Tuesday, 26th January, Santa Rosa: man on a bike
We catch up with Mark Beaumont, the man doing the same journey as us (in the same time) but on a bike. Oh the shame of that sentence… “we catch up with Mark”. Here is a man who not only cycles like shit off a shovel, but has managed to climb the two highest peaks in the Americas (Denali in the North, Aconcagua in the South) – and still he’s ahead of us. I blame Bolivia.
On this boiling day, he’s cycling in the bright sunlight and going pretty damn fast. His hair is considerably bigger since we saw him last, apparently the producer of his BBC programme wants continuity. Plus, Mark can’t be arsed to find someone to cut it.
We set up a few shots and film him then agree to meet him in the nearest town, Santa Rosa.
Mike then heads into town to find a mechanic. Mike and his mechanics. He leaves Mark and I for a few hours while he changes the jets back to sea-level (125 / 40) – he acknowledges that he should have done so earlier (bad boy). He also fixed the silencer of the exhaust – which had been hanging out like a haemorrhoid for the last couple of hundred kms. And changes the oil, motor, gear box and transmission.
