First of all, sorry everyone for this very long-awaited update for our journey. Our news is we are not in Russia or anywhere near it...we're in France on the way south to Lyon. So to take you very quickly back to the start without burning all our cash for the expensive internet connection here...we rode...

My eleven-year dream is about to come to true…or at least I’ll get to start it. Our two wheels are ready, the luggage has been tested (we took the tandem out for a test trial yesterday with the mountain of bags on the back…probably too little too late, but what can we do when our bike’s stuck...

Our two wheels to freedom are ready, the luggage is mounting and we're doing last minute things (like buying air tickets and getting our Russian visas, both of which we should have done a month ago). We're stowing our tandem in the most unlikely and inconvenient of places -- a tiny room at...