10/18/2023 Bikepacking Spain Day 71 : The End of LMDI and the beginning of LMDIYA

Thank you to everyone who has followed us for LMDI (Los Montañas de Iberia). It was a fun tour and Janet and I liked having you along with your supportive and sometimes funny comments. Bikepacking isn’t always easy, so getting a laugh from home really helps us keep going. Speaking of easy, Spain was definitely easier than usual for us in many ways. We were not on paved roads much, but when we were, Spain was tops for good drivers who didn’t seem like they were trying to kill us. Norway still holds the “good driver” KOM, but Spain is definitely on the podium. Spain has good food, nice people, and good weather - though this year’s weather could have been better.

So, I have some good news and some bad news. The bad news first: I’m sure you all love seeing Janet in my photos like I do, but she is going to stay in Malaga for 2 weeks to study Spanish. About the next leg, she said, “Africa is going to be too much for me.” I respect that, and since she has important priorities like helping out her sister, she will be heading home to do that and take care of our garden. I will be missing her intensely, as we will be apart for nearly 4 months - by far the longest we have ever gone without seeing each other. I’m grateful for technology such as face time - Janet and I have never used it together, but it will definitely help during my solo adventure ahead.

So, Africa… this might be a surprise except for astute readers. Now you know why I am carrying 1,800 test strips and half a year of diabetes supplies. I spent so much effort trying to figure out how to “do diabetes” on a continent that has limited supplies for its own people, let alone a sunburnt white boy on a bike. Africa is also why I have been studying French.

I have updated my live tracker page with the proposed route through Africa. Please note that the line is already obsolete. I’ve learned about the rebels in Cameroon, for example, and other road blocks along my way. The route will be a work in progress and I will continue to follow the news to make it as safe as possible. Note that I have already done most of my vaccinations, and am carrying malaria pills for time spent below the Sahara. Janet and I have kept this leg of the journey kind of a secret because I was not 100% sure I would do it when we flew to Spain… and because I worried that I would receive messages along the lines of “maybe you should come home now.” In our Mexico 2014 trip, I got emails with news articles containing photos of people’s severed heads laid out in the street which tainted my imagination, haunted my thoughts, and made it a little harder to enjoy.

In 2000, when I first set out to ride my bike around the world, I did turn back - right near here in Malaga. With no internet and plenty of naïveté, I figured I would ride from Morocco to Algeria - though I was scared by stories of people being beheaded with long swords, there was still a part of me that believed “everything always works out.” It turns out that this journey DID work out, just not in the way I expected. I went home to surprise my mom for Christmas. She had been terribly worried, and as it turned out, she wouldn’t live to see many more Christmases. It ended up being a good idea to go home that year.

This time, some aspects of Africa will be easier. Having a connection to the world in my pocket and being able to see Janet on my phone screen is a huge boon. You can’t imagine how I will miss her. I will also miss her fortitude and assistance, but being able to see her face frequently will help assuage the sadness of separation. Also easier is the ability to get better maps to find quiet routes, and up to date information in an instant. Other aspects of Africa will be more difficult than in 2001. I didn’t have to manage diabetes back then, and my health is definitely on the fringe with all the other issues I have been having lately. In the months to come, I know that there will be hard times. There is that fragile part inside that knows the easy path is to just head home. But I also know that all the good things I have done in my life had chunks of time that were out of my comfort zone… And afterwards, I’m often glad I kept at it. I don’t want to back out just because there are hard times for a short spell. I’d also like to feel comfortable sharing both the good and the bad with you: So I hope you can resist encouraging me to come home when things get tough; it might be too easy to cave! I am excited to drift back to my “old style” of adventure - talking to strangers often and engaging in the local culture more frequently. Accepting offers of kindness. Its easy to skip doing that when you travel as a couple, but comes more naturally when you ride solo. It’s something I know I want to do, even if it’s not always peaches and roses.

So the good news is (assuming the content I provide entertains you to some degree) is that there are still several months of stories and adventures ahead. The drone will be going home with Janet, so the photography might drop a notch. Drones are illegal in at least 5 of the countries I plan to visit… and I’m going to need as much carrying capacity as I can muster for crossing the Sahara.

The next week will be spent preparing my bike for 6,000 miles without a bike-part resupply. That might sound crazy, but I have already written to the most “professional” looking bike shops in the West of the Continent (Dakar), and of the shops that replied, one place had 29” tires. He said, “used it will be $10; new it will be $15”. I translated the language and currency for you, but this should give you an idea of what is to come. And no, they don’t have tubeless. I’ll try to post a little bit about kit and gear changes during this next week while we rest and repair! Thanks again for following and all of your encouragement along the way! Excited to share this next leg with you!

LMDIYA = Los Montañas de Iberia y África.

(The mountains of Iberia and Africa)