Monday 28 May 2012

Visas

So with my departure date rapidly disappearing into the past, time for a brief summary of the visa situation:

Kyrgyzstan - Done, visa in passport

Iran - Approved, waiting to be collected in Istanbul. Unfortunately, I don't really know how to collect it, and there is a good chance I won't make it to Istanbul before it expires

Tajikistan - Absolutely no idea. Passport has been with the embassy for 2 weeks now. Apparently the visa has been issued and my passport is in the mail, but I'm not holding my breath

Uzbekistan - Started, they have the application and a photocopy of my passport, but are refusing to speak to me

Turkmenistan - Can't start until I have stamps for Iran and Uzbekistan. It's ok though - there is some guy somewhere in Iran who apparently can sort everything out

Kazakhstan - Application filled out, sitting on the kitchen table since I couldn't be bothered to go to London this morning. Probably can't be bothered to go tomorrow either.

Russia - Waiting on letter of invitation (meant to arrive on Wednesday), after that it should be simple. However, I have got a new bike since starting this application so the details will be wrong. I expect that this is a problem that can only be solved with large piles of cash

Mongolia - Trying not to think about it

Wheels

About a week ago when I was in the final stages of preparing for this trip (I had filled out the form for a second visa, but not sent it, and had ordered some panniers) I ran into a small problem. As I left work one evening I noticed that the back end of the bike was moving in a slightly more sideways direction that it usually does. Suspecting that this may not be intended behaviour for a bike I pulled over by following the standard recommendations of panicking and slamming on the brakes.

Turns out the one side of the tyre had come away from the rim because there was no air left in the inner tube. Ok, not a big deal. The back end had been a little bit sloppy for a couple of weeks, I guess it was just the tyre was leaking air and it just so happened to reach the falling-off-the-rim threshold now. Fortunately this happened right next to a garage so it was only a 2 minute push to find some more air.

Well, that sort of didn't work. The tube wouldn't take any more air. There must be a puncture somewhere, but I couldn't find any damage on the tyre - certainly no nails or anything similar which could have punctured the inner tube.

Then I started looking at the rim itself. To be honest, it could have been in better condition.



Now before anyone starts thinking that I am reckless and was about to start riding round the world without even checking out the bike first, you are only partially right. I have been doing stuff like changing filters and brakes. I just didn't check out the wheels. Looking back, that was probably a mistake.

So since there was no damage to the tyre but the inner tube had a puncture and there were cracks all over the rim I surmised that the inside of the rim was corroded and had shredded the tube. Nothing to be done now so I pushed it back over to the office car park and called my housemate to pick me up.


The next day I was meant to be on holiday and riding along welsh B-roads. Instead I spent the morning hanging out at bus stops in Bristol. Pretty much the same thing.

I turned up back at the office armed with a new inner tube, a single tyre level (there was only one in the shop), a roll of gaffer tape and a very optimistic plan to 'fix' the wheel. Turns out my assumption of the night before was wrong and the rim hadn't destroyed the inner tube, instead the valve had ripped of the tube. Not ideal, but easily fixed. And absolutely no bodging required.


But I was still concerned about the rim so I posted some pictures on a forum and asked for others opinions. The responses were..., well they were honest. Some of my favourites were

    "I wouldn't ride on that wheel to the end of the street"
    "That wheel is worse than scrap"
    "suicidally rotten"


The general suggestion was to get the wheel rebuilt. I would agree, except sourcing the parts and getting the work done (front wheel was in a similar condition) would take 5-6 weeks. I was meant to be leaving in 2.

The final solution involved going to some guys house and taking his bike in return for a fistful of bits of paper with the queens head on them.


For some reason I am not at all surprised that I am about to head off round the world on a bike that I have owned for a length of time counted in hours rather than months. Only good can come from this.

What if I can't think of a title?

Lots of people have asked me recently whether I was planning on writing a blog while I'm away.

Well, no. Not really.


But thinking about it, it would be nice to have some way for people to keep up with what I'm doing. Also, if I update it frequently enough it might stop me from forgetting everything. I can just imagine the conversation in 6 months time...


Someone else: So how was your trip?
Me: uhhh.....yeah......good. I think?



I guess everyone who reads this will probably know what I am planning on doing, but just in case.

The plan is to start from somewhere in the UK and ride my motorbike to Kuala Lumpur via central Asia, Mongolia, Japan and anywhere else where I get lost lots of other places on the way. Well, that's the plan. Given past experience I am likely to arrive in France and turn right.

Once in KL I will be working for a couple months so my latest arrival date is pretty much fixed. I have 6 months to get there from here. With my leaving date of yesterday that should be plenty of time.


The only minor hiccup so far is that I only have 2 visas (out of 9ish), one of my passports is lost in former soviet bureaucratic hell, I have no carnet de passage, no tent, no ferry bookings, I haven't left yet and if I don't get moving soon the visas I do have will expire. Also, the rear wheel on my bike fell apart last week.


This can only end well.