howlonghowfar

My support team is Legion.

Most of the members are completely unaware of their membership. It is only when I stop and ask them where the nearest Hotel or bike shop is or when in the supermarket need help working out whats really in the carton labelled “Pienas” that they realise their membership of a geographically wide, ethnically diverse  group of unfortunates people.

There are some key members in this team and before I get to them I must first mention the guys at Radspanerei Nils, Tommy, Jorg, Jan and the rest, without whom I would not be as well informed about the choices I made for the bikes various components. You can learn more about them and the building of my latest bike here.

Hubert

Is a good friend of mine from Berlin, actually he is from a small town in the south west corner of Germany but I digress. When he is not sending me bicycle parts or camping equipment he runs Taxolino, Berlin’s premier Taxi service. When he is not doing that, then he is known to, at times enjoy a bottle of fine wine and cigar, I do my best to be available to help.

Nico & Nicole

I don’t have a decent picture of either Nico or  Nicole and lets face it Varinia & Charis above are much cuter.

Jenny

Jenny is fabulous at getting things done. Unfortunately she lives in the south of Sweden which means that its very expensive to source and post anything from there, this means that she is my secondary line of support in Europe  and unfortunately for her its always dreich and dreary in Skåne

Peter Gavan

Peter is a banker these days, he had a real job once. He and his Glaswegian tigress (of the genus Saber tooth) wife are for the moment in Singapore and from around China on they will be my support team well, Leonore will.

I will need to be dying of a mystery disease and stuck half way up a mountain goat before Peter would help and then only to take amusing pictures. Despite this he is a good man to know in an emergency, just make sure he thinks its an emergency too or his console game, weekend in Macao or empty G&T glass will distract him.

He is part of the reason that Im taking this particular route. During a visit when I was in Germany he left his cap in the car after our weekend jaunt down to St Anton for a spot of ski-ing, that and avoiding being in the UK on a certain date in April. Anyway  upon his arrival in Australia I received an email politely requesting that I return said cap, it went along the lines of I want my Tobago hat back you Dastard. So to ensure its safety I wore it for about 10,000km back and fourth on the bike through Europe and its now in a plastic bag at the bottom of my pannier to be returned on arrival in Singapore. It is unfortunately no longer in pristine condition.

Alan

From Singapore on Alan and my sister Anne will be my support. When Alan is not falling of his bike and asking for two pain killers, he is either fiddling with some gadget, computer or repeating the phrase Yes Dear in a slightly distracted fashion.

Anne

Well she is usually cleaning something, this is her with Max, I really need to get a picture of Daniel Anne’s youngest.

Now that I have included a picture of Max and am looking for a picture of Daniel, I would be in a great deal of trouble if I didnt include a picture of Missy, otherwise know as Ella.

South Americas?

North America?