‘Nos disparó,’ I say. ‘Quién?’ Ceci says. ‘El güey ahí, gritando.’ ‘Cómo crees?’ ‘Si mira…’ Together we look over to the tiny man screaming at us in the distance, waving his gun, a plume of smoke rising over his head. ‘No manches.’ Ceci says. ‘Pues vamonos, no?’ ‘Un segundito,’ I say. My phone died a…
Tag: Etienne Robert
Cycling Ecuador
All I will say is that Richard Carapaz recognized us first. Ceci & I, we were minding our own business, we’d woken up in Colombia that morning (where Carapaz is not from), packed up our things, crossed the border into Ecuador, and perhaps we’d cycled 20kms on the Trans-Ecuador route we’ll be following for the…
Cycling Sumba + Wrap-Up
‘Well,’ Ceci says, as we ride along a peaceful seaside road. ‘I don’t think today’s going to add much to the overall uphill of the trip…’ Two minutes later, the road ends. ‘Huh.’ I say. On paper, the day was all downhill. All of 34kms with 600 metres of cumulative downhill. We even slept in…
TranSierra Norte
Take a swig of this, te va a rehidratar! The day is over, we’re in a rusty carcass on wheels sucking diesel. Through the dusty windshield ahead another miracle of engineering running on black smoke and buena suerte is transporting the bikes. I’m looking through the Gatorade bottle that’s being handed down to me, at…
The Homeless Athletics Club
Blink once, Ceci is riding her mountain bike on the highest suspension bridge in the world on her way to her first Enduro World Series finish. Blink twice, Camille is running on a ridge at 2,450m in the snow on her way to finishing her first 60k UltraMarathon in 4th place. Blink one last time,…
Tree Planting 2018
Pick a spot roughly 1000kms North-West of Vancouver. Now zoom in. Way in. It’s seven thirty in the morning, 3°c, raining, and if you look around this wild desolate place of acrid smelling rot & shredded wood, navigate the treacherous landscape of fallen trees & sharpened sticks, the rotting stumps, the swamps, the webs of…
Cycling Malaysia
We’re sitting on the ground outside a gas station in the middle of nowhere drinking white coffee, eating cake. Que vamos a hacer? My bike is propped upside down, my panniers are all over the place. No sé. Ceci gets up and tries to yank it out. She sits back down and eats more cake. Then I…
Cycling Thailand
Sweat is pooling in my eyes. We’ve been cycling for more than 140km and hunger is fierce. We finished the day in the searing heat of 1pm and now we’re sitting at a tiny table behind a little food stand on wheels and for the thousandth time, I’m wiping the sweat from my face with…
Cycling Laos
The Mekong river flows sluggish and brown beside the boardwalk plaza where Ceci & I are dancing. We are celebrating. Our 46hr trip from Mexico City to Vientiane has been costly and stressful, yet somehow both we and our bikes have made it all the way through on time and mostly undamaged. It was my…
The Baja Epic
The Team The alarm sounds, 3.30am. The first of many early starts to come. The team wakes up one at a time eating little and talking even less. We gather some last items and pile into the jam-packed car, sharing three seats between the four of us, and head to the airport. After a swift…
LifeAthlon 