Projeto Rodas Livres

I did not expect so many comments about the first post of the road phase of the Rodas Livres Project, entitled “Farewell São Paulo.” This is really cool and encourages me to write more and better. I apologize to friends for I can not reply to everyone, as had been doing. Only the fact of me using a slower connection than the one I was used to use already makes  computational issues much more complicated… and it tends to get much worse. I read them all, assimilated advice and recommendations and carry them in my heart, okay? Just keep writing, as I keep riding …

Basically, everyone wants to know more. What is the continuation of the story, what else happened, where I am now and so on… Well, since it’s being nice to everyone, starting with me, let us continue the adventure …

Having passed out at 9 pm on Saturday in a small hotel in Ibiúna, I slept all night (except for a few night pees) and awake at 8:30 Sunday morning. I left without paying the phone call that I had made ​​the night before because there was no one awake and I had not changed in the wallet. I have made a loss of about R$ 2,00 … but there was no option. I went riding in cold and sunny morning, passing by the side of the Municipal Cemetery, where lie some of my ancestors. I went down the long hill from the main street and ended up in a bakery in front of the Main Church, at central square. While taking a vitamin with bread and butter, saw with surprise a mother and her two children posing for pictures beside the bike which, like a horse of the old west, waited for me patiently tied to a signpost. I thought, “what a funny habit of taking pictures of everything” But I liked it, as much as the interest of all counter attendants and counter neighbors … to everybody I said proudly: “I am going on a tour around the world” (I hope God will allow me to reach 10%, minimum, or things will get shameful… ).

And then hit the road again to cover the 35 km that separated me from my original destination, my brother’s house, in Piedade. Definitely, the start of the ride with that heavy load had been damaging and, despite the good night’s sleep, I still clearly felt the effects of stress. So it was with great difficulty that I continued the adventure. The sun opened, I got rid of the coat and soon the summer heat toasted. I was making several stops to drink water, rest my legs, to use sunscreen, to pee on the side… anything was a reason to get off the bench and lower my heart rate. The fact is that when you are tired riding is an ordeal.

From Ibiúna to Alto de Piedade

But I was eating the miles, thinking, “Geez, and I thought I would start making  already 60 km per day….” I arrived at Piedade downtown about 12:30 pm. I still had about 6 km, half of them uphill, to get where I wanted. As I had no more drive to pedal, I went uppushing all the time. Still, I stopped every kilometer to catch up my breath. Finally, shortly before passing out I got to Dédo’s house, which is in a farm on top of a hill. I understood immediately that there I would have to stop for a while.

Not only for putting myself together, but to fix problems on the bike and especially to rethink the load. As it was, it would simply not be possible to continue. So, I asked my nephews, Iberê and Cauê, and their wives, Mari and Lu, respectively, to filter the paraphernalia in search of expendable items. I explained that I wanted to reduce the 4 saddlebags for only 2 and that I would not be able to make those choices, because everything had been bought for me and also for me is that in the future would be to miss every one of those objects.

I had all this...

Iberê loved the joke and took on the task. He opened on the floor all the contents of the saddlebags and went out saying “this item is repetead, this one is useless, this is very heavy, this one you will need only about 2 years from now”, etc.. The kid pruned more than new knife, and I still felt good because even if only a radical trimming could put that load a loadable size. After all, I’m going around the world to enjoy life and do not to pay a promise …

And this is what I left behind

In the end, he accomplished the feat of halving the weight to carry. He then made a referendum to elect the 10 most useless items I was carrying. I do not remember the exact order, but among them were included: shovel-pick (very heavy) to cover poop made ​​in the bush, parrot plastic (very bulky) to pee at night without having to leave the tent, squeegee + brush + shovel to cleaning up the tent, oil olive oil in glass bottle, DVDs about bicycle maintenance and operation of camera, elastic gym for morning exercises. And the item that everyone thought the most bizarre of all: a travel-bidet,  viciously nicknamed ass-washer, that I had imported from Japan through the Internet for … well … for the purpose above.

And especially this...

Although with some sadness in my eyes for seeing me apart from all those dear objects, I had to agree that it was either that or go back home. But as I no longer have a home to return to, because my apartment was rented, the decision was made, everything would stay.

And here lies a curious parenthesis: the two most heavy, bulky and expensive objects that I would bring not even left São Paulo. Two days before departure I received a message from an old friend, Ricardo Carvalho, to whom I already had made numerous benefits of service as a reporter for his old production-house, Argumento. He asked me to call him. I went to his house and he invited me to produce material for the site that he will put on the air within a month,www.tvmeioambiente.com.br. I found that wonderful, because it was exactly what I would do anyway and now I would get paid. Then he asked me what i was taking as equipment to capture and editing images and I answered: a Canon T2i with a wide-angle and a telephoto lens and a laptop Mac Book Pro 13 “. He laughed and said “No way. You will take only a smartphone. “Oddly enough, I accepted the idea, went to Santa Iphigenia street, I bought a Samsung S2 and a folding Bluetooth keyboard (at the suggestion of my friend Luiz Couto) and thus replaced a cargo that otherwise would have been absolutely untransportable.  Although erratically, I have a hand that guides me …

But back to Piedade, still on Sunday night, I left the house to open sky and press the button OK on my Spot Messenger. This automatically includes the Facebook (page: Rodas Livres Project) a link for all to see where I stood. This is a very nice part of the game. On Monday I did nothing apart from rest. I would not even look at the bike and made ​​sure to cool the legs. In the afternoon I went with my brother to Sorocaba for what might be my last visit to my mother since she suffers from advanced Alzheimer’s disease and for almost 3 months only fed by a nasal tube. She smiled to see me, but soon got lost again in his universe unshareable, my very dear old lady.

On Tuesday, that is, today, I decided to fix some problems of the bike. I left early and went to downtown, in Abel’s bike shop, where I changed the handlebars (the position of the hands on the older one was terrible), the pedals (goodbye clips – if I were using them when the bike turned violently on Saturday night, perhaps the project had finished on the first day), and installed an electronic horn (trim-trim is very nice but do not commands respect). And I met Abel bicicleteiro, key chain, luthier, saxophone player and excellent Hawaiian guitar which he makes (http://www.guitarrahavaiana.com.br/). This is really cool on the bike: forces you to meet people. In the afternoon I rode to the cemetery, visiting the grave of my father. I cried quite a lot for I miss the great father I had, but even without him, even without her, I must move forward.

I’m still a little spoiled, but I intend to go back to the asphalt tomorrow morning, walking a road unknown to me – which is, for me, the real beginning of the adventure.