final tallies
Kms [miles]
Total: 26,000 [16,000]
Canada (6/11 – 8/11): 4,500 [2,700]
US (8/11 – 10/22): 3,400 [2,100]
Mexico (10/22 – 1-18): 4,800 [2,900]
Central America (1/18 – 4/1): 3,000 [1,900]
Colombia: (4/23 – 5/30) 1,700 [1,050]
Ecuador: (5/31 -7/14) 1,200 [750]
Peru:(7/15 -9/15) 2,900 [1,800]
Bolivia (9/16 -9/31) 750 [500]
Chile/Argentina (10/1 – 12/ 20) 4,000 [2,500]
camping and lodging totals
Total nights: 545 (until we finished biking)
camping: 198 (plus a dozen or so where we camped when invited)
hotels: 184
invited as guests: 155 (also includes warmshowers and couchsurfing)
Bike Mechanicals
-Flats: 94
-Destroyed tires: 10
-best tires: cheng shin semi-slicks. they were also the cheapest at $10 each. their nobby tires also held up great on gravel, but not on pavement. Schwalbe has been great with sending us tires, but their tires aren´t up to the tandem task (duremes were pretty decent, but $90 retail each!! XRs, Mara Extremes were poor) .
-Broken/Bent/worn out Chains: 17. we could only get 2,000 kms (1,200 miles) on a chain before it wore out the cassette. Sometimes (if hilly and dusty), much, much less.
-cassettes: 10
-chainrings: 2 whole sets, though the little 24 tooth “ninja” chainring was indestructible. bravo.
-broken bottom brackets: 2
-broken pawls in the rear hub (twice. Santana says they have NEVER heard of this in their Hadley hubs. I think it´s the dust and mud)
-cracked rims: 3 (rear, FIR 40 spoke – replaced the whole wheel set at 4,000 miles with a 48 spoke Salsa Gordos. both Gordos lasted 11,500 miles until they cracked on the braking surface. very impressive). 48 spoke wheels were great, until they broke. impossible to find compatible parts, esp for the rear hub.
-worn out shock seatpost (rear)
-shift cables: 5. tandem length are impossible to find, so carry extras!
Running tally on bike repair expenses: $3,500 is very much an estimate as I stopped keeping track after $2,200 or so. It would have been another $500 or so if we had time to ship what needed repairing in the last month – our bike was falling apart at that point. Maybe more to bring the bike back to where it was when we started. Wheels were expensive, as were the drivetrain parts (lots of $50 cassettes).
Titilating Roadside Finds/Harvests
-full bottle of beer (Molson Canadian)
-New Canoe Paddle (Traded it for a Gimongous cinnamon roll at Braeburn Lodge)
-branspankinnew children’s size down sleeping bag (given to nice family with a little critter to fit it)
-many perfectly good bungees
-Arctic Grayling (delicious fish for dinner)
-Wild Strawberries
-Wild Raspberries
-wild Blackberries (ate ourselves sick on Vancouver Island)
-couple dancing naked in the middle of the road to John Lennon (Teslin, Yukon)
-full bag of Doritos (ritualistically consumed on the spot)
-Dog eating a dead cow, followed immediately by a raven eating a dead dog (Mexico, the fertile land of roadkill)
-trout, trout, trout. caught witha $.50 spinner and nylon string wrapped around a water bottle. thank you patagonia.
What? No bungee cords??
Maybe you should have kept the paddle. You know, just in case you’re ever up a creek. I’m just sayin.
the merits of keeping the paddle were considered. Upon sight of the cinnamon roll and further discussion, we decided it was indeed best to trade the paddle for the bun. One, it seems was very useful for our particular needs, while the other was not. We will henceforth try to steer clear of s**t creek.
We kept a list of things we found on the road too. Alaska and Canada had some particularly interesting things! But you bet us with the couple dancing naked on the road! Ha ha! However, we have stopped in recent times. Not too many exciting things found on the side of the road down here in Bolivia!
Best of Luck as you head South of the border. Kids at O’keeffe M.S. in Madison are reading and looking at your pictures. Look forward to your return .
I love the pictures of your trip. Some kid’s at O’Keeffe say hello.
I realize the paddle has already been brought up, but I’ll do it again anyway. You traded a perfectly good paddle for a cinnamon bun?!?! If you ever apply for Canadian citizenship, don’t tell anybody that story.
And I’m pretty amazed that you’ve had only 15 flats. I had 33 between Mexico & Guatemala alone.
Dan