Biking is Cool

// August 14th, 2010 // No Comments » // about

Greetings from an oven called Athens..

// August 12th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // about

It’s been a while since i last wrote something on the site.. Since Salzburg we haven’t had many internet oppurtunities; either no internet cafe’s were to be found or they were simply way too expensive (along the coastline of Croatia they ask a staggering 6EUR per hr) All too soon however we will enter the world of el cheapo internet cafe’s so by then we will try to update a bit more frequently (especially the picture part has seen a bit of  a delay.. mainly due to our digital clumsiness how to get them uploaded on our site)

Finally we have arrived in Greece where we allow ourselves a little time off.. Our 2 wheeled beauties are safely parked at a sweet couchsurfer’s garage in Thessaloniki, Shaun is soon going to relax a bit on the island Samothraki and i’m hanging out with some old friends in Athens (hence the title of this post, i am feeling like a roasted turkey) I am enjoying however to not be on a bike for a while.. There is a feeling of being impatient for something, itchy legs and an appetite for new impressions, but its only a matter of time for that feeling to disappear and become a lazy dog again…..

Since my last update in Salzburg quite a lot has passed. After Salzburg we had a very enjoyable yet very tough going through the Austrian Alps.  Till the Alps we hadn’t yet experienced any serious climbing (apart from a few hills in Germany but that was peanuts really) so it took a bit of adjustment to tackle them monsters. Going up with an average of 5km/hr and cruising down with 60km/hr.. It’s worth the struggle! I experienced Austria as a pleasant country to cycle around. Plenty of amazing sceneries and an abundance of nice small country backroads with hardly any nasty traffic (except for the roads thru the Alps which need to be shared with cars ‘n trucks)

After Austria we got to what would become our favorite country so far; Slovenia! Its a small ‘n cozy country with a beautiful nature, mellow cities and most importantly; some of the most friendliest people we have come across on our trip so far. Unfortunately we only got to see a little bit of Slovenia (Maribor, Ljubljana and some spots in between) but we are both sure about returning one day to taste a little more.. From Slovenia we rolled into Croatia and surprisingly enough no harrassing at the customs as usually is the case (we met some Belgians who were less fortunate.. they got catched because they found a tiny dot of weed in a guitarcase.. most hilarious was when they asked them what a condom was for and if it had been used before..) It was all pretty much downhill all the way to Rijeka on the Adriatic Sea. We cycled to the island of Krk (manouvred ourselves over a bridge) where we experienced our first night of thunderstorms and refreshing showers. As Shaun mentioned already in his post, we love to have clean bodies and undies so we took the oppurtunity to take a shower in the rain and have our undies washed.. From Krk we went to the island of Cres where we spent a few days to cycle from North to South and took the ferry from Malin Losinj to Zadar. We enjoyed having seen some islands but the downside is that the prices are in general more expensive and the tourism is so densely concentrated that it becomes a bit obnoxious.

Zadar to Dubrovnik in the very South left me with mixed feelings; some of the coastline sceneries are jaw-droppingly beautiful and worth a visit without doubt. What left me a bit annoyed is the package-deal tourism on the way (dull looking families and everything focussed on getting pennies out of the tourists.. which does not say i necessarily blame them for doing so) and the aggressive traffic on the narrow roads that need to be shared along the coast.

After Dubrovnik we finally crossed into another country: Montenegro. This little mountain state only recently gained independence from Serbia but has had it’s eyes fixed on the West for quite some time already. Shortly after the collapse of Yugoslavia, Montenegro wanted to be free from it’s bigger brother Serbia and among some of it’s deeds was to abandon the Serbian currency (Dinar) and adopting the German Mark. Nowadays the official currency is the Euro although Montenegro is by no means included in the Eurozone. Anyway, just like Croatia there are some amazing sceneries to be spotted and the tourism is also of quite another degree.. Whereas Croatia is mainly catering to Western tourists, Montenegro is mainly focused on local tourism. Local tourism means that it’s gotta be done the Balkan way. What’s the Balkan way? Make it very noisy, very kitsch and add cheap booze to it and you got some of the main ingredients. I observed that many people, also the oldies,  rather go and sit on a cramped polluted little beach right next to some megaspeakers with hardcore techno, than to find a quiet spot somewhere where they can enjoy calm and peace. I recall how on one night i was lying in my hammock and far far away i saw a little boat with a couple on it.. They were enjoying the romantic view of a sunset.. as well as the loudest version of “a total eclips of the heart” i have ever heard.. I’d say that’s quite a Balkan way to do it……. (as well as the rounds of fire of a Kalashnikov we heard from our hammocks at some far away wedding party)

From Crna Gora into Shqiperie or from Montenegro into Albania. Finally leaving the slavic countries behind us for a few days to explore the homeland of the Illyrians. I have been in Albania a couple of times and each visit the country seems to be making some progress although not in all fields and it certainly doesn’t apply to all regions. My first 2 visits mainly involved visiting the capital Tirana which nowadays seem to have become a flourishing city nowadays with a vibrant nightlife and the mayor Edi Rama, a former artist, who did an amazing job turning boring ugly looking flats into true pieces of art (google his name for more info and great pics of some of the flats) Back in the days when i was there there were potholes in the road everywhere and enormous heaps of garbage pretty much on every corner of the street. This is something which nowadays fortunately belongs to the past for Tirana. Unfortunately that can’t be said for most of Albania. Its hard actually to get a grip on Albania at all. On the one hand one can see a vast amount of luxuruous cars, enormous villa’s and booming entrepeneurship, but on the other hand the infrastructure of the country still seems to be of that when i first visitited in early 2000. Old roads with deep potholes (they seem to be working on some of them though) in most little towns open garbage belts right next to living quartiers, for those who can’t afford a villa the living conditions in old Socialist era houses appear to me as far below acceptable, no future for Albanian youth cause there are hardly any jobs etc. To me it seems that Albania is artificially being kept alive by the money that comes in thru emigrated Albanians (most of them live in Greece, Italy, Switzerland and the US) For sure the people of Albania are better of nowadays than when they were suffering under the harsh regime of Enver Hoxha (the onetime crazy dictator of Albania who ruled from the fifties up till the eighties) but they still have a long way to go.. A less corrupt government, less braindrain so that intellectuals stay at home and invest in the knowledge industry, creating a secure environment for foreign investors etc.

I almost forget to mention that Albania is a fairly pleasant country for the somewhat more adventurous bikers among us. People usually go out of their way in order to make you feel at home and it happens more than once that we got free drinks from shopkeepers and strangers.  I think what attracted me a lot is that Albania, on the countryside at least, is still very pure, raw and genuine. We crossed through the very heart of Albania and although the mountains will show no mercy on poor bikers, its something you won’t quickly forget nor regret.

Oh, and what really bothered me the most.. The rampant growth of mountains of plastic everywhere. Shaun mentioned it in his blog and i mention it again. Fucking plastic and the ease with which it is used and thrown away.. The government doesn’t really seem to care about it too much and most of the people aren’t aware of the emergency situation we are in regarding our climate (and i think most of them don’t give a fuck about the fact that a pile of plastics looks nasty but i can be wrong about that)

Finally after Albania we cycled for 3 days through Macedonia (or FYROM as the Greeks would like to have it..) to finally arrive at Thessaloniki where we could finally get off and have our well deserved shower..

So far so good and secretly i can’t wait to be back on the bike again for more contemplative moments through deserted landscapes, torture myself going uphill, ecstatic moments when going down.. The ‘what’s behind the next corner’ feeling.. Love it!

Maarten

Dirtballing it

// August 12th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // about

We have been cycling for over 7 weeks now and no longer is it something for us to get used to but is the way of life. I think we are even getting  used to cycling 100km per day in the Balkan heat which is constantly above 35 degrees, and are used to sleeping almost anywhere.

 The worst place we have slept so far was in Croatia. We were on a ferry coming back from cycling on one of the many islands there, it was a 6 or 7  hour boat ride so we prepared ourselves each with a few 2L bottles of cheap beer and put our feet up. As the sun set we passed out and were woken around 2am when the ship reached the shore in the city of Zadar. We were pretty groggy and didn’t really feel like cycling 10-15km outside the city to find a good camping spot so we went with the first thing we saw… a little 2m spot between a fence for the shipping yard and the on-ramp to the motorway. We quickly fell asleep in the dirt, dreaming about being back home sitting on the couch watching films and eating junk food. In the early morning (around 6:30am) when we woke to the noise of big trucks driving to the shipyards blowing dust from the road on us, and the rancid smell of dead animal, it was already 30 degrees. Soon we realized the smell was from a big seagull that was ripped to shreds all around us and we were laying on its feathers and meat chunks. Yummy. We then got ready to cycle another 120km.                                                                                                                            Anyway… I think that was the worst place we slept so far.

On this trip, like many other trips, I have really come to appriciate  the little things in life that most people take for granted and don’t think twice about. Here is a little list of some of those things

1. Clean underwear – It is easy to get used to wearing the same underwear for 7 days in a row (or longer) but when you get a fresh pair on you feel brand new and ready for anything the road has to throw at you.                         
2. Daily warm showers - After about only 3 or 4 days of cycling in hot weather without a shower, even washing in the sink of a dirty gas station bathroom gives you a fresh, clean feeling.
3. Cozy bed – As much as I love sleeping outside in random places, it is always relaxing to have a nice big bed to roll around in. But still nothing really beats a hammock.
4. Sleeping in late - When cycling in summer it is always best to wake before sunrise and get lots of km’s in before the afternoon when it really gets hot. It’s hard for me as I am a lover of rolling in bed all day long.
5. Hot meals- Since we aren’t traveling with a stove we rarely get a warm chew in us, when we do we enjoy it more then most people. Normally we are eating plenty of raw vegetables, fruits, nuts, yogurts, tortilla chips with canned beans, and breads.
6. Washing machines- Although washing machines are huge wasters of energy and people should try not to use them too much, it is nice for us to use them once every month or two since our normal hand-washing in rivers and public bathroom sinks doesn’t always get the nastiness out. We are serious dirtballs and it’s only going to get worse (or better if you enjoy bad smells) as this trip goes on.
7. Cold tap water- When you are drinking your re-used bottles of water that are hot from baking in the scorching sun, and you need something just a little bit more thirst quenching, you really come to appreciate cold tap-water from a public bathroom or garden hose to refill with. We are not at all fans of buying cold bottled water in the shop since the countries we are traveling through (and most countries in the world) have poor recycling programs (WARNING…I’m about to go on a rant). All the plastic goes in the trash, eventually ending up in the waterways and into the ocean, broken down into small editable plastic particles over decades and end up in the food chain. The chemicals in plastics (especially Bisphenol A which is used to make all water bottles, baby bottles, medical and dental devices, dental fillings, eyeglass, CDs and DVDs, and basically anything plastic you can think of) are largely responsible for many of the serious diseases found in the world today including diabetes, birth defects, obesity,neurological issues, breast and prostate cancers, and heart disease. I’m not making this up, this is really dam serious and when I think too hard about what we have done it honestly puts tears in my eyes. The big problem is that, Bisphenol A is also a synthetic estrogen (that means it’s a man made female sex hormone), and plastics made with it can break down, especially when they’re washed, heated or stressed, allowing the chemical to get into our food and water and then enter the human body. That happens to nearly all of us! The Center for Disease Control (a U.S  agency that works to protect public health and safety) has found BisphenolA in the piss of 93% of surveyed Americans over the age of 6. Let me say I believe almost every single person in the entire world has this chemical in their body! You should really know about it if you don’t already so please please research it!! If you don’t have this shit in your body, you’re not living in the modern world.  Even in countries where plastic bottles are recycled, the lids for the bottles can not be and will pollute our planet for thousands of years. The plastic we have made will be here longer then us! This year more plastic will be produced then last year, and next year even more!! In western countries there is usually no difference between bottled water and tap water anyway, it is just an obscene money making scheme. Wouldn’t you think it’s crazy if people started buying bottled air that is the same as the air the can breath for free? For example, in Holland the tap water is actually better then most bottled water. Bottled water from Pepsi co and Coke companies (such as Eva Water, H2OK, Aquafina, and Dasani) are mainly from the tap anyway (seriously, look it up!). Please don’t buy bottled water if you can help it!
8. Clean underwear- I know I already mentioned it, but we appreciate clean undies so much it is worth saying again. I guess the only good thing about dirty ones is that when we are starving and will do anything for food, we can always go mushroom picking in our underpants.
9. Regular contact with friends and family – Don’t take for granted your ability to talk with your friends and family, one day you wont be able to. It’s important not to forget to tell the people you love that you love them!

This list can go on and on, these are just some of the first things that come to my mind.

We are relaxing down in Greece now and soon we will be leaving Europe and heading into Asia. Although it has been a lot of hard work and suffering, we are still full of energy and excited for what lies ahead!

Shaun

Sweatin up those mountains

// July 16th, 2010 // 6 Comments » // about

The Alps are the first mountains we have encountered so far, but they sure as hell wont be the last….or the biggest.

I knew we would be in for a real work out, it may have even been harder then I expected because of the scorching hot sun and +30 degree weather, but I guess that’s better then cold wind and rain?

We encountered our first real mountain and after cycling up a steep road for 5 min non stop my legs were pretty pissed off at me, I told them to calm down and we just had a little more to go. Then after 1 hour of non stop burning pain and exhaustion my legs really couldn’t believe what was happening to them, nor could my lungs and heart. Over heating and dehydration can become a serious problem when working that hard but we were prepared with about 4-5 litters of water each to drink and poor over our heads.

The first and smallest mountain we cycled up took about 1hr to reach the top. As cars would pass us I could see faces inside that looked at us as if we were crazy. We are not the crazy ones! Crazy is to put all your money into a car. Crazy is to think we can all go on living the way we do. CO2 emissions show a 99.5% correlation with World Industrial Product  over the last 100 yrs.  95% of the energy used by us humans (including transportation) is from burning fossil fuels. If there are more greenhouse gasses in the air then ever before, isn’t it crazy to think we can go on adding to it? It is not just a coincidence that the more money we have, the more we consume and destroy the environment. 20% of people living in rich countries consume 86% of the worlds resources!!!

These are my thoughts that gave me reason to keep my legs pumping through pain and exhaustion over those big ass mountains!

We had about three and a half days of cycling over the beautiful alps and flying down into the valleys below at insane speeds. Yesterday after cycling up 16-18% elevation non stop for almost 4 hours straight, we reached the top of the pass at 1600m high and soared down the other side at our top speed so far, 91km/hr!! It’s not that fast in a car but on a fully loaded bicycle my eyes were watering from the wind and I was praying I could execute all those hard corners without slipping on loose stones, hitting a truck coming around the bend, or flying over the edge of the mountain. At the bottom I thought to myself  `maybe I should spend some money and finally get insurance´.              I guess cycling can be dangerous sometimes but that is mainly because of all the cars and dangerous drivers on the road. In most countries there are not a lot of cycle paths, if any. Here is a little example of we how humans have been investing.

Comparative World Bank   investment:

- roads                    98%

- rail                           2%

-cycle track       none!

Now think of all the people that would love to cycle to work and kids that would love to cycle to school but don’t because the roads are not safe for it.

It is past the time we should make some real changes, lets all tackle our own apathy! There is hardly a soul on this planet who is unable to make a contribution to a better world. One million small contributions make one million changes!

Sometimes I have to remind myself that instead of cursing the darkness, I should  light a candle.

Shaun

Steamin`Salzburg

// July 8th, 2010 // No Comments » // about

A little update after having spent two weeks on the road already..

So far we have been extremely fortunate with the weather. Only a few days before our departure it was still cold `n rainy.. On the 21st however the sun was shining and summertime finally really started to kick in. Until now we have only had 1 day with bits of rain. Usually we are complaining about too much sunshine and wish for a heavy rain to relieve our overheated bodies.

After leaving Amsterdam we went down South smoothly.. We stayed with my friends Robin and Edmee in Utrecht for a night to say a proper goodbye. They have once been roaming the countryside of NL, Belgium and France with horse and wagon (www.slakkengang.nl) For some 2 years they have been on the road but finally decided on settling down for a while close to Utrecht. I guess it`s just a matter of years now that they will be on the road once more with their little girl.. 

From Utrecht we went down to Nijmegen and got joined for a bit by our friend Eelco who earlier cycled all the way from Amsterdam to Bali (www.backtobali.net) I am sure the future will lure him in yet another bike adventure! In Nijmegen we had our first couchsurf spot (www.couchsurfing.org)  and enjoyed the pleasure of a warm shower and cold beer. During our trip we plan to do lots of couchsurfing next to sleeping under the stars outside.  We both are avid stealth campers but at the same time we really appreciate having a place to stay every now and then. Its a nice prospect when cycling to know that there is a destination at the end of the day with a usual friendly host welcoming you and a warm shower to get them dirty `n sticky bodies all clean again. Most likely couchsurfing will become less and less as we are heading East. But then again, out in Asia the hospitality is often so enormous that one needs no couchsurfing to have a place to crash and an oppurtunity to interact with a local.

Our first day in Germany immediately showed us that i have been quite prejudiced concerning our neighbours.. I expected the Germans to be rather conservative and not very outgoing.  One of our first encounters was with an old man who showed interest in our trip and insisted on donating a couple of Euro`s for us to buy a breakfast from. After 2 weeks of Germany we had many similar experiences with German hospitality and friendly, mainly old, folks. The rarest encounter for sure was in Augsburg where an old man approached me and enthusiastically told me that he also once made a biketrip from Amsterdam to Augsburg.. I replied i was impressed and asked him when that was.. “After WWII when i had to leave Holland and head back home..” Any chance we can have that bike back..sir?

Currently we are having a little rest in Salzburg before tackling them big ass mountains in Austria. The first weeks have been very pleasant and my body is slowly adjusting to the rhythm of a daily 90-120km. Thanks to the many friendly couchsurfers that went out of their ways to make us feel welcome and the many nights we spent under a clear starry sky dreaming about what is yet to come..

Maarten

Boys waiting for new school..

// April 7th, 2010 // No Comments » // about

Read more about the foundation and their projects!

Why travel by bike?

// March 8th, 2010 // 1 Comment » // about

“It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they are, while in a motor car only a high hill will impress you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of a country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bike.”  Ernest Hemingway

Some people might think that traveling long distances by bike is a bit crazy or unpractical. Why travel by bike when you can take a car, cheap bus, relax on a train, or fly and get there in an afternoon. In a car, bus, or train it will only take 5hrs to arrive at a destination 600km away, or just a few hours by plane, but cycling there will take you a week so you better be prepared for your plans to randomly change and expect the unexpected to happen. But this is something that makes cycling so attractive, not knowing what or who you will run into a kilometer up the road. You will meet the most amazing, kind, hospitable people who will invite you for a cup of tea or something to eat in return to hear about your trip. Strangers will offer you somewhere to put your tent, a barn to sleep in, or even a couch or bed in their home and a warm shower. Taking other forms of transportation it’s not often you even say hello to the people around you or learn about their stories.

Its almost like we live in our own small bubbles these days, going from the t.v in your apartment, to your car or public transport, to your workplace or school, back to your car, etc..  never really crossing  from the boundaries of routine and comfort into freedom. Traffic jams on the motorways are really just thousands of people stuck in there little bubbles beside each other, going the same direction and not even able to say hello to each other. Our only communication is from the advertisements on billboards and radios.

As for backpackers or long term nomads, looking for escape or adventure traveling by bus or train most of the time can really burn you out. Sure they are fast but they go from one noisy city or town to another and don’t leave much opportunity to explore all the little hidden secrets in between, the places where the buses and trains don’t stop. Traveling by bike gives you that, under your own steam you can go almost anywhere you want when you want. Sometimes you can go to places that busses and trains don’t even go at all, places you can’t get to by car or even by walking but only on a bicycle.

With cycling, traveling is the adventure before your destination. You get to see everything, hear everything, smell and touch everything, like when riding through a fresh forest in the morning, feeling the breeze on top of a mountain, or the scent of the ocean along the seaside. This is much more rewarding then what is possible from the window of your vehicle, it allows you to be spontaneous. And when you have camping gear and food with you it becomes your home and way of life. Absolute freedom. It brings you back to the roots of traveling and surviving and makes you realize how alive and full of energy you are.

And on top of all that cycling is perfect for living a healthy life. It is great exercise and makes you more aware of eating well, getting plenty of liquids, and feeling good. With wars being fought over oil, rising gas prices and a rapidly decreasing world supply of fossil fuel, it only makes sense that our future needs more people traveling by bike. In cities, cars and busses create a lot of smog, noise, and pollution, and usually you can’t even find a parking space and are stuck in traffic. Bikes are a quick, clean, healthy way to get where your going, and you don’t need to pay a fortune for insurance and maintenance.

It was Louis J. Helle Jr. who once said “bicycling is the nearest approximation I know to the flight of birds. The airplane simply carries a man on its back like an obedient Pegasus; it gives him no wings of his own.”

Cycling offers you the trip of a lifetime. Across a country, continent, or if you have the time even right around the world!   It’s irresistible.

shaun