Uncategorized

South America Day1

/ bens game / 1 Comment

You join me today sunburned, and at the start of what should be a pretty epic adventure. Me and Karli are back in Colombia, 36 mile from our start point after ‘Operation Leave Town’. The weather is a pleasant 90F and humidity like my foot after a 10 mile run. It was hot, and to add to the excitement, between the two of us we are hauling 150 pounds of mountaineering equipment which is destined to follow the course of the Andes mountain range all the way to the southern most tip of Argentina.

What’s that you say? That sounds unpleasant, sweaty, pointless and bound to fail? Well, yes, it is pointless, and the chance of failure is pretty good. But we are trying anyway. We are on our way to what we consider to be the start of our trip, the northern most tip of Colombia and South America.

This next years trip- South America by bicycle following the Andes and climbing as many cool peaks along the way as possible. The first part is the part I have been least looking forward to, I hate heat. But if we make it through the daily torrent of heat stroke and exhaustion the climbing rewards should keep getting better and better. It’s rather ironic that for a cycle tour of this weight we are actually travelling rather light weight, with only one spare set of t-shirt and shorts per person.

THE COUNTDOWN TO THE TRIP

For literal months now we have been trying every conceivable type of bicycle pannier setup and trailer to find what we think fits our trip best, hundreds and hundreds of dollars later, trying to find a best of all worlds for rough non existent trail as well as smooth road, We settled on a Burley Nomad we ordered the week before leaving with it arriving a couple of days before departure untested.

the flight-
We found two one-way tickets from Denver> Fort Lauderdale> Cartagena for 115 dollars a piece, plus 3 checked bags for about 35 dollars a piece. Plus two bike boxes for transport at 75 each (with more gear inside each) totaling less than 500 dollars to get 2 people, 2 bicycles, a bike trailer and 150lb of climbing and cold weather gear to a different continent. Getting to the airport at 9pm, with three hours to spare in case of problems, we found the flight was delayed by a further 3 hours, so we pulled out our camping pads and slept better than most. We arrived in Cartagena at about 1.30pm the next day. We were glad that the layover between our two flights was 5.5 hours, seeing as my visa for the States expired the following day, and missing the flight could be detrimental.

spotted the bike boxes being loaded in Fort Lauderdale
Karli inflating the camp pads
me re-fixing the derailleur

morning of the flat tire-
We spent the afternoon and evening re-assembling our bikes from the heavily battered cardboard boxes smeared in oil , quite relieved the bikes were in one piece, and grabbed a Colombian sim card for one of our phones to have navigation ability and contact with the world. Thinking we were done and ready to ride the next morn, we went to sleep nicely dehydrated thinking of just how ugly all that weight looked and questioning if this trip was even possible.  When we woke on this, day one of our trip, we looked at the bikes and realized we had a flat tire before even setting off. We waited for our air bnb host to collect our key then set off into Cartagena traffic. A lot of people have asked what route we will take and to be honest, until we were sat on our bikes ready to cycle we didnt really have a way set. This is a kind of ‘wing it’ trip.

The plan was never to get too far today, but just get out of the city with a 10am departure. Cycling into the middle of the day is always unpleasant, but with roadside shacks every couple of miles carrying water was not an issue and there was good food that felt honest and less questionable than most American Dinners.

i’m not sure how she does it, but there are always oily gear prints on both Karlis legs.
new roads and no traffic
karli
karli showering after a hot afternoon in the sun
new roads and no traffic
karli
karli showering after a hot afternoon in the sun
i’m not sure how she does it, but there are always oily gear prints on both Karlis legs.

We pulled into our hostel (the first few nights along the coast we are stopping in rooms for a cooler night sleep and a cold shower each day) and stood under the trickle of water as a reward for a job well done. We sat outside playing chess, waiting for a meal to be made while finding ourselves entertained by hostel devil dogs with possibly the sharpest teeth i have had the pleasure of being bite by.

IMG_7481.jpg

Welcome to the new edition of bensgame. Something more interesting coming very soon. Also going to fix the mobile view when i get a chance. for now, ditch the phone, go retro and view on a laptop 😉

Fractured

/ bens game / Leave a comment

We arrived back in Colorado as part of our greater plan to ditch the car, get bicycles and cycle south America climbing along the way, but first- its winter and winter needs climbing and skiing before we set off in a few months.

We took a day put to Silver Plume to get some ice climbing in. A nice easy start to our winter. A 5 minute walk in to the fall. A fall with 3-4 lines, single pitch (one rope length) and about 20-30meters in length of WI3 (water ice class 3) and a class 4 short scramble top the top on clean rock (maybe pushing low 5th class rock). With a couple of sets of bolts at the top to set anchors making it super safe for playing about.

IMG-20180306-WA0021.jpg

rappeling down the fall

We were both wheezing after coming back to altitude and having to put in physical effort but arriving here was worth it. It was Karli’s first time playing on ice and a cracking place to learn. The fall was South facing and getting the sun all day with temperatures going above freezing and the odd rock falling down the gully behind us, the belay ledge was nicely away from both the tumbling rocks and ice tumbling off the fall with swings of feet and ice axe, so we were content to play. The rock under the ice was baking and the odd kick of a crampon breaking off decent chunks that would cascade to the bottom like a broken chandelier.

IMG-20180306-WA0019.jpg

Karli taking off chunks of brittle ice

fun hanging about
rappeling down the fall

IMG-20180311-WA0000.jpg

After our day on ice we had a day off then decided on a days skiing. After a fun day of non stop runs straight down and back up we went for one last run. A nice easy line we had already done earlier.

Unfortunately this didn’t go to plan and near the top Karli took a fall right into some spiky rocks. She smashed into the first with her back, flipped, hit her front, flipped again into her back. This was bad, I hoped she was just bruised but she was in agony and couldn’t move. We signaled a skier to get help. A few minutes later the ski patrol arrived with a stretcher.  She was scooped up and wrapped up to protect her face from snow on the way down.

Arriving at the medical station at the bottom Karli couldn’t stop chattering and was in a lot of pain.  An ambulance was called and we were taken to hospital. The big relief was her spinal cord was in tact and undamaged. A CT scan revealed she had three transverse process fractures on her L1 to L3. These are the bony projections on the side of the spine that muscles attach to. The doctor told us its like a broken rib and only time can fix it. 4-6 weeks. Every time Karli moves the muscles pull on the fractures.  Thankfully not permanent damage but a very painfully recovery. Now we are having an easy few weeks of rest, lots of TV, and lots of learning about how pottery is made.

IMG_20180308_135552.jpg

IMG_20180308_135715.jpg

IMG-20180306-WA0032.jpg

Crossing Borders

/ bens game / Leave a comment

The officer said ‘Its illegal to carry fruit and veg back into the United states, that’s your second contravention’. The first was ten minutes previous when we accidentally merged into a ‘Sentri lane’ to re-enter the United states just minutes after leaving, which carries a $5000 dollar fine.

‘Where are you heading?’ another of a series of questions begins.

‘To Argentina!!’ We both reply

‘How long is it going to take?’ , the next question.

‘Two or three months maybe, ish?’

The border officers are getting a real kick out of this.

Today we- crossed into Mexico, were let through by a green light. Did a u-turn, tried to go back to customs to get our Mexican Tourist Cards, took the wrong lane back into the USA without an option to bail out, and were told it’s up to a $5000 dollar fine. Told we would now need an inspection. Pulled into the x-ray machine, questioned, searched briefly, told the fruit in our cooler box is going bad, and is also contraband, which is a fine.

What a day!!!!! What a day. It was kinda funny, and they didn’t give us any fines I can say from the get-go. Driving into Mexico is easy, just a series of traffic-style lights. We didn’t find any opportunity to talk to anybody at the border. Immediately you are spat out onto an expressway, with signs in Spanish. Confusing to say the least. If you are staying within the tourist zone for 72 hours or less no paperwork or stamps are required, this is perfectly acceptable. If you want to go inland you require the paperwork.

This saga took most the afternoon. When we finally got back into the States we went to McDonalds’ for consolation fries and soda. We found out the office we needed to go to in Mexico was closed as it’s a holiday so now are camping free on the USA side of the border waiting for Monday morning to start fresh again with a full day for paperwork. Also giving time to pick up anti-malarial supplies for myself hopefully at a cheap price. We slept the night on a large lay-by to a reservoir supposing to be a quiet place to sleep. All night fishermen came by with trailers continually opening and closing a noisy metal gate down to the lake. This morning we were tipped off to a cool trail to a mountain top where we could camp the night.

We spent an hour on another lake kayaking in a $12 per hour sit-on-top, me paddling forwards, Karli paddling backwards in a counter-productive manor. And soaking each other in the process. It was an all out war for a moment with a peace treaty that never quite stuck, it was a good kick though. Karlis’ parents will be relieved to know she has picked up a fresh supply of large sweet bags to compliment the M&Ms we have been consuming at a steady rate. (We have also been training for climbing with running etc for a potential BIG mountain in Mexico, our excuse for excessive consumption.)

After losing a couple of previous days of our two week Mexican vehicle insurance we are re-planning and streamlining the country a little bit. That’s all for now folks!!!!

 

 

 

 

The Wacky Adventures Of Benjamin and Karli

/ bens game / Leave a comment

This is the first of a new series of blogs on this road trip

After a great week of chilling out with Karli and her friends we had Karlis’ goodbye night out. Starting as any good night out should with beer, vodka, and champagne bought by Kiva, Molly and Tyler the house mates, and joined by Eliot. Now, on a wednesday night Denver isn’t the most lively place on the planet but with these guys even two’s a crowd. First stop was a dj set with hip-hop and plenty of mixing followed hours later by a second place that for the life of me I cannot remember the name of, but it was empty so we stole the dance floor and bust crazy moves till they became sick of us. On route to pizza the girls decided to take a scooter out for a spin and run a few lights. When we reached the apartment everybody seemed pretty burned except me and Karli, so while they went to bed we went back out to an empty closed city to cause mischief. The idea was to get as high as possible. First of all finding our way onto a building site before setting of a proximity alarm and quickly departing. We went off the site idea and decided a hotel elevator would be easier than an external crane to gain a view. Upon finding a classy looking hotel we calmly walked in greeting staff on route to the lift. Upto the 29th we flew and after wondering around lost for a minute found the exit staircase with a route up. We were so close. But alas the final door would not open. we descended back down and set the height bar lower. There was a two story shopping mall/parking lot that looked feasible. This again confounded us within a few feet of the top. We made one final attempt. We had to succeed and Karli knew where we could!
On she led into the dark till we found a small rise onto a flat roof that dropped away on one side. This was it , the high point, 4foot off the ground. The terrace back at the apartment block was a lot higher but this was outside and without safety rails. We sat for a while at the high side watching vehicles drive by before deciding to head home.
A couple of blocks from home there was one last bar, closed but playing load music outside. Justin Beber- love yourself. One last dance outside with no one else about and we arrived back exhausted. It was getting light out so I don’t know what time but we had a blast and I collapsed on the sofa content.
In The morning we all went around to Karlis’ mums house to see her mum and grandparents before departing. A quick trip back to the apartment to pack and an hour later we said goodbye to the house mates and were on the road. The first shop for our road trip went slow. Standing and staring at jars of tomato sauce to go with pasta not quite knowing which to get, the options were endless, an entire shopping isle. Then picking the ideal pan and plates. It took longer to do this shop than the decision to drive to Argentina and pack for the trip. Last night after the shop we drove 200miles to the Colorado monument Pitching the rooftent up just outside of the park.
We are now on day three, Ill be honest and say after missing a turn we went 68 miles in the wrong direction and had to turn around, but now!, after the small diversion we are on the way. We just passed through moab and have stopped in the grand canyon, might have something really big planned tonight/tomorrow. The rangers told us its not advisable so we know were on the right track. Extreme heat, dehydration, lots of miles and lots of elevation.

watch this space!!

shopping with ‘the Karli’

Choose Junk Food

/ bens game / 2 Comments

Choose Junk food

Choose smarties, choose snickers, choose candy and hope diabetes wont catch up with you.

Choose double espresso for breakfast with donuts coated in sugar and chocolate and tell yourself you’ll burn it off in a workout.

choose 5 coffees to stay awake then energy drinks to peak the rush you chase every day.

choose 5hour energy for motivation, choose babe ruth bars for dinner, choose 2 burgers to comfort you when the days been long.

Choose candy for hikes, choose m&ms for biking, choose pop-tarts for alpine ascents.

Then wash it down with an unending quantity of Pepsi, Cola, monster, relentless and all the soda you can get your hands on.

This is my life, this is what i do. I’m a sugar junkie. It fuels me.

IMG_20170719_212444219

On the trail, I eat eat like this. The above writing is just a bit of fun. It is exactly how I eat.

 

Cycling on the 4th July

/ bens game / Leave a comment

My 4th July started like you are aware, with McDonalds. I have to say im begining to detest the Mcmuffin but it fuelled me up. I hung about in the town till the parade, the one big surprise at the start of the parade being everyone lining the sides of the road standing to attention with hand over heart as the American flag and servicemen led the way. This was followed by ex service men charities and support groups, then the fire services, with firemen dancing behind the wagon. It was pretty hot and I wondered how enthusiastic the dancing would be by the far end of the parade. There were plenty of entertaining floats and youth clubs, cheer leaders, boxing clubs and more. One thing that stood out was the amount of advertising with dates for events displayed on the side of the wagons. Then the beer companies getting their adverts in, even some mining companies. While the parade was entertaining, it did feel like watching a commercial, all be it a very colourful one.  At 1pm I set off. It was hot, with a gentle headwind drying my skin and mouth and causing frustration. It was a long climb up a mundane gravel road mile after mile. Once I reached the divide crossing it felt easier, probably because it was downhill. when I reached the bottom of the next valley i sat under the highway in the shade. It was 5pm, I promised myself I wouldn’t ride through the mid day but its all I seem to end up doing of recent. I decided to take the easy alternate instead of an infamous steep ridgeline. An evening of 18 mile road cycling with a river lunch half way was nice. I rolled into Wise River and grabbed a beer. Then a second beer, then a third beer. At which point it started getting dark. I rolled out to find somewhere to camp.

In the middle of the main road in the town a group of adults and kids were setting off fireworks. They invited me to join them and handed me a beer. This seems to be becoming a theme along the route and one I am getting used too,  by nearly midnight the fireworks were over and a lovely old lady who seemed to be grandmother to many of the kid offered the back porch to sleep on, which i gladly took.

5th July- 6am- I woke dehydrated, I said the previous night I would be up and gone early to get some miles in and as promised woke early. As I went around the front of the cabin I realised about 15 yards from where the fireworks were being set off was a fuel pump, it made me laugh a little. Todays ride has been glorious, climbing a pass to 2360m (7740ft) before descending to Elkhorn Hot Springs and covering around 30 mile by lunch. Now I am deciding if I should stop the night. After glancing at the map i have realised Yellowstone is within striking distance. Finally feels like I’m getting some miles in.

cabin in the woods
lovely cabin that let me sleep on their back porch
awesome road cycle
awesome gravel road cycle from butte to wise river
dancing firemen in parade

Americas Night

/ bens game / Leave a comment

When I arrived at the Layby I was greeted by a family that has pulled in for the fireworks, 3-4 vehicles full of parents and children that turn out here every year to watch, this seemed to me to be the epitome of American life, families gathering for Americas day, enjoying it together, they told me they had just enjoyed a hog roast hand turned by themselves over hours. The gave me water, beer, candy, and let me join them with a comfortable seat. From about 9 pm fireworks were flying all over the city. It seemed from every household. At 10.30 the main even started, with giant fireworks dwarfing the hill from which they were launched from. A brilliant light show. Made even better by the will of the locals to have fireworks going off solid till midnight.  As I had not sorted any accommodation I went a few yards down the hill from the layby, rolled out my camping pad and sleeping bag and slept, despite the noise from traffic heading home I was out like a lamp. In the morning the breakfast of champions- Mcdonalds.

 

The statue on the ridge line is known as ‘Our Lady Of The Rockies’.  In 79′ Bob O’Bill’s wife had cancer, he said if she recovered, he would build a life size statue of Mary in his yard. When she did recover, he kept to his word. He started building the statue with the help of fellow workers, but what happened was it caught the imagination and support of all the locals in the town. Pretty soon the staute had grown from the planned 5ft, up to 90ft, with a presiding view on the ridge line over the town. Many volunteered to help, from locals blasting the rock platform, a local concrete company sorting the base, an engineer from anaconda designing it, donations from the public, right up to the national guard 137th aviation company airlifting it. The staute was lifted piece by piece, a dangerous job to an exposed rocky ridge with high winds. In 1985 it was finished standing tall over the community whose will and generosity put it there. At night it is illuminated and can be seen for miles.

Hitching A Ride

/ bens game / Leave a comment

So, After getting out of The Bob, I sat at the side of the gravel road waiting for a car to pass. and there I waited………

It took around 6hour for one vehicle to pass. This is a dead end road, just a small carpark at the end of a 30mile stretch of gravel more likely to be used on weekends, and today was Tuesday. I was beginning to think no one would be leaving that day (there were 3 cars parked up, likely on camping trips for multiple days) when a lovely couple pulled out the car park, offered me a beer and let me join them to Augusta, they were in their 40’s and had given up the desk jobs to tour the country. I stopped the night in a RV park, got breakfast in a small cheap cafe for a few dollars, and decided to hitch to Missoula then Spokane as there would be more to do while my feet heel and I could have a proper catch up with Tribhu. I walked to the roadside at the end of the town and before I had even turned around an old F150 pickup pulls over, and a nice old man says ‘hop in’, he was a carpenter on the way to finish a house. He agrees to take me to the crossroad 20 miles further down where I would continue my hitch in a different direction. The second hitch took about 10 minutes. A shiny new 4×4 drove past before swinging onto a dirty side road and coming back for me, the driver was an ex-police chief, on his way to a wedding. He dropped me in Lincoln 30 miles further down. From Lincoln I had one small ride of about 10 miles west followed by the rest of the way to Missoula with a guy going to see a music act that night, I honesty wasn’t going to consider the car for a lift, I could see in the distance the front wing had been ripped off in an accident and I slowly lowered my hand trying to make myself less noticeable, but he pulled in and asked ‘Missoula?’. Taking that as a good sign I took the ride. Before letting me leave he insisted I take a 4 pack of beers for the road and wished me well, as he passed me the pack of beers he hesitantly asked ‘actually, would you mind if I took one for the road?’. Safely presuming due to the conversation we previously had he was high and myself not really interesting in the beers anyway i happily obliged. Oh America you never surprise.

The satisfaction of covering a decent amount of miles from the generosity of others is one everybody should experience, a great way to see the states and meet the locals.

In Missoula I would relax for the day and look around before heading to Spokane to see a good friend. I asked around for a good coffee/pastry shop and planned on sitting down with a little food and finding accommodation. When I arrived at the coffee shop, the staff enquired if I was on holiday. I said I’m hiking the CDT and taking a couple of days off. After buying a pastry the girl behind the counter said ‘take a seat and relax here for a while’. So I did, minutes later for her to come over and introduce herself. She was called Sarah and had cycled the CDT two years previous with her husband Josh, she said they received a lot of generosity from people along the way and they would like to return the favor. So arranged for me to come down after the coffee shop closed and I could have a lift to their house. I met the husband Josh who had just got back from a mountain bike competition finishing quite well. The thing that always surprises me in life is just how much other people want to help.  After a nice evening and a good breakfast of pastry and coffee the next morning Josh gave me a ride to the Greyhound Station to catch my Spokane bus.

I have been in Spokane for most the past week now stopping at my friends. My mangled up feet nearly good to go apart from one scabbed up blister that has decided to remain. So tonight I will head back to trail by catching the Amtrak back to Glacier and hitching back to where i left off. I have adjusted my pack to be as light as possible to accommodate better digital equipment for better photos, footage, and blogs. Here’s hoping i don’t need an umbrella, bear spray, ice axe, crampons, spare socks, wood burning stove, spare boxers or more than a 2 season sleeping bag.

On this trip so far I can count 9 hitches, 3 offers of accommodation overnight, free beer during the hitch, a nice pack of beers after another hitch, new friends to hike with, 2 grizzly bears, 3 black bears, moose, lots of deer, prairie dogs, mice, marmots, chipmunks, snow bridges, many river crossings, and probably a lot I have forgotten already. All good things. While this has been a slow trip to start I am looking forward to the next couple of months.

 

 

Arriving in East Glacier

/ bens game / Leave a comment

 

WP_20170609_13_04_04_Pro

So after nearly looking at mortgages I have come to my sense and decided to travel. Over the past week I’ve sorted flights, insurance, maps, flown to Las Vegas, had 2days relaxing, flown to Kalispell and hitchhiked to East Glacier ready for a jaunt down the Continental Divide trail. I’m sat back on the hostel balcony looking at the end of the first 100miles of trail I’ll be hiking in a few days.

Vegas was a cool city to visit. Everywhere smelled like carpet cleaner and there were miles of conveyor belts carrying people into the casinos, like a giant slaughter house mouth swallowing up cattle with tourists wilfully going along to have their pockets emptied.  Something about it was quite brilliant, the owners of these establishments making it as easy as possible to funnel people the right way, ensuring your well fed, you have plenty to drink, taking away any excuse to leave and go else where.  A real city of excess, casinos fighting to be the biggest, the most ornate, big pools, miles of indoor air conditioned shops, shows, bars, if you can imagine it its probably already there.  On the final morning I was questioning my sanity giving up the comfortable king-size deluxe room bed on the 29th floor,  and changing it for a sleeping bag and camping mat. But I’m glad I have. The view of the mountains lures me in.

I had a dream the other week I was on a plane flying through clouds and I could see the mountain side getting closer, the plane swings violently, the pilot tries to pull up, but it’s too late, I know its over. I woke up on impact. A week on and I’m flying into Glacier Park. As we approach I can see through the clouds the remains of winter, the steep glaciated profiles. The mountains are a more  comfortable distance away than the ones in my dream. But it gave me the chills when the plane did bank for its final approach. I hike out the airport to the roadside , stick out my thumb and catch a ride almost instantly. I forgot how friendly Montanans’ are.

The strong smell pine trees has made me feel right at home as I collected my first supply of noodles and chocolate bars in prep for what’s to come.