Expenews

Date - 4th March
Distance - 45km
Total distance - 1713km

After a day off in La Paz, we took a 25-hour bus trip back to Tijuana
and then rode across the USA/Mexico border and 45km back to where we
were staying in San Diego.
The bus trip was the least fun part of the whole experience. One of the
bus drivers was corrupt and wanted us to pay an extra $US60 for storing
our bikes. I had previously confirmed with the company that there were
no extra charges for transporting bicycles, however we?d heard that this
may happen. The driver also made us lay the bikes flat across one
compartment rather than keep with our plan to stand them up and strap
them together (so they would be safer and take less space).
After a lot of negotiation, I said I didn?t have the cash on me but
would pay them later when we arrived in Tijuana. We got on the bus very
concerned that our bikes would be damaged. About half way through the
trip, (at about 2am) the same driver asked again for the money and I
again stalled him. Arriving in Tijuana, we quickly got the bikes and all
our gear out (undamaged, thank goodness), replaced the wheels and
roughly assembled it all. Chris had a bit of an argument with the driver
who didn?t speak English. I totally ignored him, not even looking at
him. We knew he didn?t have any grounds to charge us and that they had
to drive on the Mexicali in a few minutes, so we quickly left the
building. They drove off without the cash and we felt very proud of
ourselves for not allowing ourselves to be taken advantage of by the
corrupt driver. Big win!
Once we found our way to the border, it was all pretty straight forward.
We walked our bikes across and pedalled a further 40km back to Bree and
Crosby?s place. Importantly, the final 45km pushed up our trip total to
1713km! Chris in particular, really wanted to ensure we ticked over the
1700km mark.
I write as I am in transit, flying to Portland in Maine where I will
collect the fourth and final version of my Christini all-wheel drive fat
bike. Steve Christini said he?s very happy with the new improvements and
I can?t wait to see his work. As with the first two Christini bikes, Philadelphia-
based Steve has made the frame and sent it up to Carver Bikes in
Woolwich, Maine to be assembled by master mechanic, Zach Pilgrim.
On Thursday I will travel from Boston to Germany to meet with Mike
Brailey who will drive and test the support vehicle during our next
expedition across Iceland. We will take a day to drive to Denmark where
we?ll take the car ferry across the North Sea via the Faroe Islands to
eastern Iceland.
By then I will have created a new ExpeNews page in readiness to keep you
updated on the next adventure - a complete contrast to the Baja.
If you would like to see more Baja photos, please check out my webpage:http://www.breakingthecycle.education/expeditions/baja-divide-mexico/


If you missed the ABC 10News story aired last week in San Diego,
here?s the link:https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=ccdULLjSgAE&feature=youtu.be

We really hope this excellent publicity helps to bring the remaining
funds we need for Breaking the Cycle South Pole.