Starter’s orders

You’re probably wondering why I’m still here. Wasn’t I meant to be riding around the world? Well, yes - and that’s precisely what I am doing, after an extended and frustrating delay.

Yesterday was a big day. After an interminable delay (entirely generated by lowest-price conveyancers in the chain) the sale of my house is going ahead: contracts were exchanged and it completes next week. At the same time, my divorce came through. That’s a lot of big stuff for a Wednesday.

So now the real prep begins - and in a bit of a rush, too. Because while I thought I had a plan, it turns out that I’m changing a lot of it at the last minute. So that means scrabbling around to sort paperwork (joy) and luggage and a dozen little details before I can get to the start line, dropping off my machine with the freight company for shipping to Canada.

Obviously, having the house sale completing in mid-June rather than mid-April is frustrating - but in some ways it helps. Not least because the laundry list of bones I broke in March (1x shoulder, 3x toes, 16x ribs) have had time to heal and I’ve been able to work on my fitness.

It also means the weather will be better for me. Rather than risking a damp North American spring, the Central American rainy season and the South American autumn on my way to an antipodean winter, I’ll basically be riding through summer and arriving in Sydney in the spring. Actually, I should have planned it like that in the first place...

But before I can go there’s the final faff of paperwork to do (carnet for Aus, EPA guff to get the bike into the States), I have to pack up my flat, book flights and freight and sort out all the little details of my personal admin (change of address, tell the taxman I’m leaving the country, etc). Plus I need to learn to use things like the action cameras before setting off.

All of which is the easy stuff, really. Because I also have to say goodbye to my girlfriend and to my kids. And that is going to be very hard - because this isn’t like going on tour to Spain or Italy or France for a fortnight. This is three-to-four months on the road, where anything could happen. Now I’m staring down the barrel of the starting pistol, it is a bit daunting.

It’s also exciting. I’m glad it’s going to be hard to go, because that shows just how much I have here to make it worth coming back. But I’m itching to get going because this really will be the ride of my life.

I hope you’ll come along with me.