A Day in the Life of… Team CYCOPATH

Thursday 15th March 2007

8.00am Awake in Damascus, Syria (ecstatic to have survived another night deep within the Axis of Evil).

9.00am Newspaper over breakfast. Team Cycopath has hit page 4 of english language daily, The Syria Times.

10.00am Visit blackmarket in order to exchange Syrian Pounds for US Dollars – Banks will not make this exchange.

11.00am Depart Damascus in driving rain, heading west for Beirut. Water on the roads is a foot deep in places and we are soaked to the bone before escaping the city limits. Begin climbing almost immediately and snow starts falling 10kms out.

12.00pm Snowfall intensifies flying straight into face and making it difficult to see; hands now aching due to cold which necessitates retrieving gloves (relegated to the very bottom of the largest bag).

1.00pm Summit the Anti-Lebanon mountain range to reach Syrian Border. Obtain exit stamp.

1.05pm Stopped and questioned by bored Syrian Military Personel 500m further up the road with insightful questions like:

• “What is your nationality?” (Whilst holding our passports)
• “Where are you going?” (Stopped on a road passing through deep snowfields – with fully laden road bikes – with no turn offs, 2km shy of the Lebanese border)
• “It’s bad weather – aren’t you cold?” (Yes, we’re freakin’ freezin’  so please cease this ludicrous line of questioning and let us go!!)

2.00pm Enter Lebanon.  Accept offer of shelter from the fearsome Lebanese Military who share our jubes, make jokes, read the Syria Times article (nothing like a little self-promotion) and offer us dry socks. Soldiers assure us ascent of next mountain range is very gradual.

3.00pm Jon’s slow release punture (has been riding with all day) warrants attention and we attend to repair at base of Mount Lebanon Range.

4.00pm Begin ascent of range and quickly deduce riding bicycles over this range has not been a part of standard military training in these parts (gradual my @rse!).

5.00pm Summit Mount Lebanon Range. Begin 30km descent to Beirut through patches of snowfall. Jon’s hands have lost sensation.

5.15pm Take detour off main highway to avoid gaping hole in bridge created by Israeli Military in Summer 2006 conflict. Detour road characterised by steady flow of melt water, potholes, heavy traffic and large but barely discernible mounds in the tarmac.

5.45pm Continue descending. Now shivering so much having difficulty steering bike and operating brakes (which incidentally have worn right through so that levers are impacting on handlebars).

6.30pm Arrive in Beirut at nightfall after 110km (below average mileage day).

7.00pm Check in and meet fellow guests – one of whom is the first New Zealander to be charged under UK Terroism Act.

7.30pm Commence thawing process via the medium of Turkish coffee and boiling hot showers.

9.00pm Dinner and drinks with aforementioned Kiwi and an Iranian BBC Correspondant on assignment in the Middle East.

11.00pm Hit the sack for an early night after another day at the office.

Sean & Jon