Ride the Bean

[UtahJack]

I am sure that like me, many of you while waiting for your bike have gone through YouTube for all things Tenere and in the process have come across Ride the Bean videos.

Regardless of your view on the success of their envisioned trip you have to respect the effort.

 

Those of you that only watch their videos and haven't partaken of their blog on RidetheBean.com may not know these kids are in trouble, (at 66 most everybody are kids), anyway they have had a very serious accident that resulted in both of them being hospitalized. Pia's hospital stay has ended but Kenneth's is on going after several surgeries, his injuries are such that they will effect the rest of his life, at best case scenario it will be six months or more before he can ride again, a minor side note is that the status of their bike's is unknown.

 

I write this to encourage you to visit their web page or their Youtube channel and provide some words of encouragement, or buy some of their merchandise, I ordered some of their coffee even though shipping was more than the product itself, I also for the first time in my life became a supporting member through Patreon. If nothing else keep them in your prayers.

 

I want to thank all of you in advance for showing the kindness that is part of the human nature.

 

[Uncle M]

@UtahJack, thanks for posting this. I've watched the YT vids but never looked at their website until now. Bad news but wishing them both a full recovery so they can continue pursuing their dreams.

[jeeves1275]

I had watched a couple of their vids but not followed any more than that, horrific start to their journey, can't imagine how they are feeling after all that planning and anticipation.  Just bought a couple of things from their site.

 

Hope they both recover quickly.

[Alf Meister]

I’ve also watched a couple of their YT vids and am so Sad to hear of their accident. Hoping both Kenneth and Pia fully recover from their injuries. Motorcycles can be replaced, people cannot and it sounds like Kenneth has had a close shave (literally), but hopefully is on the road to recovery. All the best for the future to them both. 

[OU812]

Wow what a nightmare, so sad to hear, Positive thoughts.

[TimmyTheHog]

oh no...I watched like the first two...

What a horrible start...their trip got delayed cus of the covid and now they sold everything so they could start the journey...

 

pray and hope they will bounce back soon enough.

[UtahJack]

2 hours ago, Uncle M said:

@UtahJack, thanks for posting this. I've watched the YT vids but never looked at their website until now. Bad news but wishing them both a full recovery so they can continue pursuing their dreams.

I was the same had never looked at their Blog then their latest video stirred up some questions, so when I posted my questions in the comment section, and I took a look at some of the other comments, that led me to their Blog.

Having ridden for so many years I have had my share of hospital visits, thankfully nothing as sever as what Kenneth is going through. After reading the last three Blogs I was horrified by there situation.

I was disappointed that Patreon is not set up for a one time contribution, support member just didn't seem to be enough. I am not a rich man and live on a fixed income, but I know the road ahead from them is going to be hard. I hope there is no restrictions to there access to the Go Fund Me account. 

Ride the Bean, organized by Pia Solem Hoel

---

Ride the bean  Hi! We are Ride the Bean and we have a pretty crazy dream. Ride the Bean consists of Pi… Pia Solem Hoel needs your support for Ride the Bean

 

[Vtamb81]

Thanks @UtahJack. I just cross posted this to the tenere700 USA Facebook page and donated. 
 

hate to see this happen to people who are brave enough to sell it all and follow a dream. 

[FredBasset]

Very sorry to hear sad new about this couple. Never watched their videos, but wish them both a speedy recovery. 

[DT675]

Wow, how awful. I’ll be donating. 

[UtahJack]

I want to thank all of you that have stepped up, this is really awesome, I know Kenneth and Pia really appreciate it. It is such a blessing to see the motorcycle community display that a community is exactly what we are, thanks again.

 

I just received an Update:

 

Here's a short update from us.   We were hoping things would be better by now, but we ran into some complications.     They found an abscess in Kenneth’s intestines, basically an encapsulated ball of bacterial puss. That explains a lot of the pain that he's been going through recently. They inserted a drain to empty it and put him on antibiotics. Yesterday his fever rose to 39 c, and they changed his antibiotics.     Because of the pain, they put in a new epidural on Thursday, which had to be replaced on Friday. As you can see from the photos, it makes him quite drowsy.     We are hanging in there and trying to look forward Kenneth lights up a bit when he's on the computer and can edit video.   Today I am heading out for a ride with a friend, hoping to get some footage for Kenneth to edit.     Thank you so much for all your support! We can't thank you enough ❤️ - Pia

[Yammybound88]

Sad to hear this news.  Great to see so many people from all over the world reaching out to them.  Keep us posted.

[UtahJack]

UPDATE:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Oct 6, 2020 at 6:41 AM

Looking ahead

Hey friends!

The abscess that Kenneth had has been emptied now, he's still on antibiotics but they could remove the drain. The epidural and urine catheter is also gone again, which means he got the opportunity to take a walk today!

So lovely to see him outside of the hospital walls. He's still in pain and struggling to eat, but things are moving in the right direction

- Pia

 

 

 

 

[Great Escape]

Glad you posted this Jack...I've followed Kenneth and Pia's plans and journey from the start.  Hopefully Kenneth will slowly but surely recover,  and Pia is doing well.  

I'm sure your bringing the Ride the Bean story and the awful accident to the attention of the forum will have brought them some much needed support.  We tend to think of damage from bike crashes being broken bones and bruising....Kenneth sustained horrible internal injuries, but he's a fighter and will get better!   Cheers,  Steve 

[UtahJack]

New Update:                   Ride the Bean       We were interviewed by Norway´s oldest newspaper         As you may know by now we were in a pretty serious accident some weeks ago. On the day we started the trip of our lifetime we started early in the morning at the North Cape and was super exited to ride through the amazing nature in northern Norway when all of a sudden a bridge was missing and we both crashed. This news apparently spread pretty quickly through the local community and the next day newspapers across the country had written about the accident. None of them had mentioned our names, only that two motorcyclists had crashed on a deserted road in Finnmark because a bridge was missing. Some of the articles made us sound like idiots, especially those from the local papers. Because all of the people living there knew the bridge was gone. The police that came to the scene half an hour after we crashed even said the same thing. “Why are you in the river? There is no bridge here. You should have gone around” DUH No Shet dude! Do you think we crashed on purpose? The day after the accident several people from the Norwegian motorcycle community had already guessed that it was us who were involved in the accident. And they had already put in motion tasks to figure out who owned the road, who and how they could help us. The motorcycle community is really amazing. The next day, some of the countries biggest newspapers also had written about the accident. None of them had used our names, but a lot of people who read it know who we were already. We got so much attention from all over the world. People from all over Europe, America, South America, Oceania, Asia and Africa all wishing us well and hoping we recover quickly. It felt very surreal.  We are just a very shy couple from a small town in Norway who kind of likes to keep to ourselves in the forest and ride our motorbikes. Now all of a sudden we are getting well wishes from around the globe. How the hell did that happen?? It has now been a few weeks since we got transferred back to our local hospital in Trondheim. Kenneth is still not well and is still in the hospital and in a lot of pain, but hopefully not for too much longer.  Then about a week or so ago the local newspaper in Trondheim contacted us because they wanted to do a story on us. It is he oldest newspaper in Norway founded in 1767 and one of the biggest in the country. We were both a bit shocked, but very excited. They first called up Pia for an phone interview since Kenneth was in the hospital and not feeling too well. Then a week later when he was up for it they met us both outside the hospital for a short walk in the park and asked us about our trip, how we felt and what our plans were now. Of course it is in Norwegian, so we thought we would  translate it so guys also can understand what it said.We know it is not a huge deal, but for us it feels very exciting to be on the front page of Norways third largest newspaper. The following is just a copy from Adressavisen Newspaper translated to English.     Thank you so much to Adressavisen and especially to Kristoffer Furberg, the journalist and Terje Svaan, the photographer for doing this story. I really means a lot to us so many different ways. Hopefully the media coverage will emphasise the need for a new bridge, at least a sign of warning.

 

Edited October 8, 2020 by UtahJack

[Cianj]

Shocking news. All the best to Pia and Kenneth. I was tracking their videos. Really hope Kenneth gets well. 

[UtahJack]

UPDATE: Finally a little good news;     Dear friends, Look who’s got the tube out of his nose! All of a sudden Kenneth’s recovery took a turn, now finally in the positive direction! He’s eating normal food, and could remove the painful tube that’s been through his nose into his small intestine for so long now. We expect him to be discharged from the hospital this week, so we’ve found a small apartment to rent while we build our strength back up ☺️ Thank you all so much for your support! ❤️

[UtahJack]

Update:

 

Oct 18, 2020 at 7:53 AM

Finally home from the Hospital!

It is now almost 50 days since our accident happened, but it feels like an eternity. So much has happened since.

The first week I was so doped up that I don’t remember much, but from the second week I have had a really rough time trying to get better and I have gone through many different phases.

 

When I woke up after the surgery I was on so many drugs that I didn’t really understand what had happened. In my mind I had just had a quick surgery and I’d be back on the bike again soon.

When My mind started to clear up a little bit I started to feel the pain. It was constant and I was really struggling to relax for a long time. At this point, if I had the option I would have pulled the plug on myself. I just wanted out. Whatever came next didn’t seem worth it. I have always felt like life is only worth living if you enjoy it. And I didn’t see how I would ever enjoy it again.

If it hadn’t been for Pia being there constantly saying “we are Team Ride the Bean and we going to get back to our adventure” I wouldn’t even have wanted to try to get better.

After about a week of just feeling like Shet and wanting to give up I got help from a nurse to have a shower. That shower felt so incredibly good after having been in bed for so long that it gave me more motivation, and after that I relatively quickly recovered to the point of being able to be transferred back to my local hospital in Trondheim, St. Olav Hospital.

Here I spent the first few weeks at the general gastric ward and was taken really good care of by the nurses. I felt like I was starting to improve and one by one all the different hoses I had connected to me like the catheter, the tube clearing out my stomach and all of that came out and they started telling me I could go home soon.

Then I got an infection. First my operation wound got infected so the nurses started cleaning it by sticking a long tube into it and spraying some sort of liquid into me to clear out the puss. They did this every day for some time. It was very unpleasant, but not the worst.

Since I was at the general gastro ward they had a lot of different doctors coming through, so to get better control they moved me up one floor to where the specialty doctors were so I wouldn’t have a new doctor every day. And here they also found out after some tests and CT scans that I had gotten a huge infected abscess in my stomach. To get rid of it they either had to do another surgery which was not a good idea, or they had to put a drain in and try to drain it out of me, so that is what they did.

Putting in that drain hurt like hell and when the drain came in, all the other hoses also had to come back in. Suddenly I was connected to a whole bunch of different tubes and wires again and I started to feel worse and worse every day again.

 

I was also struggling to eat, so they put a feeding tube through my nose and all the way down past my duodenum.

They said they expected that I had to use this feeding tube for a few months maybe. That was devastating to me and I started to spiral down again. I got really depressed and the thoughts of just giving up came back.

For a few weeks I felt like Shet and was struggling to even get out of bed. I needed help doing everything again and it felt like I had gone backwards instead of forwards.

Then one day it looked like the abscess had stopped draining and the doctors said it looked like it was gone, so they removed the drain. And very soon after that all the other tubes also came out.

I even started to be able to eat normal food again in very small portions, and with the help of some extra nutrients I managed to get enough calories through my mouth so they also could remove the feeding tube. Months before they thought initially.

And in the course of just 4 or five days I went from feeling like Shet, not wanting to continue, to the hospital clearing me for release!

So Yesterday I finally got out of the hospital! After more than 6 weeks.

Pia and I had planned to stay in a tent until we left for our trip, but the hospital refused to release me to a tent, so while I was there, Pia went apartment hunting, and the day after I got out of the hospital we moved into our new rental apartment.

 

It feels a bit like a bummer to be back inside. I had been looking forward to staying outside. But in my current physical state, and also with Pias back being broken I think we just have to accept having to live in an apartment and postponing our trip until spring.

We are both going to need some time to recover and retrain our muscles before we can leave for such an adventure.

But now I am finally out of the hospital at least. So one more step in the right direction.

Now we just have to get used to our new lifestyle and focus on getting better so we can continue the adventure we have been dreaming of for so long.

[UtahJack]

Check out their latest episode release on YouTube, truly amazing that there was no sign posted on the road.

 

 

[TimmyTheHog]

2 hours ago, UtahJack said:

Check out their latest episode release on YouTube, truly amazing that there was no sign posted on the road.

 

 

geez...i have been trying really hard to look for that hole...I can't see it!?!?!?!?!

[Uncle M]

@TimmyTheHog, they coords are in the subtitles of the youtube vid starting at approx 8:55. The location is in low resolution on Google Earth so is visible as a point where the road crosses a green area, presumably the vegetation along the water, but no more detail than that.

[TimmyTheHog]

1 minute ago, Uncle M said:

@TimmyTheHog, they coords are in the subtitles of the youtube vid starting at approx 8:55. The location is in low resolution on Google Earth so is visible as a point where the road crosses a green area, presumably the vegetation along the water, but no more detail than that.

guess for that, but I guess I should be clear that I can't see in the video...

They might have a better POV but man, that hole is definitely hidden...

[UtahJack]

When the bridge is out or the road is closed you would expect big signs;

 

[Alan M]

Really unfortunate what has happened, I'm sure they're absolutely gutted for their adventure of a lifetime to end so quickly and in such a bad way.

 

The main thing is they're on the mend and watching that last video I think they handled the situation really well, a lot of folk probably wouldn't have coped so well.

 

Best of luck to them and hopefully that's all their bad luck behind them and they get to start again next year.

[tenerecanada]

Yeah Pia was a real champ through all of that, takes courage to stabilize a situation like that.