Here Begins the Darién Gap.

Really incredible stuff from Lucas Brunelle and co.  This is certainly not the first time the Darién Gap has been traversed by bicycle, but with the rise of FARC in the 1990s, it is a very dangerous era to cross from Panama to Colombia.  While kidnappings are rare, an American equipped with camera gear makes for a good target!

The first to cross the gap via bicycle was Ian Hibell of England, who did so in his journey from Cape Horn to Alaska from 1971 through 1973.  He did so on his Freddie Grubb built with Reynolds 531 tubing and equipped with racks and luggage of his own design.  He wrote about his Pan-American journey in the book Into the Remote Places.  Ian spent 40 years of his life cycling around the world and was very unfortunately killed by a hit-and-run while riding in Greece.

For  comparison's sake, check out this very elaborate marketing project put on by a Chicago Chevrolet dealer in 1960 to promote the new Corvair.  This is the car that made Ralph Nader famous when he claimed they were "Unsafe at Any Speed".  I'll cheers to that being a plus when you're risking your life in a relatively uncharted, sparsely inhabited jungle!