highways when the buses seem to sneek up on us as their engines are at the back. You can’t hear them until they are streaking by your left shoulder sending a rush of tense adrenaline through your remaining senses. We were able to show them a trick or two ourselves, like keeping waterbottles cooler with wet socks and the virtues of carrying a pressure cooker at altitude.”
Hmmm. If a waterbottle will stay cooler in a wet sock, what about a beer bottle…
“Heh-heh. Butch Cassidy and Sundance had nothing on us…”
The Earthist Chronicles 