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"It is by riding a bicycle that you learn the contours of a country best, since you have to sweat up the hills and coast down them. Thus you remember them as they actually are, while in a motor car only a high hill impresses you, and you have no such accurate remembrance of country you have driven through as you gain by riding a bicycle." --Ernest Hemingway, By-Line |
| Jill Lundmark |
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| Written by Rod Skeggs | |
| Friday, 28 December 2007 | |
 By James McKenzie (staff reporter)Ho Chi Minh City, December 2007: Just before Christmas, I had the great pleasure and opportunity to meet with Jill Lundmark in Saigon, as she prepared to embark on a long cycle tour of Indochina. Some of you may “know” Jill from her remarkable journals on crazyguyonabike.com. Jill has written two journals to date; Sixty-Six, Solo and Scotland: East to West and Sixty-Six, Solo and South East Asia . The South East Asia journal was a big hit on crazyguyonabike.com and has, so far, been visited over 27,000 times (since September 2007). Jill came to the shop in Saigon South as her last stop before pushing off through the Mekong and beyond. I learned a lot about cycle touring from Jill as we sat and talked for several hours in the two days before she set off. Even though I love cycling I have always been intimidated by the thought of just pushing off on a long distance tour. Jill made me realize that cycle touring was all about immersing oneself into the environment in a truly organic and meaningful way. She too had been intimidated by traveling with fitter and faster companions, preferring instead, to brave the road on her own, at her own pace and in her own time. The key to Jill’s success was the courage to be herself and know herself and experience all she could experience while solo and remarkably, at 66 years of age. I know that right now, as I write this, Jill is out there, on the roads of Indochina, and I know she’s loving every moment of it. From the gang at touringindochina.com we say Cheers Jill and Merry Christmas!! |
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| Last Updated ( Sunday, 30 December 2007 ) |
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