Leaving in 15 days!

In 15 days, I’m headed for Quito, Ecuador, for the start of my big South America adventure of 2019: The Andes Trail 2019 organized by Bike Dreams.

It was a great day yesterday because the last official thing I must have arranged before the trip, my Bolivian visa, came in the mail. I’ve finished most of my shopping and all of my medical preparations and really just have to work on the bike itself and a few post-bike-trip reservations (like my ticket back home!) Next week I’ll do an overhaul of the bike, replacing some parts like the chain, brake pads, rear tire, rear cluster and have the shock serviced. Then on June 30, the bike goes in a box, and on July 3rd, we fly out to Quito.

We’ll will vacation in the Galapagos for 3 weeks until July 23, then I’ll have a week to get acclimated to the 9,200′ elevation in Quito and get some practice biking. By July 30, all the riders will be assembled at the Hotel Ambassador, and we then start officially riding on August 2, where we ride 28 km north to the equator for a starting ceremony, then back to Quito. On August 3, we head south until we arrive December 17 in Ushuaia! We plan to ride 10,943 km in 142 days (109 riding days) with over 110,000 meters of climbing. 70% of the route is paved.

The day after we arrive in Ushuaia, Grace is coming back down and we’ll head off to Antarctica for 2 weeks. Christmas and New Years 2020 in Antarctica! We’re going on a G-Adventures trip called Quest for the Antarctic Circle. We plan to come home January 7, 2020.

My friend Jim Sowers wanted to know about the trip so he suggested interviewing me about it. We made 6 clips:

• Part 1, Introduction, 2:15
• Part 2, About the bike, 2:09
• Part 3, Tour logistics, 3:09
• Part 4, More about the tour, 3:31
• Part 5, Video and photography, 2:09
• Part 6, What’s in my garage? 2:46