Blog

The blink of an eye

Fri 23 Dec, 2011  /  Between the Sea and the Sky  /  1 comment

I heard some news yesterday on the radio, while waking up, the chill of a clear night sky beating a hasty retreat in the face of a golden, southern Californian sun. A young teenager had stayed out past his parent-enforced curfew. Fearful of being punished and with the imagination of… read more

A not quite forgotten sentiment

Mon 5 Sep, 2011  /  Afterwards: The road continues to wind  /  1 comment

Yesterday, while clearing out a draw in my small house in Oldham, preparing for a move over to California, I found a piece of paper. On it was scribbled thoughts from the day I arrived back at my father’s house after my first Take A Seat journey. What do they… read more

A Sweet Filthy Echo

Wed 17 Aug, 2011  /  Afterwards: The road continues to wind  /  No comments

My laundry is not yet dry. I hung it up a couple of hours ago, but it’s overcast and cool. For the first time for as long as I can remember, I bask in this weather, wondering around aimlessly under an almost gloomy sky. It looks like rain. Maybe I’ll… read more

Coming to Rest on Platform 3

Wed 26 May, 2010  /  Dom and Ernie  /  2 comments

Thats it I suppose. One small era for me has finished. It started one day when I decided to go on a long journey, and I thought then that it would finish when I reached the southerly most city in Argentina. But it didn’t. Instead I feel like this chapter… read more

Full Circle…

Sun 16 May, 2010  /  Dom and Ernie  /  1 comment

If you’ve been unwise, bored or in the most unusual of cases interested enough to have followed the Take A Seat journey from it’s conception, you might remember a man that uttered such timeless quotes as “I feel like an abused porn star”, and “that ends my portion on the… read more

Book Launch and Beyond…

Fri 14 May, 2010  /  Dom and Ernie  /  No comments

Three days ago I sat and watched a herring gull float on a keen wind, subtly changing the angles of its dagger-like wings to stay motionless above the earth. It was looking at something, one beady eye in its cocked head fixed on an object below. I have no idea… read more

From where I sit I see the world

Thu 22 Apr, 2010  /  Dom and Ernie  /  No comments

Life drifts by. It just does, irrespective of how hard you grab it. You can’t even change the number of experiences you fit into every second, all you can do is control what kind of experiences you have in those fleeting moments. You could try the eye watering rush of… read more

A Disease Called Self Doubt

Thu 15 Apr, 2010  /  Dom and Ernie  /  3 comments

Self pity is pathetic. I hate it, but I gather vast piles of it around me on occasion. The pity weighs heavy and crushes me into a very dark place that neither laughter or sunlight will drag me out of until something – it could be anything but I suspect… read more

Stop Gap

Mon 29 Mar, 2010  /  Dom and Ernie  /  3 comments

Airports are strange places. I’ve been going through a lot of them recently. They’re no longer mildly exciting – like they are when you’re a child going on holiday – but they do somehow stimulate some strange reflective feeling inside me. Its as if the impartial stop-gap between worlds gives… read more

Surrender. You’re Surrounded.

Mon 15 Mar, 2010  /  Dom and Ernie  /  3 comments

This is what happens when you spend a lot of time on public transport or in airports. I think. About where I’ve been, what I’ve done, where I’m going and where I want to be. Then I write – actually truth be told the thinking never finishes before the writing… read more

FAQ

• How long was your journey from Alaska to Argentina?

  About 18,800 miles.

• What is the single longest uphill climb you have ever made?

  98 miles from the ocean towards Cuzco in the Peruvian Andes.

• How quickly can you change a tyre?

  Mmm, maybe 3 minutes on a good day with a following wind...?

• What kind of saddle do you use and how long have you used it for?

  A Brooks B17. Though it perhaps had more life in it, I retired it after 25,000 miles.

• Which companion rode with you for the longest time?

  Julie Kresco, an American Airlines pilot from Colorado, rode with me from El Salvador through Honduras to Nicaragua.

• Who was your oldest companion?

  Manuel Martinez, Guatemalan, 83 yrs old at the time. He went a couple of kilometres... he wanted to go further!!

• Who was your youngest companion?

  2 years old... in a trailer on the back for 60 miles!

• Was there anyone you turned away who asked to ride the bike?

  No, but during my ride across America I almost said no to Rachel Swanson, who had a fairly advanced state of cerebral palsy. I was concerned that I didn’t have the proper knowledge to care for her should anything go wrong during our trip. But with a little fix of the pedals Rachel turned out to be an excellent companion. One of the best I’d say.

• What are the most extreme weather temperatures you have endured during your journeys?

  -20 degrees C in Bolivia... +56 degrees C in Egypt

• How many gallons of water can you carry in one go?

  On Achilles, my first tandem bicycle, I could at a stretch carry up to 5, but it wasn't pleasant!

• What's the most unusual gift or offering you've received on your journeys?

  An extra large poster of Christ on the Cross tied with a map of the stars.

• How many times have you crashed your bicycle while touring?

  Only three, and none too serious miraculously!! Once when I skidded off the wet road trying to catch up a car driving exceptionally badly. Another while descending a dirt road in southern Chile. An inch of ice on the ground doesn't do much for traction... I slid a long way! And lastly, I had a minor accident in Sinai, Egypt. My companion John got a bit of road rash, but a bedouin family came to our rescue and invited us in for lunch.

• What is the strangest mechanical problem you've ever encountered?

  One day in Oregon my chain got jammed mid-pedal. I forced and forced but it wouldn't give. i stopped to find an almost severed small snake in my chainring. It was dead.

• How many sets of tyres did you use in your original journey?

  I got through 4 sets of tough Schwalbe tyres, half of those in Mexico due to the cactus spines!

• Who inspired your journey across America?

  Ernie Greenwald, a 72 year old aeronautical engineer from Lompoc, California, who joined me for a single day during my first trip down the Americas, had told me he always wanted to ride across the country. The following year I decided that I would take him, but unfortunately he passed away just about the time we were supposed to leave.

• What's the most unusual bike you've ever ridden?

  The Hase I used for Sharing a Ride, which you operate from the rear seat and has independent free-wheel mechanism so we could pedal at different speeds.

• How many times have you picked up your bike to take a ride on another vehicle during your journeys?

  3 times in favour of a boat and about 15 or so short rides in the car and one longer ride in a vehicle due to law enforcement prohibiting me from riding in the Egyptian desert.

• How many times have you gotten robbed or lost your wallet on a journey?

  Once each.

• What is the most unusual reason that someone gave you for not being able to go on your journey?

  In Egypt, a man named Hisham was planning to come with me and then the night before, he got into an argument with his military supervisor who revoked his vacation.