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100km Cycle on a tandem across Jordan with my 75YO Mum!

My mum was diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease in 2012. That’s over 12 years now, plus probably a couple of years undiagnosed. And she’s still fighting hard.

My story, if you’re knew to my blog, is pretty simple. I grew up in a single-mum household, on welfare for 10+ years. My mum always had my back, always supported me indefinitely. When I finished university, rather than do what most parents do and scream “when are you going to get a job”, she knew that I wanted a live full of adventures and travel. Not only did she support it, once my blog starting making money, she joined me! Then, out of nowhere, the Parkinson’s Diagnosis. It would have beaten many, but not my mum!

Our past fundraising efforts

12 years on, 70 countries deep, and a few physical challenges later, we’re still standing! And cycling across the Jordanian desert was our 3rd (and final? let’s see) fund-raiser to help future generations find a cure for parkinson’s. We climbed Mount Fuji together for her 70th (it nearly killed her!), then we ‘ran’ the Serengeti marathon for her 72 (10km of it. Again, nearly killed her!).

The 100km tandem cycle idea

This 3rd trip, I wanted to support my mum more. She was older, the Parkinson’s had regressed. So I had an idea to bring a group of people to Jordan. Visit Petra, one of the wonders of the world, then cycle to Wadi Rum, the famous Jordan Desert. It was about 100km away. I thought I had a genius idea that if I got a tandem bicycle, I could help mum when the going got tough. And so the trip was created.

Awful Sales Pitch for my trips

This is probably an awful sales pitch for anyone who thinks about joining my crazy trips. Although, you guys probably only join my trips because they’re I’m not a real tour company anyway. The chaos and adventure is part of the reality I guess!

Anyway, despite my bright idea, my mum, nor I, had ever been on a tandem bicycle before. Also, I had never actually organised a cycling trip before. And I had never personally ever cycled in Jordan before. And I didn’t even know if there was a route you could cycle. I did, though, know you could drive from Petra to Wadi Rum, I had done that a few times in my past trips to Jordan. F*ck it, that’ll be fine then. And so I created the trip, sold out the spots to a fool-hardy group of legends, and raised $15,000 for Cure Parkinsons. Now all I had to do was organise the whole thing.

Logistics in Jordan

I called every gym, sports shop, tour operator and import/export company in Jordan. Not a tandem to be found anywhere in the country. Shit. A stumble at the first hurdle.

I spoke with an old fixer friend in Jordan though, and secured enough normal bikes for the rest of my group, and we worked out a route that we thought my group could handle (more on that later). Because my bright idea of riding along the highway was instantly vetoed as people regularly get killed there by speeding trucks, being the main highway in the whole country. Ermmm. Ok.

The rest of the Jordan itinerary was as planned. The group meets in Amman, Jordan’s capital. A few welcome drinks, and a city tour. Then off to Petra together (just wow by the way!), Then when normal people would take A BLOODY TOUR BUS TO THE DESERT OF WADI RUM, we would get our group of 18 up early and cycle 2 days, 100km (turned out to be more like 120km), and arrive in the desert by human-power! Couple of days in the desert, then a short hop to Aqaba for some celebrations in the InterCon on the beach. Easy! Sure mate.

Sourcing the Tandem Bike, and training

Back to the Tandem Bike. So, nowhere in Jordan had them. And none of the neighborouing countries were willing to ship it internationally. I was pulling my hair out. F*ck it, I’ll buy it in Chiang Mai, Thailand where I live and bring it with me to Jordan on the flight. Genius.

And so I did that. My mum spends the winters in Chiang Mai now too, where I recently built her a house, so this way we could practice a bit too. By the time I sourced one in Thailand, my mum only had 2 weeks left in Thailand. So, did we buy it, then train every day for those 2 weeks? Not exactly. I bought it, brought it to my house. Tested it once. That worked, if a little wobbly. Then the next day we did one 5km loop. “Feels easy mum eh? We nailed it“. And we never rode it again until Jordan.

My mum then spent the summer in the UK. She joined a local gym and the staff there must have throught she had lost her mind. Coming in every day, and spending 1 to 2 hours on the exercise bike. Killing herself. And leaving with a “See you tomorrow”. Repeat for a couple of months. And suddenly it was October and the 100km cycle was upon us. My mum flying in from Europe, and me from Bangkok to Jordan. With the tandem.

“We can’t ship that sir”

I sent the tandem by post from Chiang Mai to Bangkok. I flew to Bangkok in the morning, my mother-in-law kindly met me at BKK airport with the bike. I had used airmiles to fly business class to Jordan to allow me LOADS of luggage, knowing that I had to bring the huge double bike with me. I strolled up to biz class check-in. “We can’t ship that sir”.

The brought out the tape measure and said it exceeded maximum dimensions. Oooooph. The trip started tomorrow. I had 18 people paid and en route. And $15,000 funds raised for charity. And we were screwed. I’m not proud of this, but I created the BIGGEST, AWKWARD, CRINGIEST scene Bangkok airport has seen in a long time. Explaining about my mum, about the charity trip, about how this ruins everything blah blah. It was awful. I was having a panic attack.

Suddenly, a lovely Thai guy came to my rescue. He told me he would personally carry the bike to the plane. And if it physically fitted on the plane he would personally load it. And if it didn’t, I had to sign something that said they would leave it on the tarmac in the airport, and ultimately dispose of it. I had no choice but to agree.

So I boarded the flight, proceeded to fill my face with free champagne (thanks UK credit card airmiles!) and got drunk. Whilst stressing that when I land in Jordan, I may not even have my mum and my bike to do the event. Anyway, another glass of champagne please!

The 100km tandem cycle

15 hours later I landed in Amman airport, Jordan. A little tipsy, I waited until every bag was off the plane. And the bike was nowhere to be seen. I asked the information desk and they told me IF it was on the plane, it’d be by oversized luggage. AND THERE SHE WAS!

Breaks a little broken, front axel bent. Both tyres burst. BUT THE BIKE WAS IN JORDAN! My support cars, I hoped, could fix the issues. But we had a bike! Let’s do this!

Meet the group, Amman city tour, the dead seam epic time in Petra, and so the cycle was ready to go. We got our bikes organised, our support cars ready, sunscreen on and we were off.

Day 1, 40km cycle. OFF ROAD.

A gentle start. My mum and I were back on the tandem for the first time since our only every 5km run around my block! A wobbly start, and a very good trust exercise, and we were on our way. Remember, I had NEVER done this cycle. So I had no idea what to expect. I did know though, that my friends on the trip similar age to me would be quite fast, and that the oldies would be a lot slower. So we split into 2 groups. One cycle guide and one support car, in theory, with the fast group. And one with us at the back.

The first 5km was lovely. Jordan villages, asphalt road, rolling hills. Wow. A year of planning. On the only tandem bike in Jordan. We’re nailing this. Then the support cars stopped. Why?

“We leave the road behind here guys. Next 35km is off road. It’s uphill, lots of soft sand, make sure you have your helmets on“. Ermmm. Ok. I didn’t quite factor this in. Within 1km we had one of our group faceplant (sorry Theresa!). But we soldiered on. This was A LOT harder than I had anticipated. And A LOT harder than perhaps I had sold it as. Oooops!

My mum was really struggling. Pushing herself so hard. And when you push yourself that hard, her Parkinson’s symptoms exacerbate. So the tandem was wobbling all over the road. A constant battle by both of us tried to keep us upright throughout. I felt so sorry for her, fighting the disease aswell as the terrain, and the cardio efforts required. But more than sympathy, I felt (and continue to feel) so much love and pride for how deep she dug. And the sheer effort she puts in. It’s amazing, honestly.

When the going got too tough, she had to take a breather in the support car for a 10km segment. Take some extra tablets to fight the shakes from her disease. And as soon as the road flattened a touch, she was right behind me once more and we took on the best those Jordanian trails had to offer.

But what’s life if not a daring adventure right?! As the terrain got proggresively more difficult, we had a few people retire to the support cars, and skip a few tricky sections. But the majority dug deep and blasted forward. I was so proud of them. This legitimately wasn’t easy.

Joseph, above, also had a brutal faceplant. Picked himself up, dusted himself off, and plodded on within minutes. Proud of you mate, although I knew you had it in you after finishing the red-wine marathon last year (that’s where you drink wine every km for 42km/26m instead of water!).

The fast group, God love them, were too fast! And the support car, moronically, thought they didn’t need any ‘support’ so stayed with us at the back. Of course, they didn’t factor the fact that the fast group had also cycled up to 50km, off-road, in the Middle Eastern sun WITH NO WATER. And no access to water. Those poor guys! We managed to catch up with them around lunch and discovered this. They had every right to be furious with the organisation (me included) but they’re heroes. Problem fixed for the rest of the race, and these legends whacked they helmets back on and finished day 1. I love the people who travel with me on these stupid trips, some of my closes friends to this day I’ve met this way. Something about travel, adventure (and mis-adventure) that brings the coolest people together.

Anyway, we finished up our day. Long, hard. And a few kms skipped by the oldies during the tough spots. Does this mean we won’t reach the 100km target we had raised all that money for? Tomorrow will tell.

A good night’s sleep was had. Sunburnt and tired. And 18 people with very sore asses (predictably, knowing my friends, most of them hadn’t trained! So they were very much not ready for 2 10 hour days on a bicycle seat!).

DAY 2: Bring it home baby!

40-45km yesterday. That meant an even longer day today. Oh dear.

We set off after brekkie, and instantly it was obvious that today would work. On a personal level, I always find the last day of a physical challenge the easiest. You’re not going to quit knowing that you just have to get to sunset and you’re a legend. Suck it up. You can get through it. And everyone was on the same page.

Combine that with the fact that, although we were still offroad cycling, the terrain was infanitely more forgiving. We did 20km or so across a dry river bed in the depts of Wadi Rum and it was breathtaking. Everyone was on a high. By lunch, we had 75km done. 25km in the afternoon and we were through this thing.

Of course nothing goes perfectly to plan. Flat tyres, broken bikes (even a couple of cracked ribs), all the while as we dodged camels, we ate into that 25km. People were getting weary, and the sun was lower than it should be. A little race against time, but we were there.

My poor mum thought. These 2 days really had taken it out of her. She was knackered from yesterday. And then we had an even longer day on day 2. I could hear from her voice she was exhausted. Almost sounding a little drunk. We had to take breaks every couple of kms, and her lips were blue. I was worried.

But she fought on. Extra tablets to fight the Parkinson’s shake. Extra painkillers for her back, her knees, her spine. 10km to go. 5km. We were the last to finish. But finish we did. My mum had managed 90km of the 100km we had planned. An amazing achievement. And we were done. Not.

10km for good measure

Heather, an old friend of ours, had also skipped 10km or so when the going was too rough yesterday. And there was no stoppign these 2 women. Within 5 minutes of ‘finishing’, we were back on the tandem, and heather on her solo. And 10km more were drilled out of us. These ladies were determined to do the 100km they promised. And so the 100km was done. Truth be told, my ass was also killing, and I was bloody knackered and all, I could very much have done without those last extra 10km. But you try to tell my mum ‘no’ and we’ll see how you get on. Anyway, WE DID IT!

THE FINISH LINE!

We reached the finish line for the 2nd time, although this time we were REALLY finished thank God. You can see from the pics, my mum is delighted, but destroyed.

Tonight, we were glamping in Wadi Rum desert. Whiskey, champagne, beers and a good night sleep with 18 amazing people. I am so proud of everyone and grateful for them to trust me. Even when I do make a million mistakes on every trip I run!

Our Route

This was the route we roughly took from Petra to Wadi Rum for anyone who is interested.

FINAL THOUGHTS ON THE TRIP

So yeah, we did it. My mum is a legend. My life is chaotic. My friends are crazy to keep joining me on these adventures. And I love every second of it.

Now, who is up for another adventure? I have trips coming up to:

• Mauritania in December
• Syria in March
• Eritrea in March
• Pakistani Kashmir and China in June
• Madagascar in August
• Turkmenistan in August
• Mongolia Eagle Festival in October

All of them promise to be epic fun. That’s a guarantee. See you guys soon!