BOMBTRACK "A JOURNEY BEYOND"

After a while an old lady came, woke me up and gave me
cheese, bread and homemade wine. In the morning the
young boy came again, this time with bread, butter, hot tea
and a bottle of chacha (really strong homemade alcohol, up
to 70% !!!). For breakfast !!!
In Iran I was setting up camp under some trees on a patch
of land, when two young guys came to say hello. I asked if
it was ok for me to camp there and they said yes. We shook
hands and they went off. After about 20min., they came
back with a thermos flask with tea, a cup and sugar, plus
a water melon. They gave me the stuff and went off again.
I had some tea, ate the water melon and went off to bed.
About an hour later, I was woken up to the sound of a lot of
voices and as I looked out of my tent, there were about 12
people with flash lights outside – the two guys had brought,
more or less, half the village and they all wanted to say a
“Hello” ...
WHAT WAS THE AVERAGE DAILY DISTANCE YOU WERE DOING ?
In average I did around 100 km per day, with an average of
1000 meters of climbing every day! The toughest day was
the ride to, and up, the Georgian military highway to the
Russian border ... 160km with an elevation gain of 3225
Meter!
HOW DO YOU MANAGE TO TAKE SO MUCH TIME OUT, WHAT DO
YOU DO FOR A LIVING ?
I’m a freelancer and at the moment I work as an exhibition
builder, but actually I do anything for money. Travelling is a
big part of my life and I do everything to see the world and
make it a bit smaller. Traveling really opens your mind and
connects people from different nations. Take Iran for example:
cycling through the country has been such a positive
experience and it really shows you how wrong the picture
“our” media is selling us.
IT SOUNDS LIKE THERE WAS SOME REAL DIVERSTITY IN THE KIND
OF TERRAIN YOU WERE RIDING OVER, HOW DID YOU GO ABOUT
CHOOSE YOUR EQUIPMENT FOR THE TRIP ?
When I plan a trip I don‘t really have a fixed route ... I just
start and see how it goes, talk to locals or other travellers
about routes, roads, places etc. When it comes to the equipment
you need, it‘s different. You have to know what the
weather will be like, what the roads will be like, if it‘s possible
to buy spare parts if something breaks etc.
For bicycle touring or bikepacking it’s quite important to
have reliable, lightweight gear, which is small in packing
size. I chose a one person, 3-season tent, weighing only 1,2
kilos, which can withstand heavy rain and strong winds.
In my opinion it is important that the tent is freestanding,
so you can camp on surfaces were it‘s not possible to use
pegs.Finding the right sleeping bag is not easy (too hot, too
cold ...), but I went for a 850+ cuin down bag, which weights
only 500 grams and packs really small, with a temperature
range from 2 — 10°C. But one of the most important things
to me is the sleeping mat. I tried a few until I found the perfect
one for me. It‘s really important to have a good night’s
sleep after a hard day in the saddle.
I have a multi-fuel stove that burns with more or less anything.
In these countries it‘s quite difficult to find gas or
alcohol, but you will find petrol everywhere ... and petrol is
cheap, really cheap in these countries! Of course you don’t
need all this “high-tech” stuff to do such trips, but for me it
is definitely more fun to ride lightweight and to have really
good reliable equipment with me!
»
WHEN I PLAN A TRIP I DON‘T REALLY
HAVE A FIXED ROUTE ... I JUST START
AND SEE HOW IT GOES, TALK TO
LOCALS OR OTHER TRAVELLERS ABOUT
ROUTES, ROADS, PLACES ETC.
«
WHAT ABOUT YOUR BIKE, DID YOU MODIFY IT IN ANY WAY FOR
THE TRIP, OR KEEP IT PRETTY MUCH STANDARD ?
I only changed or added a few parts to make it suit my specific
needs. I added a time trial bar for a more relaxed position
in heavy head winds and for long, flat and straight
roads. I fitted my trusted “Flite” saddle and added a dynamo
hub for charging my phone, camera, MP3 player, lights
etc. I also changed the tires as I needed something better
suited for road and hard-pack riding. Most of the time I
rode on paved roads, lets say around 70% of the time, so the
need for a tire that runs well on asphalt was there.
I really liked the handlebar, it gives the possibility to ride in
lots of different positions and it gives you a lot of control on
difficult downhill patches with a rough surface. I also really
liked the original setup of the drive train. The gear ratio
was just perfect, both for climbing tough mountains, even
fully loaded, and going high-speed on straight flat roads.
Another great feature on the bike is to have the possibility
to mount up to 5 bottle cages!
WHERE DO YOU THINK THE BIKE FEELS BEST? CLIMBING, ROLLING
DUSTY GRAVEL, LONG TARMAC-PAVED ROADS ?
In my opinion the bike is great on all surfaces and for all
conditions – it can take anything you throw at it!
Even fully loaded it’s very stiff and you can go just everywhere
with it. No matter if it’s off-road or on road. You can
ride it very fast on paved roads and on gravel. In Georgia
I had really bad “roads” for several days and the bikes performance
was just brilliant! In Iran the roads are in really
good conditions, the asphalt is perfect. The Beyond’s performance
in these long asphalt sections was also amazing!
For me the Beyond is the “eierlegende Wollmilchsau”.
I don’t know what that is in English, like an animal that can
provide you with everything you could possibly need.