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Mongolia To Mexico The Hard Way
By: Sheba Cassini
Your arse hurts, your legs ache and you feel like hell...it's 6.30 am, the cockerels have not stopped crowing since 4 am, frogs have been throwing themselves at the outside of your tent and you know you have to get to the 'long drop' (a deep hole dug in the ground surrounded by a wind break) first or there will be a queue and when you have the squits,...that ain't a good thing!
There's someone shaking your fly sheet telling you to get up and you can't have breakfast till you've got the tent down and into the backup truck...BUT...it's FANTASTIC and you feel on top of the world and I'd do it again and again and again!
What am I rabbiting on about? Cycling for charity. You've seen them advertised; the charity walks and cycles all over the world and I'm addicted! After 4...Mongolia, Ecuador, Mexico and Brazil you become somewhat of an expert and one of the things I love is the newcomers who come to me for advice...at least I think they're after advice and not being sarcastic..'seeing as you know so much Sheba, what should I do about this...?'
Everyone's first trip is an eye-opener as you have no idea what to expect. I never quite believe that the people in charge (on all my trips the ever professional and totally trustworthy Discover Adventure in cahoots with Macmillan Cancer Relief) can get 60 people and bikes to wild parts of the world.
Teacher, bar owner, cartoonist (me), regional weather girl...we are all there! The variety of participants is another lure for me...you would never meet these types on a small organised trip. It's when people are sobbing at the top of a 17 km cycle up part of the Andes that it really hits home as to why some people are taking part. For their wife who was taken so abruptly from them after being diagnosed with breast cancer...for somebody's Dad who suffered for years but coped because of the nurses.
Everyone has their reasons and everyone has a story, which emerges after you cycle into camp after a long hard, but satisfying day...put up your tent, have a wash and settle down with a local beer.
Meanwhile the support team, local people with local produce, beaver away to concoct some tasty 3 course power food which we wolf down with a few more beers and then in bed...zonk! by 10pm!
It's great having that outdoorsy tired feeling, especially when it's mixed in with a foreign measure of exploring a new country excitement. The feeling that your limbs are getting stronger by the day. It's a subtle thing but by day 6 there are less aches and quicker miles, less tea breaks and more smiles! (sorry...corny but true!) The less fit people at the back are taking less time to catch up and you see their look of achievement.
You can hear them wishing they'd stayed longer in the spinning classes at home. But they DO it! And that's what it's about - the CHALLENGE! However, I learnt not to say that to them when they are struggling up a wet, off road, bouldery bit with another 6kms to go before the top...... I find the fund-raising more challenging! But having said that it's as fun, as I make it a point that all my fund-raising is in party form.
Some are more successful than others; like the wine tasting evening where we only made £100 but I had a cracking night...if my hangover was anything to go by. I always get there in the end and after 4 trips (where I got married before the last one and resorted to donations as wedding gifts!) my friends have come to look forward to the next fundraiser, knowing that it will probably be a mad themed (I HAVE to get my PVC nurses outfit in every time!) event with a mixture of characters and money making games!
It would be quicker to say what I didn't like about these trips rather than what I loved ... but I hope this snippet has been as inspiring to read as it is for me to be on my bike.
Check out Sheba’s caricaturing website on www.bitterandtwisted.org
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