Mark Beaumont's Diary
Despite adding about 2kg to his overall kit weight, Mark carried a laptop, GPS tracker, three cameras and a voice recorder to help him document his journey.
He sent us text messages and phoned from the road and whenever he passed through civilisation, he popped into internet caf茅s to email pictures and videos.
Hi from Krakow
Mark Beaumont, Thursday, 16 August 2007.
11 days and 1100 miles behind me!
Week one challenges with the back wheel continued into week two with another broken spoke which prompted a complete wheel rebuild in Poland a few days ago. Slightly drastic action at this early stage but I had little choice after the breakages and can't risk this happening east of Istanbul.
To get a bit techy for a second, the breakages are because the internally-geared hub that I use takes a 32 spoke wheel which is weaker than a traditional 36 or 40 spoke rear wheel. However, it should be strong enough and for the sake of the gearing (which is proving to be superb) I am giving the wheel one last chance. If it breaks again though, I will be swapping the whole system for traditional gears and a wheel with more spokes (techy chat ends)!
For now, I am riding like a luny to try and test the wheel as much as possible so if it is going to break, it will happen before Istanbul. After that, repairs get tricky!
Today was a real test for the new wheel as the roads of eastern Poland have deteriorated to patchwork quilts of uneven tarmac which make the roads of greater Glasgow look flawless!
After a beautiful day in the flatlands yesterday I am back into the rolling hills, although not as big as the ski areas on the German border. As further contrast, it has been blisteringly hot for the last two days, hitting 40 degrees today. After four days sleeping wild without a shower, I saw myself for the first time a few hours ago and resembled a caveman with a rudolf red nose. It was never the most subtle nose in the world due to its generous dimensions, and is now a glowing beakon in the middle of eastern Europe!
I was planning to camp again tonight but found myself too close to Krakow at the end of the day so am staying at a very plush, ridiculously cheap, hotel and am fairly sure that my posh wee en-suite has never seen such minging hand washing before!
Hoping to reach to Ukrainian border area tomorrow evening and then turn further south. At that point I will leave Piotr, my physio, masseause and Polish 'fixer' who has been meeting me every so often and has been increadibly helpful over the last week. A huge thank you.
Must sleep... and find the aftersun!
All the best to reality
Mark
Comments
Hi Monty, just to let you know I'm watching your progress with interest and wish you all the best mate. Unbelievable effort!posted by David Pogmore from Glasgow Uni/Leicester
I am living vicariously through you Mark while I train for my triathlons. Keep the posts coming. I'd love to hear more about your interactions with the locals. I know you've got to be getting some strange looks when people hear your goal.posted by Leighsah from Longwood, Florida, USA, near Orlando
Greetings! - best wishes for your continued endeavours, which are supplying me with my thrills while between 2 hip ops! Good word, vicariously, by the way.posted by Bob Watt from Glasgow
