Sao Paulo. Almost...

Oooh, it's been a while!  But, Shaz and I have had other business to attend to, which has ultimately gotten in the way of our walk training, and writing this blog.

Right now, we are in a small town called Juquitiba.  That's in Brazil, and about 60km from the 22 million people, thriving metropolis of Sao Paulo.

Since I last blogged here, we have travelled by tandem bicycle from Buenos Aires in Argentina, to Asuncion in Paraguay, and now, almost to the largest city in Brazil, and indeed the largest city in South America.

The journey from Buenos Aires to Asuncion was almost right on 1500km (yes yes, for you IOM people, that's around 932 miles).  Though the roads were flat and straight (just 3323m of aggregate climb and decent), they were also devoid of significant foliage and we faced many days where the "feels like" temperature was 45 degrees celcius and more (and why does the IOM use celcius rather than fareinheit, but miles instead of kilometers?).

Anyway, it was HOT.  And we had no real respite from that heat on any day during that section of travel, which made walk training difficult at best.  With the fatigue in our legs from the cycling, and general tiredness from the heat, we really didn't want to walk any further than we had to.

So, two weeks passed and we walked just 72.44km (45 miles).  It was at a tidy pace, around 8:10 per km (4.6 miles per hour), but still well less than the minimum of 50 kilometers per week that we prefer to manage for running and walking combined.

As we journey around the globe on our tandem bicycle named Happier, we usually cycle for about 2000 miles and then stop somewhere for a month.  This current section is a bit tricky though, and with the need to be in Europe for the Continental centurion firstly, and then the Parish walk, we were only in the capital of Paraguay for two weeks.

We had a lovely time, and met many new and delightful people.  We enjoyed local food and local customs.  We didn't cycle a lot, because it was still extremely hot.  Not a single day was below 30 celcius in our 14 days there, and most days were 35 to 38 degrees.  Thank God for the air conditioner!

Such was our fatigue from the ride from Buenos Aires, we completed just 124km of cycling in the two weeks we were in Asuncion.  Barely the distance of a single "normal" day for us.

We did do a lot of strength work, which is always useful and could be completed in the luxury of our borrowed, air-conditioned flat.  "Borrowed", you ask?

Well, you will need to follow us on Facebook to get all the details, but we enjoy a hash house harriers run, and make sure we introduce ourselves to hashers prior to arriving in a major city.

Two hashers from Asunction, Eric and Harma, were off in New Zealand enjoying their own cycle tour, and graciously allowed Shaz and I to use their apartment in their absence.  We were very grateful for that.

We did plan to do a LOT of walking in Asuncion.  Get those Centurion and Parish Walk legs moving.  Ah, but the heat.  We completed just 96.23km (60 miles) of walking in this time, still short of our desired 50km per week, and in an environment where we weren't really cycling much either.

Still, we're patient.  We've been here before.  Despite bodies rapidly approaching 50 years old, we have a lot of experience on our side and we know what to do.  We hope.

Left Asuncion, and have now completed all but 72km (45 miles) of the 1500 kilometers between Asuncion and Sao Paolo.  The difference this time though, is that we will also complete right on 15,000m of climbing.  Does the IOM use "feet"? If so, that's about 42,000 feet.

Now, if you think 42,000 feet of climbing and decent in two weeks on a tandem outfit that weighs 200kg (440 pounds) is tough on the body, you're right.  We again had extremely hot weather in the first week of that as well.

Thankfully, the last week has been delightful, with temperatures between 24 and 28 degrees at the hottest time of the day, and 21 - 24 degrees overnight.  Despite the elevation changes, our bodies are feeling fairly good, and we are looking forward to the final day of cycling into Sao Paolo tomorrow.

Ok, so since leaving Asuncion, we have walked and run 70.91km (43 miles).  The fatigue in the legs is real.  It makes us stronger, sure, but only stronger for cycling.  The walkers out there that also do a lot of cycling will know what I mean. Nothing, ultimately substitutes for walk training, like walking.

We are four weeks in Sao Paolo, starting after that final 72km of cycling tomorrow.  We won't be slaves to improving our walking fitness, but we do have a very keen desire to walk more often, walk further, and walk faster.

We think we have identified a park in Sao Paolo that has a long and flat and well sealed track around it.  Toilet facilities and water fountains.  The plan will be to do some long walks at that or a similar park to get us into reasonable shape.

Please follow me on Facebook, and if you're not seeing enough walking, then keep us honest and give us a swift kick up the bum.  All the details at www.facebook.com/JustinS007.

Lastly, for now, we have a full Parish Walk team, and that is an exciting thing for Sharon and I.  We miss the connection that is normal when family and life-long friends are around.  To at least feel like we are a part of something greater, will inspire us to do well at, and make sure we finish the 2024 Parish Walk.

Thank you to Jayne and Nicola for helping to make sure this event is special for us.  :-)

Here's some general photos from our journey in recent times, and a map showing our progress cycling around the world.  I've included the lap of Australia that we completed in 2021.