Recumbent Journey

A tour for peace, freedom, love, wisdom

View Proposed Route to Asia in a larger map

The Journey

A proposed journey to Asia by recumbent, avoiding earthquake zones and nucleur reactor fallout, to somewhere, then to somewhere else, maybe almost certainly starting from here, or there, or somewhere else, or maybe certainly things can and surely will change. No timescale, no budget, but big dreams are the fuel that will pedal me far.

Azub..the perfect bike.

Azub

The journey begins

Without pointing too much blame in anyone direction, it quickly become clear that I spoke to the wrong people who advised me badly for my choice of `bike No.2` and of the options that were available and advised to us. The Azub Ibex, although a great bike in itself was in fact not ideal for the type of journey I was wanting to make.


BikeNo.2



   

Within a few test rides I had already fallen off and realised that the under seat steering was very vulnerable, taking full impact with every fall, whereby the Magura brakes that I had been advised were the best were in fact very very powerfull, but also very vulnerable and difficult to repair if broken. Because of their position on the end of the under steering bars, they were protruding too much from the handlebars and were damaged on two occasions, the last which completely destroyed them.
These hydraulic lines cannot be joined if broken; the metal fittings were of unusual thread; special bleeding tools needed to be carried, all making this system vulnerable and very difficult to repair.

Simplicity and practicality is a must.

Various modifications to the original expedition luggage carrying became obvious, the heavy items being best situated as low and as central to the geometry as possible, having less impact on the stability and handling, so the space between the wheels under the steering looked very practical, so with ideas that my friend had also developed, many hours was spent fabricating brackets and bits of aluminium, to extend the carriers to this part of the bikes geometry, which proved to be a perfect ride when tested for the first time.

After all the work, testing and fabricating we were close to realising what we should have considered right at the start of our bike enquiry….we should have spoken directly to someone who knew what they were doing! Azub directly.

Finally we contacted Azub to let them know about our experiences and alterations that we felt was needed for our journey, they were at first a little confused about our modifications, our needs and our overall disappointment with our bikes, as we expressed ourselves that we felt they were not the perfect bikes that we had expected for such an investment.

They immediately informed us that in no way would they have advised us on such a choice of bike and components for such a journey that we were hoping to do, we should have contacted them at the start. Azub were genuinely upset for our delay and extra cost to our plans, so they invited us to visit them in the Czech Republic, whereby they would help us to put together a strong bike exactly suitable for our needs.

Already impressed with this helpful attitude it was further elevated after arriving at their factory to be welcomed by what I would describe as a family run business, passionate and dedicated to the product and its customers, their statement from their web site really does reflect this attitude.



fabricating the new `low rider` luggage carriers



Azub5...or maybe Azub6?

I am humble and eternally grateful for this experience and now with their help I do indeed have the best bike for my adventure coming shortly in April.

Thank you especially to Honza who had the task of taking care of our needs, putting up with us, inviting us into their homes and listening to all our crazy ideas and finally for advising us correctly.

A big thank you to all the team at Azub for their patience whilst we were there using all their tools, equipment, parts, the bad smells as fish and guests do after three days…!

Just a perfect bike now and a pleasure to have met you all, memories that will carry me far.

Thank you.



Left to right..Myself, Melanie, Fabien



My wheel being built

Talking with Honza about our needs

Azub 5 taking shape

Now all we need to do is just ride.....

Road trip to Azub, Chezch Republic

I have never visited Eastern Europe before, images of grey, depressing concrete buildings illuminated under a grey sky, populated with people with spirits broken from recent Communist hardships, was never an inspiring place for me to visit before, but as most things that are not actually experienced, we project images of what might be that are not accurate.

The opportunity to visit the Azub factory in the Czech republic, gave me the chance to break this illusion. Even seeing these places in the grey wintery conditions that we experienced at this time of the year, did reveal a brighter side to my imagination, of countryside, mountains, great architecture, innovative designs and truly lovely, warm welcoming people.

My feelings were that they are all enjoying the freedom and economic opportunities that are the result of the collapse of Communism. People are happy to have work, food and drink is still relatively cheap for them so at least these basics in life are accessible for most, whilst luxuries are very much out of reach for most people, thus keeping people humble and not creating preoccupied consumers of heavily marketed luxuries that I am used to seeing from my part of the world, which only seems to bring us sadness instead of happy, easier lives.

The less that people have in their lives seems to give them more time for each other, and remain more human. This has been my experience also whilst travelling through many parts of Asia, the poorest of them being the most open and sincere. If only we all could remain humble without the poverty involved that produces this condition? Then I think the world would not be so much out of balance as it is today and the resources used more wisely.

Auchwitz, Poland

What can I say about this place that could possibly describe the enormity and scale of horror that words struggle to penetrate.

But as I struggled to comprehend it all and fight back the tears in disgust of my own humanity that breeds such hatred towards others, it becomes obvious to me that this is just scratching the surface to many other horrors that are less publicised, that have happened and are still happening today. We can cry for these poor souls who have suffered and for the relatives who still remember and continue to suffer, for me it reflects my distaste for all kinds of racism and intolerance of other people that appear different to us, whilst we still have these divisions within our minds then we are still causing and attributing to such horrors that happened in this place. We all must stop judging and dividing each other and become one human, humane, caring, intelligent species.

Freiburg, Germany

A truly inspiring place of ecology, design and the ability to be able to live all together without judging or discriminating each other. From super modern apartments to people living in vans, tepee, Yurt, there is a bit of everything, people have been given the freedom to live the way they feel correct for them, based on their personal economy and various philosophies they have integrated with each other perfectly.

The city is designed with correct proportion of space allocated for every need of social requirements, enough green open areas between buildings, play areas, parking areas, recreation, cycle paths everywhere.

The overall atmosphere is obvious, if you respect all these basic needs of society then most of the common problems that we experience in other cities are removed, if you remove the cause of peoples frustration, anxieties instead of punishing them then you create a well balanced, self directed society. It is so obvious if you think about it, all people want to do is raise their families in a safe, happy environment, they don’t want to be violent or addicted to harmful chemicals, these are just the result of frustration and escapism, again we often do not address these problems at the source, instead governments try to punish, dominate, dictate to us what and how we should live. Give the power to the people and all they want to do is live happy, safe peaceful lives.

I watched for some time just looking at people going about their daily routines, even the cars driving seemed to be driven peacefully, no sudden accelerating or braking, no stress, people walking casually, not rushing, polite, helpful, it was really obvious to see everyone was peaceful and content.

We stayed with people we met through the couch surfing organisation, 9 people living in a shared community, who confirmed how well they worked together and within this environment.

I was very surprised to find a city in my lifetime that I could say I would not mind living in, as I am more inclined to live within nature and open spaces. I would like to think this is the future that will be able to contain our growing population, that will be integrated for other developing places. Here is a working model of how we all can live together with different cultures, religions, ideas, sharing and learning from each other without discrimination or fear.

Auchwitz

Auchwitz, Poland

What can I say about this place that could possibly describe the enormity and scale of horror that words struggle to penetrate.

But as I struggled to comprehend it all and fight back the tears in disgust of my own humanity that breeds such hatred towards others, it becomes obvious to me that this is just scratching the surface to many other horrors that are less publicised, that have happened and are still happening today. We can cry for these poor souls who have suffered and for the relatives who still remember and continue to suffer, for me it reflects my distaste for all kinds of racism and intolerance of other people that appear different to us, whilst we still have these divisions within our minds then we are still causing and attributing to such horrors that happened in this place. We all must stop judging and dividing each other and become one human, humane, caring, intelligent species.

the bikes


Bike No.1 Raleigh Detour Delux

A nice bike which I dressed up with all the relevant equipment, carriers, bags, bottles, spares, welded and braced the frame because of all the extra weight and set off on a few short test rides, enjoying the sensation of travelling autonomous, but always finishing the day with a sore ass that no matter how many seats, suspension seat posts I tried, never seemed to give any relief. I found that beyond 50km my comfort could not be maintained and was just a matter of will and endurance after that, which is not fun and finally I decided travelling everyday like this would soon lose its romance.

Bike No. 2 Azub recumbent

I talked with a good friend of mine...Fabien, who would love to talk to anyone for hours and hours and hours if you have any technical queries about the Azub recumbent, Roholf or Magura braking system...you can contact him through his travel blog at Reality Slow where he may even delay his travelling plans even further...! to talk with you about anything at all for hours and hours and hours......sorry private joke! anyway I talked for hours and hours about this problem with Fabien, who was also thinking of travelling this way and had been looking into recumbents, so after researching the available models and designs and trying a 'condor' for the first experience, proved to be very inspiring. Immediately I could imagine travelling long distances this way, very comfortably and more importantly no more sore ass…!

We came upon another brand Azub which seemed to be more substantial, its design being conceived specifically for touring very long distances. With the help of  Cyclable in Toulouse,  they ordered three for our little group that was emerging at the time. Then it was a long three months twiddling fingers and waiting impatiently for these bikes that were to carry us away on our dreams.

The time finally arrived, they had been hand built to our specification and were waiting to be picked up from the shop, who were also wanting the final payment to be made. I had invested all of my travelling money that I had been saving, which could have flown me to numerous destinations worldwide, so this bike was going to have to work very well to justify this.

The handling!

Once the initial 'getting used to it' was over which involved a very embarrassing start from the shop, we arrived there early in the morning, stayed all day talking about how it all worked and setting things up, to set off at a sensible time of 7.30pm, dark, heavy traffic, cold with about 50 km to make. Like professional travellers we mounted our bikes, took photos because this was where it all starts, clipped our new shoes into the pedals and…….crash…..fell sideways with my feet still securely clipped in, yes the bikes and these clips do require a bit of getting used to, but a few more wobbly moments and cars giving s a good wide berth, we were off.

Yes they take a bit of practice and at first and I was not too sure if I had made a mistake or not, but now with a new set of recumbent leg muscles, which have quickly grown now after 600 km of testing, I have no doubt it will prove to be a great way to travel. I can easily cycle 120km with more weight than before, with an average speed of 15 – 19kmh.

I love it, the more I ride it the better it gets.

For a good long chat.....Mon ami blog Reality Slow

Why travel?

The first time I travelled far away from home was a relief I suppose to the boredom and routine of our over stimulated and comfortably lifestyles, that promotes us to do stupid things like I have continued to do, since my first trip to Sri Lanka which opened up the world of travelling to me.
Shortly afterwards I found myself to set foot in India for the first time….which quickly helped me to get over any personal problems I had at this time, when I realised to even to have the freedom to be able to choose, in the name of fun and entertainment is a bit of a wake up when you realise the freedom and choices we have, compared to what we see when travelling.

The first few times it is easy to get into the usual tourist traps and vices that these places offer, but very quickly it changed the way I see things, it really is the best education you can get. The more differences I see in culture, the more questions it leaves me with and the more I saw myself, the more I thought about everything. There is no one way to live, many ways to live, to think and to act, what is 'normal'? so much prejudice, so much  hate and intolerance, because we humans make divisions, divisions cause friction which causes many atrocities in our history past and present.

Travelling opens up this void for me and made me realise how we judge without true knowledge without experience. Normally we just see ideas and information through third party information, filtered and edited for effect, until you decide to turn it off and go look for yourself.

Travelling makes me humble.

I hold dear in my heart the many simple, financially poor but rich individuals that have shown me so much humanity, love and hope.

I decided travelling with a bike this time will have less impact and deliver the more real experiences than the way I have travelled before. I travel because I do not know what else to do that will deliver me from this capitalistic, destructive, greedy, wasteful human race.
With this very much in mind I hope to find and learn about other ways to live, simple, low impact, economical, healthy living. I want to use the woofing organisation  as stop off points during the journey, to learn about organic farming and how it is managed in various climates and conditions.
Life is a journey of discovery, so rich now with the available knowledge, we have no excuse not to be living healthier, happier and more free.....

Love, light, peace, freedom.

a bit of politics

Hi everyone….yes  its nearly Christmas, so here is my cheerfull, Christmas Eve message


A summary of this year for me.

The world is changing.

Nature is changing.

Politics and attitude towards life needs to change because it does and is effecting us all, we are suffering, the economy and the planet is suffering, maybe war or some overdue imbalance of this planet is inevitable based upon what I feel and what I have learnt about.
I did not make it to the UK as I planned for Christmas, mother nature came up with her own itinery that I had to take heed of, with arctic conditions, currently still many people are stranded and roads blocked.

The gulf stream is slowing down as predicted ten years ago, which will cause great extremes of temperatures, the UK and this part of Europe will have more of these conditions that they are being experiencing today and are evolving towards Russian winters.
Some of this is a part of a natural cooling/warming cycle of the planet, but it is not helped by our attitude towards nature thinking we can keep taking from her and abusing the balance.
Politics, greed and the struggle to survive because of huge, unfair differences between countries and the imbalance of resources is effecting a beautifull, natural world that is dying.
Many people are forced to abuse their surroundings, because they have forgotten what it is all about. Or are forced to prostitute themselves and their natural surroundings for the exchange of currency. Capatalism destroys, exploits, abuses this world.
We must realise that without nature, nothing can continue to exist.
We must start to give back instead of taking.
The Kogi Indians are the last caretakers of this world, a fascinating, ancient civilisation, our elder brothers who have been living with nature very closely for thousands of years in perfect balance, living simple lives only taking what they need, yes we all cannot live like these people, but they have a huge knowledge of the natural world, they understand very well the importance of respect and balance within it, it is the key to how they have managed to survive to this day after decades of persecution by invaders looking to rape and plunder the natural, rich resources of this area. They have been forced to retreat now to live high up in the Venisualian mountains where they have had to refine their skills with nature even further to be able to survive in these harsh conditions. They are more competent than our most highly educated scientists who today are trying to learn as much as they can from these native Indians, but unfortunately because they have been persecuted and hunted so much they are too distrusting of our world, as they see the harm and experience the effects that we are doing, they seem to know everything that is happening and going to happen, they have a complex, highly advanced language which is based around emotion, sounds which telepathically describe huge concepts and realisations, an advanced way of communicating which they implement to debate and divine  the correct  decisions in organising their community and living with nature. They communicate with us on a lower level using a form of Spanish, they have sent a final message to us, in very simply terms that we can understand, to say we must listen to them we must understand that we are destroying the delicate balance of nature, the planet is dying.

The Kogi own nothing, they have no concept of ownership as they live as a community with a common objective to care for the land that in return cares for them and educates them about the nature of all things. Everything is shared and worked for together. Nothing to steal or to be jealous or fearful of. Imagine that?
Glaciers are retreating. I have been lucky enough to see with my own eyes, in the Everest region, Kumba valley just two years ago, I compared a photograph that was taken just seven years ago, about a third of the glacier had dissapeared. This is when you experience what it feels like to burn yourself for the first time, no one can describe it until you actually experience it, things are accelerating towards a big crash. These glaciers feed and enrich the valleys below that are now getting dryer and dryer, eventually they will become dry arrid desserts, no trees mean no air.
The Kogis are seeing the same things effecting their region of the Amazon, if this place dies everything will follow.
The Amazon rain forest, feeds the planet with vital air for us to breathe, we cannot survive without this forest. Politics have caused such poverty and greed in this region that the people living there have compromised this natural balance by cutting and selling the wood. The resources are getting dangerously low, scientists and the Kogis have predicted what will happen if it continues, nature globally will die, desserts and poisonous air to breathe is the future.

Just a fraction of what is happenning, because of lack of vision and greed.
Its easy not to believe it, its easy to think it will not be in our lifetime so why bother to think about it, it is easy to have fun instead, its easy to not have the energy because of our stressfull, complicated lifestyles, its easy to let our own personal goals and desires take priority, its easy to think what difference can I make, but if one person can make just one other person think and act differently, then that person could influence someone else and the effect will be expodential and global.
Travelling and living very much outdoors although it started out as entertainment and a way to find myself again has made me more aware of nature, and unfortunately made me think about politics, which I never wanted to know about, but because of the questions it leaves me with when seeing all the suffering and imbalance in this world, that is actually happening now and will effect all of our futures and our childrens future, if we allow these ideas to even exist in our minds, without questioning it all, then that in itself is allowing it to continue.  I don’t write to people to provoke or disturb them, or to make them think I am better than them, I have learnt that I am nothing and very happy to realise this, to let go of my own stupid petty egotistical pursuits of pleasure, entertainment and distractions. I do write to somehow justify within myself this imbalance that I have experienced, that this time of year magnifies the waste and imbalance of it all even more. I do believe it and I do care about this world. I would like to think it can change, it needs to change, it just needs seeds to grow in human minds, some experience, a thought, a concept to take hold from within, then what is within also becomes outside.

To have a sense of something bigger than our own narrow view of the world.

We are spirits living in a material world.

Mother nature is our only source of security and comfort.
We are all one, no matter what colour, race, religion. “I and I” the Rastafarian refer to each other, I like this idea they make no difference of you, me, I, so you become I, we are both the same.

Kogi Indian message