Well, of course the plot thickens. We just talked to Gabe last night; he is (was, who knows where now) in Mexico City.

Everything was going great, good progress, etc., until Thursday night when Gabe, in Guadalajara, opted to stay in a hotel. He was robbed of sleeping bag, down coat, clothes and most of his gear. The banditos evidently entered his room while he slept; they didn't get his money or passport and the clothes near the bed which he had been wearing.

In any event, the road from Guadalajara to Mexico City is at a high altitude; consequently it gets cold at night. Gabe, figuring that soon he would drop altitude and would be in tropical climate again, did not want to buy more warm gear, including sleeping bag. Unfortunately, he was too cold at night to sleep. So of course, the only "natural thing" to do was to pedal all night for days to keep warm and try to sleep fitfully in the warm day with only a newly purchased poncho for "bedding."

The coup de grâce came Saturday night/Sunday pre-dawn. He was 50km from Mexico City with a steep incline ahead of him. He was exhausted from pedaling most of the day. He stopped at a Pemex station to load up on coffee, coke and candy to fuel his journey up the mountain.

He has (shift to present tense) no choice now because he must stay warm and there are no hotels until Mexico City. So he starts pedaling up the grade. Along comes a loaded Coke truck, travelling not much faster than Gabe is pedaling. Gabe pedals like a man driven and catches the truck; he grabs on to the back somehow and gets towed up the mountain.

At times his arm is so sore that he feels he can no longer hang on, but the alternative pedalling scenario gives his arm the extraordinary power needed. He hangs on.

Nearing the top he sees a number of policia in front of the truck with their spotlights waving the truck to the side of the road. Gabe immediately lets go and bolts into the forest, covers his bike with poncho and brush and hides. The policia scan the woods with lights, but do not see him; he waits an hour or so and proceeds the rest of the way up the mountain unaided and cruises into Mexico City at about dawn.

He sleeps for awhile in a park and later that day checks into a hotel where he rests for a couple of days. He plans to keep riding at night and sleeping a bit in the day until he gets to a warmer climate.

Introduction
(In which Gabe’s decision to ride his bike to Brazil [T&FN, March] is explained)

Trip updates from Gabe’s father, Jim:

Report 1
(In which Gabe is robbed in Guadalajara, then pedals all night to keep warm in the high altitude near Mexico City)

Report 2
(In which Gabe runs into a truck in Oaxaca)

Report 3
(In which Gabe is robbed in both Nicaragua and Costa Rica, but remains in high spirits, meeting many new friends)

Report 4
(In which monkeys assault Gabe with coconuts as he runs through the Costa Rican jungle and Gabe later accedes to his parents' wishes that he skip violence-torn Colombia in favor of a plane hop to altitudinous
Peru)

Report 5
(In which Gabe climbs the Andes with underinflated tires and is beset by mosquitos in the rapidly disappearing rain forest on the other side.)

Report 6
The final update, in which Gabe reaches his capoeira destination of Salvador, Brazil, but is forced to return home by a dangerous case of hepatitis.

FEEDBACK

Like to send Gabe Jennings a note about his trek? Click here and it'll be routed through.