Date: Fri, 24 Oct 1997 12:17:20 -0700
From: Brenda <brenda@gunnison.com>To: Stephen.Guerin@Redfish.com
Subject: "2 Cubic Meters of Paradise "Gunnison (CO), USA , October 24'97, over 61,OOO kilometers
Dear Redfishes !
The Yak was blessed by a chanting "sutra" of my buddhist friend Benedicte, in Denver. Met in 1988 in Syria, in 89 in Pakistan, in 9O in India and in France in 92, Benedicte, a french cyclist, travelled 4 years on her own, some 65OOO kms., mostly through Asia, before settling down for 5 years in L.A. to study in a Chinese buddhist monastery.
Somehow, good friends never will need any kind of cellular phone to meet each other again. Nomads antennas are always working perfectly, independently of distance and time.
Denver's highways disappeared as the yak approached the closed road of Mt Evans. Riding up, pushing alternatively from one pedal to the other was like rebalancing the positive and the negative of the life's current. To quiet the breath and give back the true tiny dimension of a man on earth : 8 hours to climb its 32 miles.
Camped on the top at 14126 feets/43O6 m., in company of some sheep and a strong wind. Some days, a tent -2 cubic meters of shelter- is enough to define paradise. A stove so appreciated to warm up hands and feets. The snow came with the morning and covered the last switchbacks.
It was time to put the freewheel towards the plains, escaping the winter's trap. Loveland pass (11992 f), Hoosier pass (1154O f), Cottonwood pass (12126 f), Cumberland pass (12O15 f) were the next passes on the race against winter. But the curse of the seasons is unavoidable, strong enough to completely affect the way of living and thinking of any people, especially nomads.
The snow caught me in Gunnison, small town which retains the record of the lowest continental temperature. But encounters break sometimes even the ice. Seann and Alyssa, who cycled from Turkey to Turkmenistan last summer brought me home. Home sweet ome. One day of rest, before heading to Durango.
Thank you very much for all the e-mails I received (till the 16 of october) and sorry if I was not able to answer them.
You can write to the Yak and/or send him some tapes of music till the 3rd of november to :
Claude Marthaler, The yak-cycling around the world
General Delivery
Moab, Utah, USA.The YAK_
