No good will come of this building of bicycles out of compressed soot, you mark my words.
Don't say that Mr Mayor, I've just set aside a corner of my already appallingly grubby flat for the use of all sorts of basic tools, bits of bin bags, tapes, various bits of paper, liquid foam, SOOT glue, and a fair bit of SOOT fabric! TG has inspired me [seriously] to get off my lazy arse and do what I've been thinking about doing for the last 8 years. And I haven't really got a clue what I'm doing. For better or for worse, it will be done. And, I've decided to stay off the juice until it's done too. I'll let you know
Anyway, getting back to Kurt [as it's his thread]....he makes me laugh. He's quite a character. Very kind of improvisatory, bit impulsive, maybe a bit unpredictable [as well as being a phenomenal athlete] . Just a feeling I get.
Something else though, and I think it's about the sheer scale of the United States. Unless he's going to stay in one small area of the US [and that could bring issues with the weather] it's a lot more difficult for him to set up the degree of community support that Teethgrinder has going for him [and I'm referring to those who are physically helping him with meals, bikes, home support etc. He has a Team, right? Does Kurt have a team? Maybe he does, I don't know. If he wanted to, it's possible for TG to go anywhere in the UK and stay with people and he'd still be never that far from home. Tarzen doesn't have that, not unless he decides to restrict his movements. To me, he's much more isolated than TG. And that's just a geographical thing, not because of what kind of person he might be. Each rider will have to dig real deep into mental reserves later on, there's no telling what kind of mental landscape they could be inhabiting. To have that degree of support might be a very important factor for maintaining balance later on. It's still all a bit of a novelty at the moment.
I remember reading this in October:
I'm more concerned about the psychological effects during the attempt than anything else to be honest. I think that could be a big maker or breaker.