North America by Hand-Bike: Hosting a Couple on an Exceptional Trip

I just finished hosting my previous cycling guests, and I already had the next touring cyclists lined up to stay at my place. Not that I mind, after all I love meeting people, especially like-minded folks who enjoy going on extended bike trips for thousands of kilometers. I've done it myself, and it's always such a relief to get a positive response from a host in a vast urban area, like Mexico City where I live. In this way WarmShowers has often provided plenty of welcome interactions, tons of useful info, from both perspectives of being a host and a guest. My current guests, however, have been interesting in another regard.

A Record Breaking Bike Tour

Michiel and Chiara are a Belgian-Italian couple who have cycled all the way from Alaska to La Paz, on the southern tip of the Baja California. From there on they have continued their journey through the central highlands of Mexico, supplementing their cycling with occasional bus rides. But until La Paz they made sure to cycle exclusively, in order to break a Guinness World Record: the longest ride by a hand-bike. The previous record was established twenty years ago by an English hand-cyclist covering the British coastline. Michiel managed to break his record somewhere in the redwoods of California. Then they just kept adding on a few thousand kms until reaching La Paz.

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I've never met anyone with a Guinness record, let alone in such a cool discipline. So I'm not just a bit impressed and proud to say: Shake the hand that shook the hand...! But even apart from this feat this cycling couple proved to be super fun to hang out with, engage in cooking delicious dishes at home, or discover new sites in the city, which even I had not seen before! This latter point involved a quest for some spectacular street art, a passion of mine also shared by Michiel. More about that in my next post...

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Accessibility in Mexico City

As you might have guessed, Mexico City is not known for being particularly easy to manage for people in wheelchairs. Almost tripping numerous times on substandard sidewalks myself, I assumed this much. However, I never actually got to experience this city by getting around with someone in a wheelchair. Sure enough, Michiel's hand-bike has taken him all the way from Alaska, but for getting in and out of places, getting on and off the metro, and stuff like that, a compact wheelchair is much more convenient. So he tapped into a seemingly well established wheelchair network, and organized a neat chair for the few days in Mexico City.

Amazingly, quite a few metro stations had the necessary infrastructure (that is elevators) to help him navigate through the various levels underground, changing metro lines, or getting in and out of the system. Ironically, however, there were other factors barring his access to these elevators, having to do with key-holders in authority not being around when you need them. I don't want to give it all away, instead check out this video they posted.

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To give credit where it's due, there are a lot of helping hands all around, not just by the officers of the Guardia Nacional, who are basically paid to be there to help (even if they weren't given the key-card to the elevator). Many times when we had to climb stairs, we were offered assistance by other helpful passengers. Also, for anyone with a disability the fares are free, and sometimes this also includes the person accompanying them. So good on you, Mexico City. Nice effort, just let's try to work a bit more on the coordination!

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(Social) Media Stars

You can probably imagine how anyone crossing a continent by bicycle would attract some media attention. If they are doing this while being paraplegic, it's an even bigger story, let alone if they have also just broken a world record. So they have had various interviews on their way, including one last night. Though the result of that one still needs to be published, I'd like to share a really cool one they gave in La Paz, which can be seen on the YouTube channel of an American expat living there.

Far from relying exclusively on others to tell their story, Chiara and Michiel have an elaborate social media presence. Though their YouTube channel offers a new video every two weeks, and thus lags a bit behind their actual journey, their facebook and instagram pages have all the latest updates, with plenty of amazing images and stories. And needless to say, there is also a crowdfunding campaign still running, as well as their patreon site, where you can support them on their bike trip.

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The Last Leg of an Epic Trip

Having been on the road for more than eight months, both Chiara and Michiel are ready to take it easy for a while before heading home. This morning they left Mexico City for the Yucatan peninsula, where they are going to enjoy the most relaxing part of the country. Not only that there are no hills to speak of down there, but the entire culture and general atmosphere is a lot more chilled. A bit of beaches, cenotes, Mayan pyramids, and warm weather will be a good way to round off this bicycle trip of epic proportions. I feel honored to have gotten to know them, and wish them all the best for the future.

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