The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK

Tribune Freeport Reporter

dmaycock@tribunemedia.net

AT age 74, Freeport resident Dave Mellor is not slowing down.

As if climbing the world’s highest summits and cycling 2,500 miles across the United States were not enough, this avid climber and cyclist is back home in Grand Bahama from another series of daring adventures.

Mr Mellor can now add to his “bucket list” experience cycling down one of the most dangerous mountain terrains known as, “Death Road,” in Bolivia; cycling along the Vietnam coast from Saigon to Hanoi; and biking cross country 2,400 miles across the United States, from the Canadian border to the Gulf of Mexico.

With a Bahamian flag attached to his bicycle, Mr Mellor embarked on his cycling adventure last November in Vietnam, peddling a distance of some 500 kilometres along the coastline from Saigon to Hanoi.

The country is known for its beautiful beaches, rice fields, and small villages.

In June 2015, he set off on another cycling trip in Bolivia, where he made a “spectacular mountain descent of notorious ‘Death Road’.”

According to Mr Mellor, it starts from just below the snow line at 15,000ft and continues down a “crumbling” 10 to 15ft wide rough track road.

“There were a series of never-ending hairpin bends for about 45 miles with vertical rock walls on the inside and in many cases a 2,000ft unprotected drop on the outside,” he recalled.

“A sparkling clear day at the start soon turned into a saturated mist as the trail descended through the clouds and visibility was reduced to about 50ft.”

He also encountered scary moments as the other riders were soaked after one section of the road went through a waterfall.

“To make life even more interesting, there were vehicles on the road, including large trucks and buses which had the right of way…on the inside. This made for some anxious moments since the cyclists were pushed to the outside and often had the back wheels of their bikes hanging over what felt like bottomless drops,” he said.

He said that ‘Death Road’ has been recognised as the most dangerous road in the world, adding that up until a few years ago it had a fatality rate of over 300 people a year.

The challenge proved difficult for some of the riders. In a group of six bikers, Mr Mellor and two others were the only ones to complete the treacherous ride. He reported that some of the other bikers sustained crash-related injuries, including a broken arm and “painful road rash” from bike falls.

After his adventures in that South American country, it was off to another cycling trip in September to North America.

Mr Mellor and several of his friends – Chuck Laird from California and Peter Higgs from Nassau – cycled 2,500 miles on a east to west cycling route, from California to St Augustine, Florida. It took them 53 days, crossing a California desert, the Colorado River and braving some treacherous inter-state highways. The journey took the trio through Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama to Florida.

Mr Mellor and Mr Laird started from the Canadian border, taking a north to south cycle route following the Mississippi River.

“Starting from Baudette, Minnesota, the plan was to set one foot in Canada and then head south all the way to the Gulf of Mexico. It misfired almost immediately when I rode a bit too far over the border bridge and started taking pictures in front of the ‘Welcome to Canada’ sign,” Mr Mellor said.

“The Canadian Border officials got really excited and were anything but welcoming and confiscated my camera to delete the pictures, wondering who this old geezer was with a Bahamian flag flying on the back of his bicycle taking pictures of government installations.”

The men biked 250 miles to the “official” headwaters of the mighty Mississippi River. They camped mostly at nights in state and national parks. “We enjoyed cocktails and campfires after a hard day’s riding,” Mr Mellor said.

The bikers pushed ahead in temperatures of 55 degrees in the evenings.

“We chickened out riding through Minneapolis after fighting the traffic for an hour and drove over our first big bridge into Wisconsin to continue riding down the east side of the river through another super scenic route for a couple of days before crossing back over the west side into Iowa, our third state,” he said.

One early morning, the men were awakened by gunfire during the start of the duck-hunting season.

Mr Mellor said that Iowa was a beautiful state, with hills, massive cornfields, and lakes, but the traffic was heavy and dangerous for them and had no proper shoulder for cyclists. They passed through Missouri, where they encountered hot and humid days.

There were lots of bugs and mosquitos, which made camping a bit uncomfortable, he said.

On October 10, the bikers were at the halfway point of their journey.

They continued to push ahead riding further south through Arkansas and Tennessee, during harvest time for cotton fields.

“Thousands of acres of fresh blooming cotton being mechanically harvested and bits of cotton were blowing all over the road like monster snowflakes,” recalled Mr Mellor.

The men also went through St Paul, Minneapolis, which was an historic starting point of the wagon trains in the early 1800s.

The men stayed in a motel for three days after torrential rain from a passing storm.

When the weather cleared up, they were back again cycling across the state line into Louisiana, passing by New Orleans and Baton Rouge and finally arriving at the Gulf of Mexico, at Grande Isles into much hotter temperatures in the 90s.

Despite the swarming mosquitos, the men ceremoniously dipped their toes into the warm waters of the Gulf. Mr Mellor said: “It was a wonderful way to see America and a great adventure.”

The men met many other cyclists along the way. He said the Bahamian flag he was flying attracted a lot of comments during the trip.