Project
Summary
Many
adventurers before us have traversed the trans-continental Pan-American Highway
on a bicycle, and some have done so on a tandem. What makes our adventure
unique is that we are both legally blind. The goal for our journey is to raise
awareness about the abilities of those with visual impairments and also to
inspire visually-challenged individuals to redefine their boundaries. We are
certainly pushing the limits of ours with this journey – we hope you do, too.
Raising
Awareness
The
backbone of our initiative to raise awareness is the website. We capture our
journey in photos and provide updates whenever possible. We also include
videos to provide a greater dimension to the experience of being on the road. Our
goal is to share our journey with as many people as possible.
Christi spreads the word to other
cyclists.
Handout Cards
A tandem
pulling a trailer attracts a lot of attention, and it is a great mediator for
starting a conversation. People often approach us with curiosity and/or take a
photo of it. When we share our ride – that we’re going all the way to Alaska –
and explain our project to raise awareness, their eyes widen with greater
fascination and amazement. We give them a “handout card” that provides
information about us and our ride.
We
have handed out more than 1,000 cards so far. For Stage 2, we have redesigned
the cards to provide a passage in Spanish to better explain what we are doing.
The
front says (in English): “We are a pair of cyclists with visual impairments,
traveling by tandem bicycle for more than 26,000 km from Ushuaia to Alaska with
the ultimate goal of raising awareness about our abilities.”
The
back has photos of us, along with our website, email, and information about our
partner, Research to Prevent Blindness.
Visiting
Schools for the Blind
The
second part of our objective is to influence the concept of se puede (Spanish
for “you can do it”) to the visually impaired community. When faced with
challenges, se puede is a powerful tool to influence possibilities and strengthen
inner-character.
We accept medals in recognition of
our efforts to raise awareness from SENADIS in Santiago, Chile.
For
Stage 1, we met with various schools and organizations for the blind in
Santiago:
·
Servicio
Nacional de la Discapacidad (SENADIS): Received medals in recognition for raise
awareness.
·
UMCE: Met and
spoke with students who are studying to be teachers for students with low
vision and blindness.
·
Hellen Keller
School for the Blind: Met and spoke with students.
·
Fundación
Fundalurp: Met with the president of a Chilean organization supporting people
with retinitis pigmentosa.
2B2R on Chile’s national news,
Channel 13.
Ride
Summary
Stage 1 took
longer than planned due to mechanical issues with the bike and other delays
that are part of the whole travel experience. A broken headset slowed us down
in the beginning, a broken derailleur hanger caused more delays and a worn-out
drive train made riding through mountainous windy dirt roads difficult. Furthermore,
at one point in our trip, we were stuck for 10 days waiting for a boat to take
us across Lago O’Higgins to start the Carretera Austral in southern Chile.
Route for Stage 1.
Riding
Statistics for Stage 1
Start:
Ushuaia, Argentina 10-Dec 2011
End
Stage 1: Santiago, Chile 20-May 2012
Duration
(once riding started): ~4 months
Total
Distance: 3457 km / 2143 mi
Total
Flats: 6
Total
Broken Spokes: 1
Total
Crashes: 3
Cookies
eaten: Too many
Bike
Issues
ü
Headset: For the first 100 miles, the bike
steered to one side or the other. By the time we got to Rio Grande, the first
major city after Ushuaia, we got a new headset.
ü
Derailleur
Hanger: During
shipment from the US to Ushuaia, the derailleur hanger got bent. By the time
we got to Punta Arenas in Chile, it was completely broken. Because this is a
special part, we couldn’t pick up a new one from a local bike shop. A welder
pieced it together and we continued northward. A little over 400 miles later,
it broke again. We finally got a replacement one shipped from the US.
Broken derailleur hanger.
ü
Drive-train: We started this trip using the
same drive-train from our ride across the US in 2009. Half-way through Stage
1, on the mountainous roads of the Carretera Austral, the chain kept skipping.
This limited the number of gears we could use until we reached a major city to get
a new drive-train.
Dealing with limited gears through
the Carretera Austral.
Key
Visual Challenges
Being
legally blind, we use certain strategies to insure our safety as we ride down
the road. Among other challenges, two key ones are (1) riding on gravel roads
(ripio) and (2) passing on/off-ramps. Maintaining control of a tandem
and trailer is difficult enough; maintaining the bike with visual challenges
add another level of complexity.
Tauru’s
severe tunnel vision makes it difficult for him to steer and to stay stable on
gravel roads dotted with pot-holes.
Ruta 40 south of El Calafate,
Argentina.
Finding the “good” track is a
challenge.
Keeping stability requires a lot of
concentration.
Discerning
the packed track (good for riding) from soft dirt is not possible with severe
tunnel vision. We crashed twice in this section of ripio south of El
Calafate. The front wheel caught soft patches of dirt and threw us off.
When
passing on/off-ramps, Christi provides verbal cues to prevent collisions with
vehicles. Tauru concentrates on keeping a straight and steady line when approaching
an on/off-ramp. He can’t use a rear view mirror because this throws off his
steering – the transition between looking at the mirror to see what’s in it and
then looking back at the road is too difficult. In these instances, Christi
looks to see if there are fast, large objects (assumed to be vehicles) coming,
and she communicates this to Tauru.
Tauru concentrates on the road ahead
while Christi checks to her left for a passing car.
The
challenge here is twofold: First, the vision in Christi’s left eye is severely
myopic, and second, she has no vision in her right eye. Not only does this
mean she has no depth perception, thus making it tough to tell distance and
velocity of oncoming traffic, but this also severely hampers her ability to see
anything on her right side. Looking for traffic on on-ramps requires her to
turn her body completely to peer over her right shoulder with her left eye, and
even then, it’s not clear if it is safe to pass.
Expense
Summary
The
following is information about our daily expenses for Stage 1. We budget $700
per month for two people for room and board and other travel expenses. The
“Monthly Spends” below does not include major expenses like visas for Argentina
($140/person when flying into Buenos Aires).
The exchange
rates during Stage 1 are:
o
1 USD = 4.3 ARS
(Argentine Pesos)
o
1 USD = 486 CLP
(Chilean Pesos)
Monthly
Spends based on:
o
December:
Starting Dec 10th in Buenos Aires
o
May:
Ending May 20th in Santiago
o
Total
for 2 Persons
Monthly
Spends for Sleeping is for paid accomodations:
o
Dec
2011:
Cost for camping in Ushuaia while waiting for the bike to clear Customs in
Buenos Aires. Camping was ARS 35 per person per night.
o
Jan
2012:
Same as for Dec 2011.
o
Feb
2012:
7 days of camping at a hostel in Punta Arenas, Chile (CLP 2,500 per person per
night), 3 days at a campground in El Calafate, Argentina (ARS 15 per person per
night), and 3 days in El Chalten, Argentina (ARS 25 per person per night).
o
Mar
2012:
Room for 2 ½ weeks in Coihaique, Chile.
o
Apr
2012:
Room for 3 nights in Puerto Montt, Chile.
o
Note on
Camping
The
following is intended to provide information about places to stay for those
thinking about or planning a cycle touring trip in South America.
A.
Tierra del Fuego:
plenty of rivers and lakes to camp next to. A water filter is recommended.
There are also estancias (farms) to stay at free of charge.
B.
Punta Arenas,
Chile to El Chalten, Argentina: Sty at estancias free of charge, do
couchsurfing, or do roadside camping next to rivers.
C.
Carretera
Austral: plenty of lakes and rivers to camp next to, or camp free of charge in
cmall villages along the way.
D.
Perto Montt to
Santiago: gas stations along Ruta 5 allow camping free of charge (showers available
for CLP 500).
Special
Thanks
We want
to thank the following people for their support of our project:
o
Chris Chavez
o
Raymond
Landis
o
Renee Defeo
o
Scott Parsons
o
Dale Mallison
o
Laurel Arendt
o
Paul Wenz
o
Dan Sharp
o
Alex Biegel
o
Marilyn
Geninatti
o
Georgina Gallagher
o
Scott Parsons
(thanks, again!)
o
Heather
Devine
o
Doug Pace
o
DiAnn Galm
o
Carly Antus
o
Bryan Johnson
o
Christine
Wallis
o
Patti Kuluris
o
Chris Lawson
Financial
donations help us with daily expenses for food, lodging/camping and bike
maintenance. Again, thank you for your support!
Up
Ahead: Stage 2
Stage
2 is already underway. The road will first pass through Argentina’s desert
landscape and then start the 4000-meter ascent to Bolivia’s altiplano and
ending in La Paz, Bolivia’s capital.
This
will particularly be exciting since our daily activities (riding, camping,
cooking, etc…) are now well-developed, thus allowing us more time and energy to
focus on other aspects of the journey. Stage 1 presented many bike problems;
Stage 2 will hopefully be better, though this cannot be guaranteed.
Bolivia
will take us to another world and another way of life. The thin air and frigid
night time temperatures will test our perseverance. With luck, the amazing
experiences we will encounter will outweigh the challenges.
