One of the advantages of being “old folks” is the ease with which we forget (well, perhaps it is not always an advantage).  But when deciding to take on another epic adventure, there is some advantage to forgetting the difficulties (hypothermia, falling rocks, sore limbs, bruises, scrapes, heat, thirst) and recalling the pleasures ( great companions, beautiful scenery, fascinating cultures & people,  the sense of accomplishment, the joy of simply spending ones days getting from point A to point B without the usual demands of daily life).  So, good sense or not, we have decided to embark on yet another trans-continent bike journey.  We will be traveling from St. Petersburg, Russia to Lisbon, Portugal with another group of adventurous souls from many countries around the world.

 

We are really pleased that some of our companions from last year will also be riding all or part of the journey.  It will be great to renew our friendships and share this new adventure with them.  We have also heard that we may have the same crew guiding, feeding and generally helping us along the way.

Jim and I feel that we learned a few things from our journey last year that will hopefully allow us to travel more successfully with this group.  We plan to be better prepared with maps/GPS (ah yes, all those times we got lost last year),  be more aware of how to maintain our water supplies, carry a stockpile of easily accessible calories (the joys of peanut butter), and always have great rain gear at hand.  Hopefully my old neck problems will not plague me because we plan to ride touring bikes with disc brakes (making the climbs easier & the descents safer) instead of our recumbents this year.  We shall see!

We are hoping you might be interested once again in accompanying us from the comforts of your home…cheering our successes and commiserating with our discomforts.  Those of you who joined us last year certainly enhanced our enjoyment of the trip with your support from afar.

So the adventure begins as we try to get in shape.  Many of you know that I had part of my right lung removed last fall.  I am hoping it won’t slow me down too much–and I certainly have a great excuse for being less than a world class rider.  I will invoke the excuse only when desperate.  Jim was the most senior cyclist (wisest? most sage?) on the trip last year and so automatically gets praise for his audacity in taking on these journeys.

Here we go….Wish us luck!!

Barb & Jim