autumn 2012 - 4-Seasons.de

16 Living the Dream Living the Dream 17
»You can either vent your anger at each other or
you can bear it together,
whatever you feel like.«
Broken spokes somewhere in nowhere. There will be help. Soon…
You can grab the meat and vegetables with it.
Fabian: In Ethiopia, everybody shares the food. Quite often people
in restaurants simply invited us to their table. They wanted to
share their food and hear our stories. Sometimes we got handed
over from one table to another – so when our food arrived, we were
not hungry any more.
What is it like when locals meet cyclists?
Tim: On a bike you’re more accessible than in a car or a bus. We
often stopped and joked around with the kids, let them have fun
with our bikes. They were happy.
Fabian: Asking for water was another way of getting in contact
with the locals.
Water management must be an important issue on such a tour…
Fabian: In South Africa, we always bought bottled water. We got
out of this habit pretty quickly: First, we drank tap water and later
on, simply water from running rivers and streams. We even got rid
of the water filter and just copied the locals’ habits. The Nile was
brown and dirty during the wet season in Ethiopia. People still
scooped water and waited until the dirt went to the bottom so that
the water was clear and you could drink it.
Tim: One of the most important lessons we learnt was that there is
always water where there are people. We never carried more than
three litres of water with us, even through the desert.
Did you get mugged?
Tim: My bicycle disappeared once – luckily we caught the thief.
He tried to explain he wanted to hide it in a better spot.... And I
lost my wallet, however, I’m not sure if I forgot it or if it got stolen.
On the bright side: A man brought me my wallet after I left it on
the back of my bike. Not a single coin was missing!
Fabian: The same happened with my GPS. We started cycling down
the hill and after 500 metres I realised that I hadn’t put it back into
my bag. I turned around immediately – 30 children were running
towards me, screaming and shouting and holding my GPS. >
Alpha SV – arcteryx.com