Survivor - Junk in Cycle Lanes

Last week my twin brother wrote a great blog entitled Snakes and Ladders. The theme of the blog was based on the ups and downs of training and the frustration it can sometimes bring. The irony of Snakes & Ladders was not lost on me or probably any cyclist who adorns the roads of Texas.

Just today I saw a Texas Copperhead which decided to venture out onto the asphalt just as I was taking a drink. If that wasn't enough I can't recall a day that I don't see a ladder or two neatly brushed aside of the road into......YES!!! you've got it the cycle lane.

I used to ride with one spare tire but now I am practically a Michellin Tires shareholder. Its absolutely amazing what you see in the road when your cycling...... apart from the "Snakes and Ladders".

When I was a sixteen and living in Singapore my brother Phil and I went on a Jungle survival course with the ANZUK Forces. It was an amazing experience for a teenager and very similar to what we have been subjected to on TV for the last 6 years on American TV

• "Survivor 6!"


• "Survivor Strikes Again"


• "Return of the Survivor"

You get the idea!!!

Unlike the Survivor series we were left to fend for ourselves without the smiley faced "Jeff Probst" coming out of the bushes and telling us we had to have a tribal council.

The thought occurred to me today in my solitary semi-delusional heat impacted state as I reached my 40 mile marker.

What if I were stuck on a desert Island? ...or in some desolate jungle?

Could I possibly survive with just the junk I pass on my rides?

Lets see now:

Ladder - For collecting coconuts, collecting palm fonds, bridging rivers

Mattresses - Certainly an upgrade to sleeping on Palm Fonds

Plywood - To build my palatial abode (Of course we all know there are nails on the road)

Lawn Furniture - To set up a bridge table to play cards with the monkeys

Sod - To landscape around my Palatial abode

Lawn Tools - Weapons of mass destruction (If you knew my gardening skills you would know)

Potted Plants - Something to talk to

Tell me what interesting items you've come across to add to my "Survivor Island?

Many moons ago while sailing around the Caribbean I had a favorite place to hang out which very much resembled the type of Palatial Palace that can be made of junk called "Bomba's Shack" Bomba essential built his establishment on any scraps of driftwood or junk that washed up in Cane Garden Bay.

Unfortunately there aren't too many Bomba's in the world to pick up after us! so lets keep it clean out there.