Interview: Cycling Silk Expedition (Part 2)

Yesterday, Vagablogging interviewed Cycling Silk expedition members (and childhood friends) Kate Harris and Mel Yule, who joined two companions (Ben Rawluk and Alisha Blechman) to bicycle the Silk Road. Here is part two, the final installment of the interviews:

What was the most exciting, rewarding, or frightening moment of your journey?

Kate Harris: The most frightening moment was sneaking across a Tibetan border checkpoint at 3 am. Mel and I quickly discovered that we are not designed for a life of stealth and espionage as we lack both nerves and night vision. I honestly can’t pick just one most exciting or rewarding moment, but some highlights included being hosted with countless Uyghur families in remote villages, swimming in a pristine lake at 15,000 feet, soaking away aches and grime in hot springs beneath the stars, and waking up every morning to the agenda of exploring the open road.

What was the most unexpected part of your travels?

Mel Yule: For me the most unexpected aspect was not the horrific road conditions, the dizzying heights or the drastic landscapes (I knew of these things before I left home), it was what I learned about myself that proved the most rewarding. Travel has the amazing ability to completely change your life. Your surroundings, lifestyle, emotions and priorities all shift suddenly when you step off the plane. All sleepy-eyed, you suddenly awake to the reality of your new life- you have a bike to assemble, a country to navigate using Chinese maps and four months to discover a land that until now you have known only in books. But be aware that not all changes are welcome.

At times, although you love the experience, you find yourself longing for something in the life you left behind. From simple things that could ease the trip’s toll on your body: a good night’s sleep, variety in diet, a hot shower for tired muscles, better health, to the more complex that could ease your heart and mind: long talks with good friends, the encouraging words of your mom when all seems impossibly hard, the comforts of a sedentary life and routine.

While traveling you learn to accept the roller coaster ride of emotions that grips you at the most unexpected of times. And you realize that all feelings are pure, rough and real. They are not caught up in all the confusions of your life left behind. They are naked and extreme, and if you look deeper inside yourself, you find that they are a glimpse at your sole, your make-up, your being.

What makes a good expedition partner/team?

MY: Building an expedition team is as difficult as finding the perfect roommate. Often you can’t assess if it is a good fit until you have lived (or traveled) with them. But as challenging as the task proves to be, it is vitally important, as it can drastically alter the experience for everyone, making or breaking the trip. I recommend heading out on a test trip to train and to determine the level of compatibility of the group. This practice will allow to gain insight into everyone’s endurance, speed, drive, pain tolerance, ability to handle stressful situations, schedules, camping styles, level of hygiene, eating habits, food preferences, and personality types. While planning the trip, discuss at length your aspirations for all aspects of the adventure: What do you hope to accomplish? Is the bike a way to see the place, or is the place a way to spend time on your bicycle? What do you want to see? Busy, populated areas or desolate, quiet spaces? Then, really listen to everyone’s responses.

Cycling Silk was originally planned for 2005, but at the last minute Mel Yule was injured and could not come. Kate decided at the last minute to bike across the United States instead (She biked mostly solo until Kansas, when a recuperated Mel joined her for the second half of the trip). How did that decision come about? Were you able to prepare much for that trip?

KH: Mel got hurt in a boating accident 48 hours before we were supposed to take off for China, so I was forced to make some quick decisions about my summer. I could go to China alone, but my family was less than excited about that option, and our sponsors weren’t too keen either. Plus I so wanted to have this adventure with Mel, my best childhood friend, and it didn’t seem fair that we had both poured so much heart and energy into making Cycling Silk happen, only to have it happen for me alone. So in the end, we opted to postpone the trip for a year. But my bike was boxed and my bags were packed and the momentum was there for a bike trip, so I canceled my China flight and instead flew as far as California, then started biking east toward North Carolina, where I was going to college at the time. What began as a consolation prize of a trip soon swelled into its an epic adventure in itself – it was challenging and beautiful, and I fell in love with the vagabond cycling lifestyle. Mel later recovered from her injury and joined me halfway across the USA, so we biked from Kansas to the Atlantic coast together. This was a great warm-up for China as far as testing gear and testing our endurance were concerned.

When you bicycled cross country, how did people react to you, traveling as a solo female, along the way? How safe did you feel?

KH: The beauty biking solo was that people were incredibly open, friendly and hospitable to me. When you’re by yourself, especially as a female, you’re much more approachable than when you’re part of a bigger group. Companionship is always something of a compromise, you insulate yourself from the possibility of connecting with others. In towns, mothers with kids in tow would approach me to find out what I was up to, and then would invite me back to their home where they spoiled me with delicious food, hot showers, and real beds to sleep in. I was adopted as a daughter by many a family, and the hospitality of small town America completely astounded me. I never felt unsafe, but I was traveling through rural and remote areas – things might have felt different if I’d biked through more populated regions. Approachability also means vulnerability, so biking as a duo with Mel on the second half of the journey was just about perfect – safety in numbers, and as females, people didn’t perceive us as threatening and still opened their lives and homes to us.

What does your family think of your adventurous ways? (Including Kate Harris’s research trip to Antarctica).

MY: My parents instilled in me at an early age a sense of wonder of the natural world and a desire to explore the unknown. Family vacations generally involved canoe trips or ski vacations in Ontario and Quebec. As my siblings and I grew, we travelled further from home and visited other countries, other continents. My parents have always viewed travel as a wonderful way to learn of world and have encouraged me, with unfailing support (and only mild anxiety), to explore. I’m not sure they fully understand my love of masochistic (their term) cycle touring, but they certainly try.

KH: I don’t know that my family understands my restless, urgent drive to explore, but they have always supported and encouraged me, albeit with some reservations about safety! They never had the amazing opportunities I’ve had to travel, so they tend to live vicariously through my adventures. This is the main reason I’m so committed to sharing my experiences with others through writing and filming and photography – to prop open a window to these foreign worlds so that those stuck at home can peer through. I didn’t get to travel beyond North America until I was a freshman at college, so my whole life I relied on the windows of others for glimpses of the broader world. If I can similarly inspire and enrich the lives of others by translating my travels – even if it’s just through email – I think it’s well worth the effort.

What is in store for you next?

KH: I always have a million schemes and dreams for future expeditions, but right now I’ve got nothing concrete planned for the near future. These days I’m still working on wrapping up the Cycling Silk expedition – I’m writing a magazine article, and we’re trying to edit sprawling hours of video footage into a digestible documentary film. I’m currently studying the history of science at Oxford University on a Rhodes scholarship, and I’ve been adventuring around Europe and beyond as much as time and money permit because never again will this part of the world be so close and accessible!

MY: I am currently living in Ambato, Ecuador where I am working as an intern on a community development/ sustainable agriculture project for six months. It is a wonderful place to be stationed given the accessibility of the ocean, the mountains and the rain forest. Although I only have weekends to explore, I hope to start climbing some of the peaks in the area, to backpack around the rain forest and visit the Galapagos Islands. Nothing big, but enough to keep my constant thirst for adventure sufficiently quenched. In the fall I return to the scholastic life for a Masters degree in International Capacity Development and Extension work. It will be a hard change of pace, but one I am ready to take on.