And, of course, hour af
ter lonesome hour, mile after agonising, saddle sore and occasionally danger-strewn mile, each day that passed more remarkable, sometimes a bit tougher, weirder or more frustrating than the last, all the way from the tip of Alaska to the tail of South America.
It could only possibly be super cyclist Mark Beaumont’s latest extreme expedition, an astonishing 13,080 miles journey by battered bike across a dozen countries in 268 days, and with two mountain climbs chucked in for good measure.
No surprise then that, from the rats and crazed dogs to the stunning scenery, the travel hiccups to his increasingly unruly head of overgrown hair - and impressive beard that captured many a flying insect - there really was rarely a dull moment.
And now, at last, it’s now finally over.
Today Mark completes the final stage of his latest epic journey by bike all the way from Alaska to Argentina when he touches down, home at last, at Edinburgh Airport to what’s almost certain to be a hero’s welcome.
Under the Edinburgh-based adventurer’s belt is a world first. Perhaps for good reason no-one has ever before even attempted to cycle the length of the Americas, from Anchorage in the chill of the north, following the line of the American Cordillera to Ushuaia in Southern Argentina. That’s where Mark stood last Thursday, gazing over the bay, looking at the beauty of the mountains reflected in the calm waters, emotional, exhausted, proud and even a little sad.
“This has been like a lifestyle rather than an expedition,” he explains, speaking from Buenos Aires yesterday as he waited for his flight home to the UK.
“I’ve been on my own for nine months and it’s that solo experience that you’re leaving behind and preparing to re-engage with the real world that hits you.
“I was getting ready to leave behind something I’d been doing for so long.
“I was in this most beautiful place, at the end of it all and there was no-one that I knew for thousands of miles.
“So there was some sadness, but by far the overriding emotion was sheer euphoria.”
No-one would surely deny him the chance to revel in his achievement. While he’s no stranger to remarkable journeys - in 2008 he broke the Guinness world record for the fastest true circumnavigation after cycling the globe in 194 days and 17 hours - this epic adventure was extraordinary in more ways than one.
For a start, it’s one of the first expeditions of its kind to be brought to life in ‘real time’ via the internet for his 4664 Twitter followers who hung onto his every ‘tweet’ for news of the latest of many en route dramas. Others followed a string of gripping blogs and saw for themselves Mark’s increasingly ‘bouffant’ hair courtesy of dozens of photographs posted on Flicker.
“I’m not a ‘techy’ person at all,” grins Mark, 26, “but I was blown away by the way the online world got involved.
“There were tough moments and lonely moments but I never felt alone in terms of support. It’s been great and I’ve loved that element of it.”
His followers were engrossed by brief ‘tweets’ about everything from the strange characters he encountered - like that arm wrestling lady of the Yukon - to the mundane scenery he found in Patagonia on the last leg of his journey.
They were updated with from news of his tent blowing away in 60mph winds and regaled with the delights of the dietary delights of a long distance cyclist.
But capturing their imagination most, was the fact he was even attempting such a journey at all.
And that he was doing it along with attempting to bag the two highest peaks of North and South America - Mount McKinley, standing 6100 mtrs in Alaska and the 7000 mtrs Aconcagua in Argentina - made it all the more gripping.
Those climbs would be challenging enough for an experienced climber. More so for Beaumont who may be a cycling expert but in climbing terms, he’s junior grade.
“I’ve never even climbed Ben Nevis,” he says with a grin. “I’m not a climber.
“And most people who start climbing, don’t tend to begin with 6000 mtr peaks. You can read a book about climbing, but then to do it - well, for me, that was the biggest thing of all.”
There were many other high points too, though. For while his journey focussed on getting from the north of Alaska to the south of Argentina, Mark was determined to experience as much of the local life as possible.
Which is why he ended up on a high plateau in Montana, dressed in cowboy chaps riding a horse for the first time in at least ten years.
“It was the main difference between the last expedition and this - I was off the bike much more this time.
“I grew up riding horses but I hadn’t been on one for years until I got to the plateaus of Montana. Going out there, riding Western style wearing chaps and no helmets and herding 100 cows… it was ‘pinch yourself’ stuff, incredible.
“I was saddle sore afterwards though in a different way from what I’d become used to!”.
So hooked on the experience was he, that he couldn’t resist the chance to snare his own pair of cowboy boots - handmade to a design reflecting his marathon jaunt by an artisan in Guatemala.
There were hairy moments too. Someone suggested it might be a good idea to search for tarantulas in the Panama rain forest and Mark, being an adventurous type, agreed.
Later, as he trekked under cover of darkness beneath a canopy of trees that seemed alive with wildlife, the idea didn’t seem quite as good.
“There were a lot of creaks and creepy noises. Then you’d shine your torch around and hundreds of eyes would be staring back to you.
“It was incredibly spooky.”
There were, he adds, amazing highs and several lows - those hotel rooms that moved with tiny creatures, the Patagonia winds that made riding his bike impossible and blew away his tent and various roadside greasy spoon meat feasts that the one time vegetarian may prefer to forget.
Perhaps the lowest point, though, came in Mexico.
For although Mark was riding solo, the local wildlife - from the grizzly bears in Canada to puma, snakes and, less threatening, monkeys in Central America meant he was never truly alone.
Yet the biggest risks did not come from the creatures of the wild - his biggest threat were stray dogs.
“Bears are a reality of life in Yukon but they rarely attack,” he explains. “A bigger problem was stray dogs in Mexico.
“I stopped in Southern Mexico to help bandage up a guy whose leg had been bitten right to the bone by rabid dogs.
“He was a farm worker, his fellow farm workers didn’t have any first aid supplies and he was by the roadside, bleeding.
“I saw the dogs but I had to stop and try to help bandage him up.
“All the time I was thinking ‘if that happens to me then I’m going to have real long term problems on my hands’. That was the point when I really felt the most danger, crazy when you consider all the other wild animals out there…”
It’s been a remarkable journey, and now, nine months on, it’s over. Tonight Mark will be back home in Fountainbridge, probably dreaming of his next amazing adventure.
But what on earth could possibly top this one?
“Ah,” grins Mark. “You’ll just have to wait and see…”
No comments:
Post a Comment