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Local man's zest for life takes him abroad on a trike - The Macomb Daily

Discussion in 'News' started by NewsBot, Aug 15, 2014.  |  Print Topic

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    Local man's zest for life takes him abroad on a trike
    The Macomb Daily

    Whether swimming with sharks or dining in a small bistro, Matt Galat of Saint Clair Shores has put his trade mark on high adventure.

    Galat, 35, who has been living in China for five years, launched a new travel series Friday on You Tube. The website, www.JaYoe.com, will chronicle Galat’s itinerary as he returns home to the United States, eventually ending in Los Angeles.

    JaYoe means “add fuel” and it is that theme guiding his adventure.

    The trip will include visits to 100 countries, an expedition to climb Mt. Everest, in 2015 with all of it documented on tape while Galat travels on a three-wheeled recumbent trike.

    The trip is scheduled to take five years.

    The trip will include visits to 100 countries, an expedition to climb Mt. Everest, in 2015 with all of it documented on tape while Galat travels on a three-wheeled recumbent trike. The trip is scheduled ... Galat's parents, Donald Galat of Saint Clair ...




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    A few minutes with ... a local man with wanderlust - Detroit Free Press

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    Matthew Galat with his trike near Guilin, China. The 35-year-old from St. Clair Shores
    launched a five-year plan last year to pedal across much of the globe. He’s recuperating
    here in Michigan after being hit by a truck.
    Detroit Free Press


    A few minutes with ... a local man with wanderlust
    Detroit Free Press
    QUESTION: Some people seeing this might think your world tour is a lark. Anyone who goes to your website (jayoe.com) would know that it's not — that you've really put a lot of planning into this. Tell me about that.

    ANSWER: I've invested the last three years in building a journey that is sustainable. I wanted to make sure that when I went on this trip, that I could make it a lifestyle. I didn't want to, like, go on this trip and then find out that "Oh, I've run out of money."

    And you're not riding, you're not walking, you're not hitchhiking, you're actually gonna go on this huge trip on a Tricycle.

    Yeah! It's not the Big wheel-type tricycle. ... They're recumbent-style trikes. Two wheels in the front. One wheel in the back. And you're kind of in a relaxed position. It's the only way to ride (smiles)....




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    The Morning
    When I woke up the morning of the accident, there was some standing water on the roads but the forecast looked good overall and I was optimistic. I had already lost a few days that week due to bad weather and I made a gut call to ride out early to see how far I could get.
    I ate a small breakfast at the hotel, checked my gear, assembled the trike for the day, and was on the road by 7:45 am.
    It was almost 8:30 am when the rains started, a light sprinkle. I took refuge under an elevated railway with some other Chinese on Ebikes, hoping to wait until the rain stopped. It let up only enough to trick me into starting my ride again, at which time the rain promptly started up again. It was the type of rain that was just light enough to feel guilty hiding from, so I decided to simply drive on no matter what.
    As the morning wore on, the back of my neck and shoulders began to soak with the steady barrage of water and grime being thrown onto them from the trailer. My mood was beginning to sour and after about an hour, just to add insult to injury, a truck tire gave me the coup de grâce by sending a puddle flying up from the road directly into my face.


    I was not necessarily in the middle of nowhere… but where I was at the time was not hospitable. I was wishing for a gas station with a nice big overhang to relax under, but what I got was a shallow awning protecting one of the derelict businesses alongside the road.
    But whatever… it was dry.
    I started to take stock of my situation. As of yet, I had not put on my rain protection. I was under the morning’s assumption that the day was going to be relatively dry. But my panniers were taking on a lot of water and grime, and so was I. My trailer, which when dry sported a bright red nylon top cover, was now a brown mess of mud, grime, dirty water and grease. Where once it was taught and evenly stretched over my gear, the water had formed sagging pools, most certainly seeping their contents thru into my nicely packed contents inside.
    I briefly considered doubling back. “It was still early”, I thought. I could ride back to the city from which I started, tuck in and wait a day or two more. It was still quite a distance in front of me before I would come to a city or village with a decent hotel, so if I continued there would be no respite for me until the end of the day.
    But I was not one for going backwards.
    Instead of turning back I decided to waterproof as much as I could and press on. I assembled the trike’s rain canopy, put on the pannier’s rain-covers and donned my bright orange rain jacket. As for the trailer, there was no waterproof solution, so instead I tried to balloon out some of the tents and waterproof gear inside, in an attempt to lift the trailer’s cover enough to keep any water from pooling, hopefully keeping its contents as dry as possible.

    Back on the road.
    It was extremely slow going. In order to keep the tires from flinging contents all over the place, I had to keep my speed under 7 kmh. This was grueling for me, as my average pace on these flat roads could easily be 20-25 or more. At this rate, I was not going to get far.
    On a positive note, although the whole day was wet, it never “showered”. The rain cover and gear was keeping things overall dry, and this gave me an opportunity to reclaim some optimism.
    It could be worse, it could always be worse.
    The day’s ride had me pedaling thru village after village, separated by farmland and mountains. It made for a beautiful ride; the rain had everything...

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    Rested & on the mend, St. Clair Shores man looks to resume world trike travels

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    Rested and on the mend, St. Clair Shores man looks to resume world trike travels
    The Macomb Daily
    Galat, a South Lake graduate, was on a journey to fulfill a dream to go around the world on a trike, a three-wheeled recumbent bike, when had his trip abruptly cut short as 2,000 miles into it, a truck struck his trailer. He was thrown into the air and slammed on to a concrete road.

    In Ningbo, a city of 5.5 million, Galat was surgically treated with 11 screws and a plate that were placed between his neck and shoulder.

    “What inspires me most,” said Galat, “is the people who follow my site. The best one to date was a comment from a man who lived in Florida. He told me his son wanted to visit Japan. The man said he was afraid for the son to travel because he saw the world as a scary place. Because of my videos, the man changed his mind and decided that he could stand behind the son’s plans to travel.”

    Galat returned to China last weekend and...




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