Now it's taken me til half way round my trip to start questioning the sanity of some decisions but it's led me to decide on arranging to have the bike and myself transported 1400km to Ulaan Bataar across the Gobi steppe where I hope to be able to properly sort some issues on the bike and get on the road again after a rest.
So unfortunately I feel no little bit sad about this decision but there was a moment months ago in Turkey which came shooting into my head a few days ago, this when the guys from Holland who were organizing a big KTM do admired my panniers but then qualified this by saying they don't like using metal ones because if you come off you can break your leg. This moment of clarity came to me after driving through water, coming out of the other side into mud, losing the front end and the dawning realization that my leg was indeed underneath the pannier as the bike was dropping onto me.
A few seconds later as I was laying in the mud with the bike on top of me and my heart pumping I managed to do a wee self diagnostic check. The positive news coming back from all my limbs that I could 1 - feel them and 2 - the feelings weren't too painful. So I lay there, turned off the ignition because the engine was still running and spent the next couple of minutes trying to wriggle from under the bike. I managed this, stripped the bag off the top of the bike and got it upright without much grief. It started again and walking beside it I managed to move it onto drier ground. It seems that I've twisted my knee and although I drove another three hours afterwards and have been getting about in Khovd I admit that sometimes I'm in pain.
Since then I've been feeling a bit fragile. The knowledge of the bikes wiring being rough and my suspicion that without replacement electrics I'm going to have a detrimental effect on the remainder of the electrical system with the potential for breakdown on the steppe. There's also my fear that the ongoing pain in my knee under load could lead to another painful fall to my left which could result in bad knee damage and the end of the trip. So at the half way point I've sadly decided to put my hand in my pocket and ensure that both the bike and I are in a fit state to complete the trip by taking transport.
This physical and mechanical fragility have led me to listen to the few people Ive spoken to recently who seem surprised and amazed that I'm here, this far from home, on my own. I've feel a little sad at the decision but feel it's the right one to safeguard the rest of my trip, I've also felt for moments a bit vulnerable but that's not lasted more than a few minutes as things really aren't that bad.
So this I guess has led to a little bit of a down moment, but do I regret starting the trip? Do I regret the choices that have led me here? Do I wish I was back home in the nine till five worrying about broken down helicopters and fire detectors? Not a hope. It has made me think about low points in the trip though and there's been amazingly few. I was a little low at the end of Uzbekistan and parts of Kazakhstan when I realized how far from home I was combined with being on my own again after being in company for the best part of a week. I was also low with the repeated police stops in Uzbekistan and fear about insurance in Kazakhstan. Then there were a few moments on the way into Mongolia when the bike broke down but otherwise there's been nothing thats bothered me for more than an hour or two.
If I can compare this to the ups though, from leaving home, getting on then off the ferry from Newcastle, meeting family in Germany, so so many moments of seeing fantastic scenery or eating interesting food, meeting up with Lisa in Uzbekistan for a few days, waking and realizing I've just camped out in the middle of nowhere with fantastic views, starting to appreciate Turkey, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Mongolia among the seventeen countries I've been through so far.
There's no comparison with the ups and downs. The downs are transient, fleeting and pass with the knowledge that even with the crazy (according to others) decision to do this trip on my own I've managed to get more than half way round the world with only a few issues and survived with my health and the bike largely in tact. The ups are so many and by the time I find wifi in Ulaan Baatar to post this I will indeed be in Ulaan Baatar, another city most people only ever hear of or maybe see photos from. I'll have a days drive to Siberia where Ill be amongst some fantastic countryside again, then there's a couple of ferry trips before Japan which I'm really excited about before it's off over to Canada where again there's amazing scenery, the prospect of catching up with friends while there's the ease and familiarity of language.
Finally there's the USA where time dependent I'll be crossing the Rockies twice, riding the pacific coast highway and taking a right turn in California onto Route 66 and that's before riding into New York.
It wont all be straight forward, there will be more challenges, I'll get bored and hacked off from time to time but I've seen and experienced so much and have a way forward from this point where I still have half a trip, and half a world to experience.
The ups have it...
Location:Barnaul,Russian Federation
No comments:
Post a Comment