THE HEROINE AND I
So, following my initial plan I was to go back to Rio de Janeiro to exchange bikes. I planned to take back the used yellow one, temporary, and pick up a brand new black definitive one. My initial idea was to go with my Parati (while she was still with me), but my friend Marquinhos, who had left his pickup truck in Rio, suggested I go by plane and bring back his car. He would pay the airfare.
For better or worse...
In the black bag, the bench and wheel
And that’s what was done. With a heavy heart, I began to disassemble the yellow bike for his last journey in my company. I realized then the love I already had for it … we had several long trips together. But when you decide to do a voyage like this that I am proposing to do, farewell events are commonplace.
Marquinhos and I
So on the night 07/29/11, a Friday, in the company of Marquinhos, who drove the Parati, I arrived at Congonhas, where I packed the bike in the yellow plastic machine dispenser. It took two sessions, each at a cost of R$ 30,00. And after an expensive and bad snack in the airport lounge, I flew by Gol to Brazil’s old capital. There I was approached by taxi drivers who charged me R$ 100,00 for a race to Barra da Tijuca, where I spent the night staying in the apartment of Marquinhos’s father, Commander José Carlos, a former Navy officer, for whom I have great appreciation and admiration.
Nice toy!!
And saturday morning I loaded the bicycle in the back of the showy black Mitsubishi Triton automatic and went off trying to tame the beast through the streets of Barra. I stopped for lunch at Barra Shopping, and finally went to the Catete where I would meet Pedro Zöhrer for the exchange of bicycles. I went along the beach, savoring that delicious and sunny afternoon, unable to avoid some jam to reach the central area.
Parking in the region of Catete was about to become an impossible task when I saw a spot in 45º in Correia Dutra road. It seemed too tight, but went nicely. I downloaded and went down the sidewalk carrying the bike in my hands when I was approached by a man, accompanied by his son, who wanted to know where I would take it. I explained to him what would happen and he walked with me to the bike shop, where he ended up buying the yellow bike.
For better or worse...
And then in the bike shop Pedal2, where I’d arranged to meet up Pedro, that’s when I first saw what will be my companion for the madness, or rather, adventure of Projeto Rodas Livres (Free Wheels Project). Upon seeing her, I asked:
– So this is the heroine?
Excelent! I do recomend!
In saying this I thought about how it was possible that the set of a few metal parts could take me around the globe … But that was it! Besides of being black-matte, have fenders and be brand new, it was equipped with an excellent gear system, much better than the one that fitted the yellow bike. My new recumbent has a gear system by the XXXXXXX brand, model type XXXXXX, which I can highly recommend (Next time, if they participate in the sponsorship, I’ll reveal the names).
And then, with the exchange made, we shipped the “heroine” in the truck, and as it was already 2pm, I went accelerating through the streets of Rio de Janeiro to hit the Dutra Highway to get back to São Paulo in the midst of a storm, around 9 o’clock .
Now we were properly equipped.
Back home!
