Sunday, December 23, 2012

Almost fully recovered...

Dear friends and followers,

Apologies for the long delay in this update...

As you know, the last entry had us just crossing into Malaysia, where we successfully managed to avoid any kind of persecution...!

Well, my back was wrecked, so although it was still a tough decision, we had to skip about a weeks worth of riding through what would have been some amazing wild countryside. The camping option was much more viable in Malaysia, as there is a ton of open, unpopulated space, so having to miss it was quite a disappointment.

However, it turned out that ending the ride probably should have happened earlier than it did.

I'd ridden in a fair bit of pain for over 2000 kms. A few days rest enabled me to ride the final long day through Johor and across the causeway, back into Singapore, but that was about all I could manage.


The crossing into Singapore was typically difficult, unlike all other border crossings we'd made. We rode through with the motorbikes, and didn't realise that Tom wasn't allowed to use the same passport control as I had, as he didn't have the same permits as me... so we had to then go off to an office for 30 minutes whilst they processed him.



Finally, we made it home, and spent a week chilling before Tom headed back to the US, too early for our liking, but better than him sitting around here... I wasn't in much shape to be doing anything.

So began a long year of recovery. I had to fork out $800 for an MRI to be told exactly what I didn't want to hear; 2 herniated discs, crushing my spinal cord. Yep, that'd explain the pain!




After many trips to my (most excellent) Chiro, Gary, and many laps of my pool, I am well on the way to recovery, being able to walk and get around in general without any pain. I still ache a bit after a while, but it's getting much better. 

So now, I've started training for the next big adventure... Yes, Tom and I are off to do it all over again.

We considered hiking the CDT, 10 years after we mountain biked it, but Toms memory of the pain part  of the PCT was better than mine, so he decided against it... and I think he's right. We have truly been there, done that...

So this time, to celebrate ten years of Roadwarrior-ing together, we are off to Anchorage, Alaska.

We will be mountain biking 5000+ kms from Anchorage, through Alaska and Canada, to arrive, around 10 weeks later, back in Minneapolis. After that epic ride, we are taking Toms Blazer ( his 4x4) around to some of the best National Parks the US has to offer, and will be spending 4 to 8 days at each, hiking and taking the best scenery and landscape photos possible. Yes, we are gonna be driving around the US for a bit, not hiking, biking or kayaking... we're getting old... what are ya gonna do?

On the list of parks and places we want to hike and see is Glacier, Sequoia, Arches, Zion and the Grand Canyon.

However, there is still more exhausting and amazing things planned for 2015... but for now, stay tuned for the new journal that will be being created soon...

ROADWARRIORS 7; OUT OF ALASKA.

RWK,

OUT!