Adventure
Cross Spitsbergen Project Status
Update: MARCH 11 2017
1. Project Site: A lot of content had been updated in the website. I will be uploading the costs excel file up soon.2. Routes: Route 1 has been binned due to length and transportation costs. We have 4 remaining routes along with a views for your reference in the website. In May there many not be snow at sea level but 50m up in the Glaciers.
3. Permits/ SAR Insurance: I am in touch with the Governor’s office
4. Bamboo Fat Bikes: We will be making the Bikes and we will very soon have to book the maker workshop. Depending on our selected route, the bike design/ components may be affected e.g. studded fatbike tires5. Training: Safety is TOP priority and there will be 2/3 days training in Svalbard. Everyone will know how to deal with a Polar Bear situation and be skilled at using flares/ safety equipment and a weapon if required/ Crevasse Rescue/ Arctic Survival/ Clothing etc. There will be scenarios on training days.6. Flights: Flights are getting expensive but today this is around £5007. Sponsorships: 15% discount from Expedition Foods. I am asking for a more closer relationship with them.8. Transportation: I am working with a few companies like Norwegian/ SAS to explore any collaboration opportunity & local transport if we need them9. Citizen Science: Working with Svalbard university and data collection is dependent on the route as well. I need to get back to them again once we have the Governor’s approval on the route.10. Documentary: Looking to get someone in Svalbard who can help us document the story and has a personal snowmobile and a rifle to help us with the costs as well. Svalbard University may be able to help us find a student. I am coming up with a introductory video this weekend 😉11. Press in UK: Coming up with a strategy to get coverage in Guardian/ Evening Standard etc. and Bike/ Fat Bike Magazines12. Collaboration: Working with Innovation Norway to see if there is any collaboration opportunity13. Fitness Program: Charlie Says: as its not a massive trip, the best thing would be to do cardiovascular work in the gym, get out on the bikes building up the hours you are on it slowly, some leg strengthening in the gym would help also, im guessing they are all fit to a general standard.14. Kit Rental: I am working on the pricing for kit rental in the UK ( from friends and other adventurers) or in Svalbard
1. Check out the topology in the Norwegian Polar Institute Website2. Research how you will get the kit3. Read up on the weather conditions and think about the routes 🙂4. Any connections/ skills that can be useful to make the best of this opportunity – PR / Science/ First Aid/ Rescue Care etc.
1. Get the route approved by the Governor and I am on the case2. Get the deposits to firm commitment levels3. Schedule Bike building workshop
Cross Colombia on my Bamboo Bicycle
Cycling around Colombia on my Bamboo Bicycle
The beginning: My plans to organize NYE in Cartagena with my friends fell apart and I thought will go to Colombia anyway. Then I thought, while I was there, why fly? or why use public transport? and not bike instead. I had never biked since high school and had never used a geared bike before. Perfect challenge, Boom let me make this happen!
The bamboo bicycle? As I was looking for bikes, I stumbled upon Kate in the Royal Geographical Society who had built her own Bamboo Bicycle and was planning to bike across South America. Initially I planned to make the Bamboo Bicycle in Cali, Colombia but then they did not have the skills to help me out and hence I had to seek urgent help from James from the Bamboo Bicycle Club in London. James was fantastic and in 5 days, I had made by bike and I was “ready”. Everything was last minute. Serana was her name 😉
That was all, I had no plans, I had not even checked out my route, the terrain and left myself to solve everything when I faced them. Somehow I managed to download the Colombia free map for my Garmin & offline music from Spotify before I left London.
The plan (soon thrown to bin): I was naive and I thought I will bike from the south of Colombia (Pasto) to the north of Colombia (Cartagena) via Cali, Medillin ! This is all I knew. I had one month and I knew that my goal was not to ride every mile, but also take time out to enjoy the country and if needed hitchhike. I forgot that I was traveling around Christmas which is the busiest time of the year and every road & bus were overbooked.
The start: I flew into Bogota, excited about my ride till the moment my friend & his girlfriend introduced me to the “terrain” feature of Google Maps and my route was literally on the mountains; all the time, every mile! I was told that the big hills I saw in Bogota were nothing, nothing compared to the ones in my route. I was determined anyway and obviously there were no bus tickets left and I had to fly into to Pasto which was the start of my ride. On the taxi ride from Pasto airport to my warmshowers host Dorys, I was thinking, ‘Shit, there are mountains everywhere and I am not going to make it’.
Pasto: Once I was at Dorys’s place, I met a lot of other bikers. One had been robbed off his passport by teenagers and the others told me about a few bus robberies in my route to Cali from Pasto, specially near El Bordo area around the holiday season. There was even an incident to rob my bike in Pasto and after debating with myself about my dangerous route and a proposed new longer route called ‘trampoline of death’, I decided, let me take a bus to Cali. Everyone in the bus was carrying everything (sacks of stuff) and somehow I managed to fit my bike into the bus. Oh yeah, Pasto is where I went to get my bike checked in a local shop and they realized that my front and rear brake controls were the other way around. Well, I had never biked before, so it did not matter 😉 We had to even change the derailleur here.
The journey: So revised ride start was from Cali. There was no plan to be in Cali for that long but I was stuck avoiding ‘partying drivers in a rush at Christmas eve’ and I found myself attending Salsa classes instead. Colombia was ruining my plans!
I started biking from Cali on Christmas day with thin traffic. Day one was hard with my ass on fire on the saddle. I guess I had to do my time on the saddle before it was calmer. On my way a few kids tried to rob me but there was too much traffic in the highway to get to me quickly and I could cycle away. By now, I was sun burnt like hell and looked more Colombian than the locals and I stayed in hostels, wild camped, gas stations; ate amazing street food; and in the last day I biked 40km uphill to ‘Alto de Minas’. Took me 8.5 hrs to reach 2460m Max elevation on a professional biking route(which I did not know before). Wild camping the night before did not help. I was abused my the local mosquitoes and had very less sleep; but I think the Aguapanela I was drinking kept me going.
I loved the downhill ride after the climb and I was doing 70kmph I guess and reached Medellin. I was having too much fun and I was running out of time and I had to take a bus to Cartagena from Medellin to catch up with the beautiful Country. I did around 70kms a day which was not bad.
The end: It was the last 100 km ride to Playa El Blanca from Cartagena old town. It took me 7 hrs and this was the first night I was biking, was not safe at all! I was reminded by Kari (the receptionist in the roadside restaurant) not to linger around after 6pm since the road gets really dangerous at dark. So I left the beach at 4pm, happy to have taken at least one picture of Serena in the beach 😉 Oh yeah, I never listened to my offline music in Spotify, guess why ? ;-), neither did I use my Garmin GPS maps.
All in all Fantastic Country, Fantastic People ! Do visit Colombia!
#The Route from Pasto to Cartagena |
Below is a photographic timeline of the trip!
Highs: I never thought I would be able to do the 40km uphill biking to Alto de Minas (2460m elevation) with an elevation Gain 1832m. It took me 8.5 hours with the 7% avg. gradient, the mad traffic and the dangerous curves on the road; but I made it and I was really proud & happy.
Lows: Seeing a downhill since I knew a uphill was coming.