Sometimes you want to return to a place you like so you throw a coin into a fountain. Other times you think once was enough but somehow end up returning to it even though you didn’t like in the first place. Such was the case with Riyadh, Saudi Arabia.
Ten months ago I boarded a plane for our Christmas vacation after a successful run of the Messi10 show in Riyadh. I was going to Moscow in the middle of winter, so I left Greengo, my Brompton, in a container with the show equipment. It was supposed to be a short break but for various reasons it turned out to be much, much longer. Since last December, Greengo had been gathering dust in a container in Riyadh. I wasn’t sure if or when I’d see it again. Just as I was loosing hope, I got a call to work on an abbreviated version of the show, for a short run in Riyadh during the football World Cup in November.
This week, I arrived in Riyadh and was finally reunited with my beloved Greengo. Even though Julie’s Brompton served me well during last few months, I am very happy to have my own custom bike back.
Last year, our accommodation was far from the venue and I had to suffer through 36km of dusty busy roads to go to work. This time around, our hotel is fairly close to the venue compared to last year – six times closer to be precise – so I can easily cycle there.
One downside of coming to Riyadh – I will miss my mom’s 90th birthday, which is tomorrow. I already had tickets to go to Moscow to celebrate with her but I could not turn down the opportunity to work with the Messi10 team once again.
This week in numbers:
17 km — distance cycled
310 — days Greengo and I were apart