Friday 3rd September 2004
Ed's Biking Diary - 9
Ulan Bator - Total KMS so far: 16,000

Before I left Exeter in March this year, I tried to
make contingency plans for anything that might go wrong writes Edward Genochio. I had a first aid kit, puncture repair kits; spare tyres, spare brakes, spare spokes. But no spare bicycle!

So when my bike was stolen a few weeks ago, I had no plan B.

The next day I heard the bad news: it was going to cost hundreds of pounds to ship the bike to Mongolia – nearly as much as the price of the bike itself.

Ed - after being offered a new bike

Then suddenly the story of my bike’s nocturnal
disappearance hit the newspapers in England and around the world. It must have been a quiet day for news – "THIEF STEALS BIKE" is hardly the stuff of headlines....unless of course the bike thief is a Mongolian on horseback!

Messages of support came flooding in over the internet from all over Devon, all over Britain, and indeed all over the world. Lots of people offered their sympathy, many of them offering to chip in a fiver to help pay for a new bike.

I was really touched by all this – but at the same
time I felt there are probably more deserving causes. I’ve asked people to consider making a small donation to the Nanren Project or the Lotus Project instead.

The Nanren Project is a small charity which I helped to set up a few years ago. It helps to fund small- scale village development initiatives in very poor and environmentally-sensitive areas of south-western China.

Didi Ananda Kalika. Director of The Lotus Children's Centre. Ulan Bator, Mongolia.

The Lotus Project works with street children in
Mongolia. You don’t have to stay long in Ulan Bator to see that child poverty is a big problem here.

There is information about both these two
organisations on the charity page of my website linked from the top of this page.

On top of all the support from individuals, not one but FOUR bicycle companies came forward offering to send me a new bike. Marin Cycles successfully jumped to the top of the queue by 'presenting' me with a new bike during a live telephone interview on Channel 4 News.

The next day I heard the bad news: it was going to cost hundreds of pounds to ship the bike to Mongolia – nearly as much as the price of the bike itself.

Within a couple of hours, though, I received an offer from DHL – via the BBC Devon Online website – to deliver the bike to me free of charge.

Then Lightwave said they would add one of their ultra- lightweight tents to the parcel, and it looked like I was going to be back on the road soon.

So, last Tuesday I picked up the new bike and tent from the British Embassy in Ulan Bator – but in the meantime there had been a new complication.

The police had found my old bike –sadly, it was not in the best of health. Being dragged behind the horse over rocky ground had left it quite bent, battered and bruised: not quite the bike it once was.

I should be leaving Ulan Bator, heading south to the Chinese border, in the next few days, but at the moment I have two bicycles, and I can only ride one of them.

Fixing a puncture before the bike was stolen

I’ve spent a few days patching up the old
machine, given it a good overhaul, strip-down, clean and polish – and, to my surprise, it’s looking quite good.

The handlebars will never be quite straight
again, but the wheels go round – and it’s got a brand new saddle too. I’ve decided to put my old saddle onto my new bike: better the devil you know….

In fact I can hardly bear to part with my trusty old steed. We’ve been through a lot together over the past six months.

Today I took the old bike down to the market, planning to sell it. In the end I couldn’t bring myself to say goodbye. So I still have four wheels; only two of them can go to China with me.

I want to know that my old bike will be looked after. I’d love to think that someone might still be riding it, wonky handlebars and all, around the Mongolian steppe in 20 years’ time.

Edward

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We hope to hear from Ed again very soon.