Around the world on a GS850G for a cause

[Skateguy50]

Still not 100% on the shipping method I will exhaust all resources on sending it as one unit but will split top if I have too... Once I have it apart tomorrow I will weigh the crate and bottom end empty to see what weight it ends up as.

Thanks for all the donations so far for shipping. pictures will be updated tonight on the project build thread.

[shirazdrum]

I posted a new blog guys (

It took 2 days to upload the pictures) but since there's a limit on words and pictures here, you can see it on my website on www.motorcyclememoir.com

2 more blog and i'll be done with the old stories, and everything back top normal.

[Skateguy50]

Just an update guys, I got the engine back together all the top end checked and in range of specs, cleaned up, and new gaskets.

Chris will have to pull the valve cover and cams and time it as I didnt have the points to line up tdc and didnt have the nut to turn the engine or shifter to put it in gear and do it that way. From the head down is torqued up and ready to roll though. All drained of fluids as well.

I need to finish the crate and pack the other parts into it. Got a friend coming over tonight to help me load it in the car and deliver it to the drop off location in Boston tomorrow am.

I am not sure the shipping cost and might not know till Monday as the drop off place just bulk ships to the company I am using in NYC at JFK. I think they fly it to Miami and then to Argentina. I only got a real person on the phone for about 2 minutes but she sent me the forms and a reservation number and airway bill number. I think its $1.80 a lb to ship, with $0.56 fuel surcharge and $0.59 security surcharge. I weighed it without the plywood and extra parts at 200lbs, so thinking 225lbs to 250lbs. That puts it around $650 range to get him it all.

I hope to update you all tomorrow with it on the way. ~crosses fingers~

Also this method will require Chris to take a bus to Buenos Aires and will need local help to pick it up and get it back to where the bike is. I think he mentioned some GSR guys out that way, if anyone can help please contact him.

It beats the 2-3k estimates from the likes of UPS and Fedex, not to mention wanting a letter stating the engine was STEAM cleaned of all oil... I am listing it as a simple one liner "old motorcycle parts", it is all drained of fluids but needs a light coating of whats left, no way Im steaming the internals.

[LADRI]

Hi, my name is Adrian and I live in Buenos Aires, and I must confess there Im not a very active member of the forum but I will try to help anyway.
Im allready get in contact by mail with Chris , when he come here I will try to do everything I can in order to help him.
If there is another thing that I can do in the meantimem, please let my know.
Best regards and merry christmas for all.

Adrian

[Skateguy50]

Thanks a lot Adrian, I know any help you can offer him will be greatly appreciated.

The crate is very heavy so he will need the help, I will update later once its officially dropped off and on the way.

Also if you are there when he gets it, I sent "old motorcycle parts". Its very likely they will open it but it is all drained and hope that works out...

[Cynthia]

Hi, my name is Adrian and I live in Buenos Aires, and I must confess there Im not a very active member of the forum but I will try to help anyway.
Im allready get in contact by mail with Chris , when he come here I will try to do everything I can in order to help him.
If there is another thing that I can do in the meantimem, please let my know.
Best regards and merry christmas for all.

Adrian

Dear Adrian,
Thank you so much for this offer as that will be a HUGE help in navigating the city to and from the bus station and to get the crate. How wonderful that you are there and able to help! Thank you so much!!

And HUGE HUGE HUGE shout-out to JARED (Skateguy) for all your TIRELESS efforts to get the engine/parts together, crated, and shipped and to EVERYONE who donated $$, time, parts, to make this happen-including Mr. Saunders with Z1Enterprises! You are all amazing! Thank you so much for contributing---this couldn't have been done without each one of you who contributed! Thank you for your support!!! Please give yourselves a high-five for the wonderful team spirit! Happy Holidays!!!

[Skateguy50]

Not officially on its way yet, I will call the drop off place on Sunday. They said they are closed Friday and Saturday, and the website says they are open 7 days a week so might get it out then if I can get a hand lifting it and get out before the snow starts flying.

check the project build forum for details, the crate is pretty rugged to say the least. I built it with double layers of plywood on the bottom with a 3" high by 21" wide opening to lift easy by hand with a guy on either side or to use with a small fork lift. I figure if one side can be lifted and set down without crushing your hands it is more likely to stay the proper direction while shipping.

[Skateguy50]

now we got a nor' easter with blizzard warning... again even if I got the crate in it wouldnt be moving anywhere... Tuesday looks like the soonest I get this thing on the way.

[shirazdrum]

DEC 24TH. CROSSING THE EQUATOR

Ecuador is one of the smaller countries in South America, but it was an interesting point in my journey. The equator passes through Ecuador and that means that by reaching the equator, I traveled from the furthest north in Yukon to the center of the earth. Crossing into Ecuador was by far our easiest border crossing in the whole trip as the guy we met in Pasto, Sebastian Moreno, a former Colombian Formula 3 race car driver, accompanied us to make our lives easier.

As we suspected, Ecuador was still in a political chaos from the president kidnapping incident of the week before. This time the president dismantled the police force so it doesn’t happen again. Instead of the regular police, he appointed Special Forces and the military to be in charge of security of the country. These guys were armed to the teeth and were the most formidable looking police force I’ve ever seen outside of the United States. But they turned out to be as menacing as puppies and a lot of fun.

They took it upon themselves to protect and serve us as we drove towards the capital city of Quito, and they never failed to entertain us. Right at the border I made some friends with some of them (distributing American cigarettes never hurts) and in return they took me shoe shopping, opening the way in the busy streets with M-16s. At one point, they pulled over in the countryside and loaded their guns for us to shoot at some plastic bottles while they stopped the traffic for the festivity. As Claudio puts it “It’s always good to make friends with the guys holding big guns.”

Upon reaching Quito, we settled into our hotel with the plan being to leave in 2 days for Peru, but the craziest thing happened (beside another flat in the crappy Pirelli MT66 rear tire.) The RGE team had a press event at the university the next day, but they had partied all night and were still a little tipsy in the morning. The normal presentation involved going really fast and braking hard to demonstrate the amazing braking power of the SRzero electric car, but this time, Nick Sauer, the RGE guy who was driving the car for the demonstration, forgot to brake a little earlier and the SRzero crashed into the wall in front of the TV cameras and the few hundred spectators, just missing Clemens and Claudio. A cheer went up from the crowd, and with that we got stuck in Quito for 5 more days while the guys fixed up the car.

I always thought that Ecuador was a tropical place and since it was on the equator, it was warm. Man, was I wrong. It was mountainous and snow-covered peaks loomed everywhere you looked. It was quite cold, and it rained on and off. I took the time to change the oil on the bike, flushing the brake system with new brake fluid and complete some other due maintenance. Ecuador also turned out to be a really long country as Claudio and I had the longest riding day of the trip trying to get to the border. We left at 6:30 am with only a few hours of sleep and reached the border town at 11 pm, after 17 hours of riding through banana plantations, deserts, mountains and tropical patches.

As we got closer to the Peruvian border, the once nice and clean countryside turned into pile of garbage. There wasn’t a pit stop that we didn’t mention what a ****hole it was. If the garbage and the foul smell wasn’t enough, we met our most vicious predators: dogs.

These dogs hunted in packs and somehow they evolved to know that speed bumps are the best place to hunt for innocent motorcyclists. They hung around the giant speed bumps, and as we slowed down to go over the small hill, they attacked us from every side. Claudio and I kept our legs up, and I rolled on the throttle as they lunged at us with bared teeth.

Into Peru

I was really looking forward to seeing Peru, especially western Peru and the magnificent Andes, but as it turned out, our route was going nowhere near the Cordillera. Instead, we hugged the Pacific Coast on the Pan-American Highway and went nonstop through the country. But that didn’t mean that we didn’t like Peru.

In fact, the very first night we got to Peru, Claudio and I stopped for a cup of coffee as the rest of the team were behind at least an hour (the GS850 was unstoppable on the perfect Peruvian highways at sea level and clocking 100 to 110 mph was not uncommon) so we walked in a restaurant to kill some time.

The first thing I saw was a charcoal grill the size of small swimming pool with a giant pig roasting away above the embers. Claudio suggested that we eat there so we walked in to the back where a band was playing. I literally stepped one foot in the room, and I was handed a beer from a semi-drunk guy at the next table. Long story short, we downed 6 bottles of beer (the beer in South America comes in two sizes, the small bottle which is a normal 12oz and the big one is a 40oz like Old English) courtesy of our two new Peruvian friends and settled down for a long conversation which none of us could understand. They spoke only Spanish, and between Claudio and me, we spoke six languages, but none even came close to Spanish.

One thing that they did manage to get across was that we are all brothers no matter where we come from, and they welcomed us to Peru. They were both bikers, and I suppose a loaded motorcycle was enough to bring out the hospitality. We had an amazing welcome to Peru, thanks to our new friends and Crystal, the fine Peruvian social lubricant.

Western Peru is dry. In fact we didn’t see a drop of rain the whole time we were there. Since the climate is so dry, nothing really grows on the coast, and the food staples are chicken and fish. Fish come out of the ocean and the chicken farms are set right on the beaches. In fact, chicken must be the national bird of Peru as it’s served everywhere and is the specialty of the country. One night Claudio, Cynthia and I went out to town for dinner, and we honestly couldn’t find any restaurant that served anything else besides chicken. There are thousands of chicken farms right on the beach as you travel down the coast highway and with every breeze, chicken **** smell filled up the air.

We visited a very poor town and got to hang out with some volunteers and the children that they were working with. After lunch (chicken, of course!) we set out for the town of Huacachina in the Ica region of southwestern Peru, which boasts an actual oasis. The landscape changed from coastal sands to full-fledged desert and it looked much like Sahara. Sand dunes piled up to 1000 feet, and every gust of wind shoved a little more sand into my helmet. The oasis was a fascinating place straight out of Lawrence of Arabia with an emerald green lake surrounded by palm trees sheltered by sand dunes as high as mountains. Cynthia, Claudio and Paul ventured up the biggest dune to take pictures and film while I slept like a baby, glad not to be in the 100 degree heat outside.

[shirazdrum]

[shirazdrum]

And the rest of the pictures(the limit is 10 pics per post). Merry Christmas and happy New Year everyone.

[IMG]http://www.motorcyclememoir.com/wp-content/uploads/ecuadorperut25.jpg[img]

[GabrielGoes]

Same to you, May God be with you

[Skateguy50]

Got to call the shipper tomorrow and pay before it goes anywhere from JFK, but its in NY and should be on its way soon. Total came to $885 and I got about $500 in donations so far. Im fine with paying the rest but wanted to give an update if anyone was waiting to see how close we got.

Thanks again everyone, I will give Chris the list of who chipped in so he can thank you in the next blog. If you wish to remain anonymous just let me know.

paypal is skateguy50@hotmail.com

thanks again and cant wait to see Chris moving again.

[mighty13d]

Thanks again everyone, I will give Chris the list of who chipped in so he can thank you in the next blog. If you wish to remain anonymous just let me know.

thanks again and cant wait to see Chris moving again.

Thanks to everyone who donated $. I too can't wait to see chris get moving. Thankfully he is able to catch up a little on the blog while stopped. It's one hell of a trip so far and I can't wait to hear about the rest.

[Skateguy50]

Wanted to share this message from Chris.

Dear friends and family,

As you already know, I helped with the filming of the Racing Green, an 8 episode documentary for BBC, covering the story of 5 young engineers building and taking an electric super car from Alaska to Argentina. I had the honor of working with Claudio von Planta, the talented director and videographer of this great documentary, and I’m excited to announce that it will broadcast on January 1st, from the BBC world news.

This documentary is not a corporate production, and it’s available only because Claudio believed in it, and financed it out of his own pocket. Please consider purchasing a DVD to help out with the production cost and support this worthy movement. This documentary won’t disappoint, that’s my personal promise. Merry Christmas and happy 2011.




All 8 episodes will be shown twice on Saturdays and twice on Sundays during the first 8 weekends in 2011.

The RACING GREEN broadcast schedule in your country can be found on the following site:

https://www.bbcworldnews.com/Pages/Schedules.aspx

1) select your country 2) type the date - 1st, 2nd, 8th,9th January etc. 3) look for RACING GREEN

If you miss the show you could order DVDs on the expedition website: (DVDs will be shipped at the end of March 2011)

https://www.RacingGreenEndurance.com/DVD

Sincerely yours,

O. Christopher Sorbi, Founder and Director