On the Asian Continent

26-Jul-08: A New Crowd
Turkey: Istanbul to Sile
90km, 4h 30min ride time

A new tour, new staff and a new riding contingency and things feel a little strange. The Orient Express was a very diverse large group of people who all managed to integrate really well together and become somewhat of a family…now we have a much smaller group of only 16 riders and 4 staff members, the dynamics of which are entirely different. I will try not be too quick to judge though so will reserve my judgment for a few more days at least.

We gathered on the waterfront by the Bosphorus this morning for a group photo prior to riding in a group flanked by the tour vehicles front and back for the first 15km out of Istanbul. After the group ride we were on our own again, armed with a set of directions and a new sense of anticipation. Those of us continuing on were the first to continue onto our destination for the day whilst the ‘newbies’ lagged behind having not yet developed a sense of confidence enough for them to carry on immediately once left to their own devices…we laughed at the scenario as we are certainly not elite cyclists but to be in the lead was quite a change from the days of the Orient Express.

The ride through to lunch was quite similar to that entering Istanbul, although much cleaner and now in Asia. There were quite a few good climbs for a first day and we felt for those who have only started today. The climbs are noticeably much steeper now although quite a bit shorter…today’s altitude profile looked more like an ECG printout than a terrain map!

We arrived into camp at about 2pm and have spent the afternoon bathing and washing riding clothes in cold water facilities…we have 7 days until our next rest day so hand washing will now become more of a common daily task than previously.

27-Jul-08:
Turkey: Sile to Soccer Field
105km, 5h 18min ride time

Hot and hilly would pretty much sum up today…the terrain has certainly changed dramatically from our pre Istanbul riding to include a general upwards trend and the hills are much steeper now. So today was no exception to the new rule with much climbing which combined with the heat made for a pretty tough day. The route took us through general Turkish countryside, passing through the occasional town, but mostly through general rural land. The climbing afforded some spectacular scenery and awarded us with the occasional downhill run to rest the weary legs.

Camp is on a small town soccer field with some facilities…if you call running water a facility! The ‘shower’ involves using a hose delivering cold water, once you manage to turn it on with the pliers provided…privacy is afforded by hosing down inside a muddy and otherwise earthy coloured drop toilet cubical…did the job but can’t say I will be installing one at home in a hurry!

There are a few local children who have asked every one of us on numerous occasions what our name is…which is sweet at first but is now getting a little tedious. They are enthusiastic though…those of us ‘lucky’ enough got ‘help’ putting up our tents which delayed the process somewhat but is all part of the experience. Not long after arriving in camp we were descended upon by half the town in a wedding procession complete with saxophone player and drummer. We were invited to take part in some celebratory dancing and we watched the bride and groom to be dance also. The bride did not smile once which despite all the festivities did highlight the reality of arranged marriages. The party continued for half an hour before the procession of about 10 cars and 2 buses moved on to spread some more cheer.

Sunday was clearly the day for getting married in Turkey as we were passed on the road by at least 8 wedding processions of a similar nature…some of which comprised of only cars and others including buses…and some including cars with so many people and children in them that they should ought to have hired buses!

Miles the chef (with the help of his girlfriend) is proving to be a success in the kitchen, particularly at dinner time with meals being healthy and nutritious…and tasty. So far so good.

28-Jul-08:
Turkey: Soccer Field to Duzce
115km, 5h 30min ride time

We were told that today would be very hilly…and by comparison to the prior ‘hilly’ days had us a little apprehensive. The route description was fairly accurate…the first 30km were very hilly, followed by our first real flat road since Romania for the following 30km into lunch, after which was even more hilly until we reached our accommodation in a Teachers Hotel in the town of Duzce.

As most of us had read the blogs from last year we had expected that Turkey would offer up some serious climbing and it has certainly kept its end of the bargain. A standard climb now has a gradient of 8-12%, a frequent climb is 12-16% and today the steepest gradient hit 20%! These figures compare with something in the order of 5-6%, 6-10% and 16% for the climbs we encountered on the Orient Express for the same categories of climbing. We are expecting to have built some serious climbing strength by the time we leave the country.

The scenery today was quite impressive, afforded by our elevation reached through climbing…we crossed through our first real mountain pass and had views across the countryside and out to the black sea. Actually, our lunch stop was in a very scenic spot on the shores of the black sea.

In the morning we passed through small country villages containing farming residences complete with chicken pens. The houses were either in pretty poor repair or in a partially completed state. We are told that there is no such thing as a mortgage in Turkey so it can take a family up to 20 years to build a house, a bit at a time, when they have the money. The latter part of the day led us on to quite a major highway with a wide shoulder and smooth surface albeit hilly…but the downhills were quite fun.

We are lucky to have in our midst on this journey, Paul, who is a historian who has written a number of books on the history of the Silk Route…so he is filling us in on relevant details which does mean we pass through these lands with a little more background knowledge than some of us had initially.

But probably the single most noteworthy event of the day was our first rider down…Steve took a corner too fast and came off as a result. He escaped with quite a few grazes and will no doubt have a few bruises tomorrow but also split his chin open very similarly to the way I did earlier this year back at home. As a direct result of my accident I now carry butterfly bandaids with me for exactly this kind of injury…they came in very handy for Steve as Joan our doctor patched him up in the seating area of a roadside café/store. We had to purchase a razor from the store to shave his beard so that the patching would stick! He will be given stitches tonight by our very own doctor Joan…

Speaking of injuries, the news in Turkey has been totally consumed by the recent bombings which killed 17 people, including 5 children…the news footage has been continuous and is certainly not as well censored as it is at home so is quite disturbing at times. It is a reminder of how close we are to potential tragedy every day and how lucky we are to avoid being in its midst.

29-Jul-08:
Turkey: Duzce to Gerede
100km, 5h 57min ride time

This morning was a slightly later start due to our accommodation providing breakfast a little later than we get it in camp...combine this with an early night and despite the barking dogs and calls to prayer, I managed to get a very healthy night sleep for the first time in a while which was very welcome and a good start…just as well…

We left the hotel and started climbing…only gradually at first but progressively steeper so that we reached a 12km climb with a gradient of about 7% to conclude the first 30km of the day. The views afforded by such elevation we again quite spectacular as we could see right back to the town we came from and the highway we had climbed…unfortunately photos were not possible due to the solid concrete barricade dividing the oncoming and forward travelling traffic lanes.

The roads were very good and provided a good shoulder to ride within for most of the day…but as we experienced, this is not always enough to avoid being hit…our mechanic and leader in training was clipped by a truck from behind and is lucky to be alive. The truck hit his left elbow, seat and the left side of his handlebar, which threw him from the bike and left him with a deformed arm. X-rays and scans have not shown up any muscle or bone injury but his arm is very badly swollen and no doubt he is aching in many more places from the impact. It was another somber reminder that accidents do happen and we must be vigilant to avoid them happening to ourselves…I am glad that I have a rear view mirror as it has most certainly given me prior warning of idiot drivers and I am able to get well clear of them in plenty of time.

After hearing of Ben’s accident the majority of us rode together to lighten the burden on the now limited staff present to monitor people on the road. We had some flat road and a little down hill in the middle of the day which led us into some more climbing to conclude the day…which has turned out to be the greatest day of climbing since we left Paris.

We are now at an elevation of 1,500m in a mountain top town and camped in a picnic ground on the top of a hill in the town. We are being blown about by strong winds and are cold for the first time in well over a month. Tents are being pegged out to their maximum strength with extra guide ropes to ensure they will not blow away in the night!

30-Jul-08:
Turkey: Gerede to Ilgaz
143km, 6h 48min ride time

Having survived a windy night and happily waking to dry tents accordingly, we packed up as per usual and hit the road at about 7.20am…and subsequently took the following hour to travel barely 10km due to some vague directions and very confusing signage. A group of us took quite some time to navigate our way out of town and with the help of a few locals managed to set off in the wrong direction. Luckily it became very obviously the wrong direction when the road turned to dirt, so we did not go too far wrong, but on a day which was already going to be 135km long we did ourselves no favours by adding an extra 7km to it!

Whilst lost, we found ourselves on a dirt road in a rural area which we had a fairly good idea ran parallel to the highway that we actually wanted to be on, so Max decided to follow a side road up to the top of a small ridge to see if he could see the highway on the other side. Unfortunately for him he was set upon by a pack of about 5 dogs half way up the hill and had to try and outride them…a difficult enough challenge on a downhill let alone an uphill! Somehow he managed to get through unscathed as we watched with sympathetic fear until we lost sight of him over the ridge…at the top of our minds was the knowledge that he had to now come back down from the ridge past the same pack of dogs.

We waited 10 minutes or so, wondering if he was lying helplessly mauled out of our sight, until we saw him sprinting back over the ridge at breakneck speed to get through the dogs as quickly as possible…the dogs chased him half way down the hill again until they lost interest…all the while I was poised to take flight incase Max led the dogs right to us! After having enough excitement to last us an entire day, and all only in the first 10km, we decided to back track to the point where we concluded we must have gone wrong…and were finally on the right track.

Much to our relief today involved much less climbing than on prior days and we knew we had to descend about 500m from our starting point to our destination, so the general trend was always going to be down. There was still enough climbing to remind us of how much our legs hurt and enough long straight flats into a horrendous head wind to remind us of how much our bums hurt, but in the end we made it. The scenery really was quite striking today…changing from golden grass covered hills resembling sand dunes to pine tree covered mountains and on to a combination of the two. For the first time we got a sense of what we may expect ahead of us on desert riding days.

Some of the other riders got talking to a British cycle tourist today who was riding our route on a folding bike-Friday style bike…he was a member of a philharmonic orchestra and on off times spent his time cycle touring different parts of the world with the intention of eventually having cycled around the world. He has been the first non-TDA cycle tourist we have seen since departing Istanbul.

Physically things are getting a bit tough now…we have now completed our 5th riding day in a row and have covered over 550km in this time, being by far the greatest distance for time covered since Paris…and we still have 2 more riding days until we get a rest. My legs are feeling like lead weights now and my bum has decided that it has had enough intimate time with my saddle for one week, so the next couple of days will be a challenge simply just in that respect. The good news is that there do not appear to be any large mountains in our way between here and our rest day town so hopefully we will get a little break from climbing, which above all else except headwinds presents the hardest physical challenge for me.

31-Jul-08:
Turkey: Ilgaz to Osmancik
119km, 5h 16min ride time

We made good time today…finally! To arrive with enough time to relax in the afternoon is a luxury compared with arriving with only enough time to shower, eat dinner and go to bed! Our route today was predominately flat or downhill with a few climbs thrown in for good measure, but nothing bad enough to slow us down dramatically.
The scenery is getting increasingly ‘raw’ the further east we move. Things are seemingly less interfered with and if there is sign of human interference it is old world in style and barely offensive…although as is a sign of progress just about everywhere, power lines have scarred the landscape in numerous locations. Today we weaved our way along the D100 Highway which hugged the base of mountain ranges on both sides which dwarfed us in comparison.

As has happened a couple of times on the trip so far, we passed the scene of a car accident today in which a car had driven off a bridge and into a dry water canal…I avoided looking but am told it did not look good by those who took a look to ensure no cyclists were involved…the latter being the first thought that comes to mind when approaching an accident. The highway we are on carries a great deal of traffic and is the major route for trade into Iran so there are many trucks travelling the route…trucks are almost common place now and don’t phase us as much as they did in the early days. It is now quite normal to be jostled about by the wind vortex created by a truck passing at 120kph! Perhaps not an ideal situation to be in, but far safer to be un-phased than jittery under the circumstances!

We are in another teachers hostel this evening and this one has wi-fi and so I will post my last few days of diary to keep you updated…and so that they rightly fall within the month of July, rather than August which would be the result of posting on my rest day in 2 days time…small things, I know…

I have just returned from a walk into town to find a pharmacy to purchase a replacement for some medication…the first part was easy with directions, the second part was not so much hard but an entertaining exercise to complete without a common language but with the use of two hands, arms and some universal charades-style gestures! We are clearly the only foreigners in town and have been looked upon with intrigue by all who see us. Again, we have been blown away by the hospitality shown to us by the Turkish people and will carry on with only good things to say about our experience in this country so far.

Earlier today the shop attendant at a garage station took a liking to me and wanted his picture taken with me on his mobile phone…I had to pose for 5 photos before he got one he was happy with…not a very enjoyable task seeing I was held closely under his very smelly armpit! Children everywhere we go run out and wave and shout ‘hello’ and ‘what is your name’ which is always a joy to hear and makes me smile, even if being cornered by a group of children repetitively asking your name, when all you want to do is rest after a long day on the bike, does get a little tedious! And just now, a little old man in a bakery smiled and laughed with us as we pointed and nodded our way through buying a selection of shortbreads and pastries…he threw in one extra for good measure at the end…and the total price is less than 2 dollars for half a dozen pieces of shortbread.

Neil Update

The latest news on Neil is that he is now at home in Eugene in Oregon in the United States at a rehabilitation facility. He has developed another blood clot in his calf but is being treated with blood thinning medication and is expected to be okay in that respect. We have been forwarded on an email from his son-in-law which contains an account of the accident and some of his days in the Bavarian hospital written by Neil himself…it is nice to read and a comfort to know that although his body may take some time to recover, his mind and sense of humour have not been lost. So, in his own words…Steve is his son-in-law and Julie his daughter, I believe...

July 21, 2008 - Monday

This is not your generic "this-is-what-I-did on-my-summer-vacation" letter.

I distinctly remember the crunching sounds as that large over-sized tractor, and the trailer it was towing, drove over my body on June 18 and I thought, "There goes my bike." Except that my bike had fallen the other way and the crunching sound was my bones and my body.

I was aware of the few locals on the street in the Danube river town of Windorf, where I lay, looking at me and then quickly looking away with expressions of what seemed to me like dismay and shock, not wanting me, I thought, to see what was in their faces.

And it was silent. Except for my moans. It didn't seem good to me. And I really hurt.

Then I heard the voice of the tractor driver. I didn't see him. I just heard a voice that I assumed was his and I read some emotions into it.

Anger primarily and some fear. I imagined that he was yelling at me because I had fallen into his tractor and that he was pissed and afraid of being blamed. I heard a few locals grumbling back at the driver, imagining them saying, "Get off the guy's back. You just ran over him. Don't yell at him too."

Somehow in the midst of chaos and pain things were moving at an almost stop-action slowness. I had heard the scary noise of that tractor behind me as I rode. I wanted to get out of his way so I pulled up at the curb with one foot on the curb and one in the street, waiting for him to get by. Somehow, as he went by, I fell into him, drawn into the vortex of noise, wind, and confusion. It was no one's fault.

So, in that stop-action slowness, I yelled at the few locals there, "Don't blame him. It's not his fault. There's no blame."

Silence again. A police car 20 feet to my left with a red light. Someone came and said quietly, "The emergency doctor is on his way."

Dr. Durchholz knelt silently in front of me, checked my body, thought and said, "You've been in a serious accident and you're going to make it." "I know I am. I trust you."

No thought on my part - no questions or reflections. No what-ifs or how-do-you-know or where-am-I-hurt. I just looked at this guy's eyes and knew. He was not a stranger. I knew him without any past history.

I trusted him. I would heal. And, it would not be easy or quick.

July 22 - Tuesday

I've just read what I wrote last night and earlier today. I like it and part of me is also anxious. When I write about looking into the eyes of that Bavarian doctor as I lay broken and crippled on the street and trusting him and knowing him, I smile at the simple beauty and truth of that and I also cringe a bit at the recognition that some of you may well dismiss that as "another example of Neil's cosmic BS."

What I get to do is write my story as I know it. What you get to do is to read that story in the context of your own story. What each of us gets to do then is to accept, analyze, judge, reject, understand, laugh with the other's story.

And that's perfect and just the way it should be and is. Thank you for being part of my story.

My last conscious awareness of those stop-action motions on the pavement was me saying "I know I am going to make it. I trust you."

Then the darkness came. Emptiness, blackness, confusion, absolute terror, a profound sense of being totally, totally lost, an occasional sound and touch from outside that puzzled me, frightened me, only dimly spoke of something beside terror and alienation. I had no sense of time, except knowing that this darkness was profound and endless. I was afraid. I'd never been in a place like this before. I didn't want to be there anymore.

This didn't happen in an instant and sure as hell didn't end in an instant. I was transported to the hospital (krankenhaus = "house for sick people") in Vilshofen, a close-by Danube river town where the Vils River flows into the Donau (Danube).

I have no lucid rational memory of the transport or of my first hours and days in the hospital. A nurse later told me that Teresa and Duncan, staff from the bike ride, came later in the afternoon, stood together, and watched me being wheeled into the operating room. I take great comfort in that now, great comfort.

One memory I have is of being at a reception that first evening in a fancy building. I was dressed nicely in clothes I didn't bring with me on the trip. I appeared to be the only American there and I wasn't clear on the reason for the reception or for me being there.

The well-dressed man in charge talked with me and insisted that I was a guest at his institution. "I don't want to be here. I didn't receive an invitation."

"This is a hospital. I run it. You must stay. You were run over by a tractor."

This clearly didn't happen and yet I can spell out and recall details as clearly as if it happened yesterday. It was the first of a multitude of drug influenced fantasies from the opiate based killing drugs that came intravenously into my body. Many of these fantasies were terrifying and all were extraordinarily detailed and real. The edge between truth and fiction was blurred or non-existent for weeks.

I know my detailed memory of my bike crash was true because it happened before any opiate based drugs and because I had partial confirmation. I began to understand that most of my later memories came from drug induced fantasies that were not true. Julie helped me a lot with this.

Wednesday July 23

This writing is both a burden and a release, a large release. Other than a thank you card and some flowers to the nurses and doctors in the Intensive Care Unit a few weeks ago, I have written nothing until I started this two days ago. My eyes would not focus. My writing was awful - misspellings, words put in the wrong places, a badly unfocused mind.

One of the most healing parts of this entire process has been the flood of letters from dozens of people. Son-in-law Steve has been of immense help in getting information about me out to the world. I will reply to cards, letters, faxes, and emails and it will take a bunch of time. My energy and strength have moved from below zero to slightly above zero. Writing this, as an example, is at times exhausting - as well as being therapeutic.

Julie suggested the possibility of writing a generic letter like this and letting Steve put it on an email or whatever he magically does.

Included in this generic letter is the following statement: "Thank you to much for your correspondence and support. It is a significant part of my healing. I will write to you individually and it may be some time. I have little energy or strength.

When I get back to Eugene, I'll go first to Sacred Heart Hospital and then to a rehabilitation facility to re-learn how to walk and to function. This will not be quick or easy. I would like to see you all at once immediately and hold you in my arms (my upper body strength is relatively OK - everything from my waist down in is in bad shape). I can't do that - I don't know for absolute sure where I'll be staying. Sacred Heart for a while. A rehab facility for a longer while. Friends.

And someday I'll crawl up those 15 steps to my second floor apartment and sit at my desk and look out at the world. And, I will be home. Before that, please do not stop reaching out to me - your support and love will be a very important part of my healing. Call and leave messages. Write. Someone will pick up messages and mail. Drop by the hospital or the unknown rehab place. Call me. I may or may not have a lot of strength or energy to talk at that point. Please try again. Keep me in your life and heart as you are in mine. Thank you!

Wednesday, July 23

Two big deals about today, Wednesday, July 23 - it was five weeks ago today that the bike accident happened and tomorrow Julie and I go home!! Hooray!

Arranging the transport for me on a stretcher has been a huge challenge, a regular circus. Having Julie here and Steve in Long Beach has made it possible. Working with Lufthansa and with the insurance company has been a fascinating dance to watch and a nervous one to be part of. Six seats blocked off for me, one for my escort nurse and one for Julie - all in peak travel times - not easily done. We leave here by ambulance close to midnight, drive four hours to Frankfurt to the airport hospital, get to go through all the check-in procedures at the hospital and avoid the terminal on a stretcher, meet my escort nurse, get loaded on and depart at 9:45.

10 1/2 hours later is Portland. I expect I'll be carried out after the passengers have left. A 2+ hour ambulance ride to Eugene and check-in at Sacred Heart Hospital. About 24 hours total. Potentially tiring and I'm ready!

Some fun, thoughtful and emotional interchanges today as people have come by to say goodbye - notes, hugs, conversations. I am touched. Each farewell had a special anecdote or story to it.

I am tempted to write some of those stories and I won't. I can't do them all and I don't want to leave the impression that some are "better" than others. One nurse just came in for a half-hour farewell and spoke of a smile from one eye and a tear from the other at the joy of going home and the sadness of leaving.

And at about 10 PM, Helmut, Peter, and Bernhard wheeled in a little table with a cloth on it - plus candles, a bottle of white wine (Bernhard had asked me the night before what I wanted to drink) and half a dozen glasses of wine poured - what a delight. What a party. Claudia was there too, Julie, a woman internist who hangs around ICU. It was sweet. The three men also brought a bubble wrapped, well packed package of Bavarian beer for me to take home to friends.
Amazing!

Going Home Day -Thursday, July 24

I'm writing in the stretcher raum at the Frankfurt airport. The departure steps slow and they appear to be working - a huge day for Julie and me.

The ambulance came a bit after midnight and it was a four hour drive to the airport hospital where we're being processed.

Bernard loaned us a few pillows from the hospital and it was a good thing. I have a difficult time getting comfortable in bed and the nurses and I worked out a routine in Vilshofen concerning pillows and comfort.

The stretchers for these 24 hours of travel between Vilshofen and Eugene were not comfortable. The pillows were a huge help and are here in my hospital room in Eugene. Never have I traveled abroad before and brought home hospital pillows as souvenirs.

A wonderful warm welcome when I got to Sacred Heart Hospital. I'll probably spend a few days getting tested and x-rayed and then go to a rehab center. I'm not going to write a bunch about that in this letter.

Saturday - July 26 - 6:45 AM

The sun's out. I'm even a bit hungry. I haven't had much of an appetite for the past five weeks plus. The hospital here thinks that I'm malnourished. Something else for me to work on.

Yesterday, my first full day back, was joyous and exhausting - 20 visitors - plus hospital x-rays, interviews and talking with doctors and technicians and a social worker. I'm going to manage my time better. I was exhausted at the end of the day.

Julie is going home today. She has been such a gift to me in my healing. There were a couple of times I wasn't sure that I'd make it without her.

I'm going to send this with her for Steve to work his magic on - Thanks.

There are some other things I'd like you to know about my five weeks in that German hospital. I'll add a P.S. later.