team mates

My other riding partner this year is Angelique.

She is Canadian, living in California and has also done big bike rides of a different sort. Washington DC to Costa Rica on a BMW 750 for starters (no pedals). No motorbikes on this one though!

Angelique has always been into road and mountain biking and flirting with the idea of touring but like Dave, has never done it, so she’s ‘way psyched’ as they say in the San Fran vernacular. She’s on an endless prep schedule, antagonising bike shops all over the Bay Area, to help her convert her mountain bike’s to a touring bike. Good luck!

Angelique has several other great outdoor passions. Earlier this year, she went climbing in Thailand and kitting in the Philippines. She’s a big fan of remote, exercised filled adventures like canoeing down the Zambezi. I feel like a lightweight in comparison as I did the Zambezi in an eight man dingy back in 1994.

We’ll both be hauling Canon 5DII’s as she’s also a very keen photographer. She’ll be bringing along her 17-40 for the ride. I’ll post some of her images as well, if she lets me.

Finally, Angelique just took ownership of her first dog, Ziggy, an 8 week old German Shepherd, who she will be abandoning to come on this trip. That’s how great it’s going to be 🙂

As I will be spending sometime in the saddle with Dave and Angelique, I thought I would dedicate a blog entries to each of my teammates.

Dave has been fond of travelling distance and the outdoors for most of his life. He completed his first 1km swim at the age of 8. He also walked halfway across Hong Kong Island the same year after forgetting his school bus money. He completed his first ultra walk of 160km at the age of 14.

Dave has since done more than 30 multi-day organised ultra-distance walks and runs. This includes over 10 finishes of the annual Nijmegen 4-Day Marches in the Netherlands where he is a Gold Cross Holder and member of the KNBLO (Royal Dutch League for Health and Fitness). He has the IML Silver Medal and is also an enthusiastic hiker.

Having proven himself in supported walking events, Dave has made the decision to return to his roots, by giving cycle touring a go. Indeed, prior to training for this trip, the only bikes Dave has used in the past 5 years were bolted to a gym floor.

Ultimately, Dave is hoping to gain experience of a new mode of long distance travel, bike touring and maintenance, with some tips on photography thrown in for good measure. Most importantly Dave is hoping to raise a good amount of money for a worthy cause while adventuring round the marvellous Icelandic landscape. You never know, he may just see his first erupting volcano.