#jupiterstravels

In #paris at the #eiffeltower during my European #vespatour through 32 countries ! #vespa #travel #roadtrip #adventure #adventurerider #moped #scooter #mofa #tedsimon #jupiterstravels #julesverne #traveler #biker #motorcycle #motorbike #rtw #roundtheworld #traveling #blogger (hier: Eiffel Tower) https://www.instagram.com/p/BtnhUYgASHs/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=179ozuo4ebjpi

Watson’s theory of motorbiking #1. All boys want to be cowboys. When I was a child my brother and I played cowboys; one Shooto, the other Poco. At this distance I’ve no memory of who was who but the arms of our sturdy sofa became the horses on which we rode the range and tamed the Wild West. In time the Lone Ranger became the Virginian, who in turn gave way to the Magnificent Seven and any number of Clint Eastwood films. Sofas became bikes and bikes became mortorbikes but along the way I never lost my love of cowboy films. There’s a direct link to the romantic loner on his travels; the outlaw on the fringe of society.

Four days off and #amazon delivers the goods just in time! Some great reading ahead. Since hearing @elspethbeard on @adventureriderradio podcast ive very badly wanted to read #lonerider an amazing person with an extraordinary story! @tedsimonfoundation #jupiterstravels not sure why ive never read this before! #cantwait #summerreading (at Sheffield, Tasmania) https://www.instagram.com/p/Bs-XL4uHRKi/?utm_source=ig_tumblr_share&igshid=1fsbp9jypv6x9

The road to Chile was fantastic, easily one of the best rides/roads of the trip. It was more pleasant due to the company of my mechanic friend for the start of the ride and fellow motorbike adventurers for the later parts. I saw more riders on the stretch of road from Mendoza to Chile than I have the rest of the trip. Most waved or flashed their lights, it's a nice little community and a good way to lift the spirits. The border wasn't too much of a hassle, I spent the time talking with a rider whom had risen from Alaska. He had been held up at gunpoint and slept out side in Uyuni when he couldn't find accommodation (it's well brow zero at night). It was good to exchange horror stories and I now strongly believe that having someone to debrief and deconstruct the days event with would have completely changed my experience. That night I found lodging in another sex motel. The hostess advised 'this is for couples', I assured her that I knew that and I just needed a place to sleep. Because it is a sex motel, you pay for 12 hours at a time. As Chile is insanely expensive compared to its neighbours (almost on par with Australia), I headed off after my 12 hour stay. This was at 6:00 am, so it was cold, foggy and dark. I assumed the fog would leave when the sun came up. I assumed wrong. I was riding in fog and cloud for the better part of eight hours. High and low once again shown in consecutive days. I had a nice few days in La Serena. It is a large beach town; however, the weather didn't allow for me to enjoy said beach. I instead went to a museum and to an space observatory, both were very interesting and rather awe inspiring. In between the museum observatory I had lunch on the beach, I picked a nice looking restaurant and paid the price. An expensive meal which was by far the best thing I have eaten on the trip. The next morning I headed off, I'm ashamed to say that I lost my cool over a very trivial matter, not finding a place to buy oil. It's something that shouldn't have resulted in such an outburst. I had a five hour ride to assess my temperament. I have always had a short fuse, but it is something that I had changed to a regular level, something that had rarely been seen. Now it was worse than ever before, on basically no leash. If I can go from my best meal and stargazing to losing it over not immediately finding an oil merchant, I had troubling issues. Troubling issues that I hope are attributed to the roller-coaster of emotions that I am experiencing on the trip and not something that I will bring home with me. If the only thing that I learn from this trip is how to blow up for no reason, then I will be incredibly disappointed in myself. When I finished my long ride and internal review, I found a beautiful little town on the coast to stay at. I have taken to reading blogs and books by adventure riders, in particular the holy grail 'Jupiter's Travels'. There are words of advice that I wish I had lodged in my brain prior to setting off. 'What happened on the way, who I met, all that was incidental. I had not quite realized that the interruptions were the journey.' It also shows a great gulf between his travels in the '70's and my current trip. For him it was proper adventure; disconnect from all those he loved, immersion in other cultures which were intrigued and excited by his appearance. My trip has been tarnished by my tainted existence, a reliance of technology and the information ages watering down of public curiosity. There is a section in which the author Ted Simons describes five days of travel on a road similar to that in which I had my major meltdown. He had numerous crashes and countless more hours on the hellish surface; however, he brushed himself off and continued. I initially thought he was more man for not being broken by his circumstances. Yet it was his circumstances that kept him going, he was on basically a paid trip and something he had prepared long and hard for. I don't think that I have had a successful adventure, nor do I think I have failed at the adventure either. I have a few weeks left and some long stretches of road to have my own epiphany for my voyage, I hope to achieve this, I hope to return a stronger and happier person than I left. Anything else will feel a personal failure.

Day Two Last night I went to bed thinking; thank fuck that day is behind me, tomorrow I will know the weight of the bike and I'll take it easier. One thing I didn't mention in my last post, more due to pride than anything. Is that I dropped the bike twice yesterday; 1. The first time I was trying trying to push the bike back to flat ground, after parking on an incline. Gravity didn't like this idea and down she went. Luckily a helpful stranger lifted with me, or I'm sure the bike would still be there. 2. The second time was when I pulled into my hotel. I was thinking about how sweet it was to be able to relax now. I put down the kick stand and begun to get off. The kick stand was not down fully and the bike began to go forward, eventually falling over again. Once again the help of a stranger saved the day. So when I headed off this morning, I was predominately thinking about how heavy the bike is and how I should handle her so. The bike is officially a she and her name is 'Canyonero' because she handles like a steakhouse and seats 45. For most of the day Canoynero and I were having the best time; the roads were beautiful, the traffic minimal and the corners insane. After being on the bike for about six hours, I took a corner wide. There was no traffic coming my way, but it could just as easily have been. I thought about be stupidity of pushing the bike, when for a small adrenalin rush, I am severely increasing the risk to my life. I was better behaved for a while. I don't know if it's a genuine hatred of traffic or Attention Deficit Disorder showing itself late, but while driving on the most beautiful road yet, I once again pushed my luck. There are many trucks using the roads and I generally can pass with ease. The only issue is that, it's mostly on rather blind corners. I overtook one truck and came around the corner into a truck that had stopped to allow others to pass. Unfortunately my options were the back of the truck, or the front of the oncoming truck. I stupidly tried to gear down; if I had applied only brakes initially, I would have stopped just shy of the truck. Instead I crashed into it. Probably at about 25 or 30 km/h. Luckily due to the height of the truck, the only damage was superficially to the front, one of the panniers breaking and some physical damage to my legs. Oh did I forget my pride, yeah that's completely fucked. I spoke to the truck driver "why didn't you do some Spanish study last night?" I once again had a language barrier that was impenetrable. I motioned for him to move forward and asked of the bike was un rideable, 'if I could chuck it on the back'. I'm certain he understood nothing, but he didn't do a runner which was nice. He pulled slightly away. I started Canyonero up. She's alive, she rides, she looks like she was in the ring with Chris Brown. I waved the truck driver to leave and I continued at close to waking speed until I found a hotel. Tomorrow I will assess the damage and decide whether to continue. On one hand, the riding is amazing and the views are beautiful. On the other, I don't want to die. The reality is, every incident has been my fault. If I was asking for a reality check, I've had one! If I do continue, it will be at the slowest/safest pace that South America has ever seen!