Ruta 40

Saturday 3rd April 2010


Sat outside the hotel at Porto Moreno waiting for the insurance company to sort out John Hemmings who had a bad crash yesterday. He fell off after hitting the gravel road at about 75 mph. He has cracked his pelvis and three ribs, he is just walking though. Surprisingly enough the bike survived quite well. Roy has now repaired the bike to a drivable condition.

We’ve been sat here for more than five hours. We’ve checked over our bikes, mine has a small oil leak from the sight glass. Bolts have been tightened and chains lubricated. The bikes have suffered over the last two days because of the crap roads we have been riding on; it feels like the bike is being shaken to bits. It is very hard riding in these conditions. Sometimes there is hard compacted gravel which is not too bad other times you get a compacted rut about a foot wide with a pile of loose gravel either side. This is scary because of the wind which is so strong and it can blow you of track without any warning.

There was another accident last night. Eric went ahead to find the truck and on his return he hit a cow which has knackered the bike big time.