Book Review: Off the Rails

(Photos Courtesy of Tim Cope: http://www.timcopejourneys.com/)

Off The Rails, by Time Cope and Chris Flannery, is the true story of two bold young Aussies riding recumbent bikes from Petrozavodsk, in Western Russia, across Siberia, over the steppes of Mongolia, and finally into Beijing: about 10,000k.

This story is inspiring. These boys were 20 years old when they did this expedition, and their plans were far from perfect. Preparing in Petrozavodsk, as their custom-built recumbents arrived in pieces in two boxes, Tim "realizes" he's never ridden a recumbent before. As for mechanical experience with a regular bicycle, he had "patched a tube and adjusted a seat". Later on, deep in Siberia, the duo would have to canvass several villages before finding a guy who could weld a broken frame.

They also find themselves dragging their loaded recumbents through waist-deep snow for miles on end, drinking hot fermented milk and waking up to animal slaughter in Mongolian Yurts, pushing their bikes through sand in the Gobi Desert, and furtively sleeping in ditches at the edges of rice paddies before finally being arrested in lowland China.

There are two famous old thoughts of famous old wise people that rose to mind as I digested this story. The first is Goethe imploring us, "Whatever you can do or dream you can, begin it. Boldness has genius, power, and magic in it." Personally, I have felt genius, power, and magic only weakly and fleetingly. Perhaps my boldest actions are still ahead of me. I have seen it though, in the boldness of people close to me, and in the heros of Off The Rails. The adventurer W.H. Murray knew it and saw it too: "The moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too." Following winds magically replace stagnant airs, like a matching contribution from the universe.

The Babushkas of Siberian villages are a good example of Providence for Chris and Tim. Because of massive casualties during WWII and currently dismal life expectancy, elderly Russian men simply don't exist in a lot of remote Siberian villages. For Tim and Chris, this meant they had Babushkas fighting over the privilege of feeding them potatoes and giving them a warm place to sleep when they limped into town on muddy, icy, rutted dirt roads.

The second old chestnut is that necessity breeds invention.

A pure heart and a strong will are all we need to find the means to our end. Chris and Tim overcome hardship by making things up as they go along. No maps? Ask someone where to go. No foresight, no experience because you are green and 21? Use determination and charm instead.

This is not like reading about Sir Edmund Hillary, or Amundsen, or Lewis and Clark, or James Cook, or any other legendary adventurer. To be sure, Tim and Chris are first class adventurers (Tim Cope has turned pro). The difference is that Tim and Chris are honest about their emotions, mistakes, and ignorance. Early on, Cope describes how he crashes his bike like a novice, overwhelms himself with self-pity over tick bites, and gets childishly annoyed and frustrated with Chris. These small things, to which we can all relate, are why this book is more inspiring than most of the stories of the old classic adventurers. Many of the old dour legends don't tell us about these soft spots in their character, either because they couldn't admit it to the world, or because they couldn't even admit it to their journals.

Ditch the fear and sarcasm. Try reading this book about a couple of bold kids who make shit up as they go and become unknown legends.

Photos Courtesy of Tim Cope: http://www.timcopejourneys.com/