Cycling The World?

Quote by Riverwood:
"And if so, where have you been, when and why?"

Where: All over The United States Of America, a little of Canada and some of Europe.

When: From 1972 through today. Tomorrow, the Journey continues.

Why: Good question. Because it was there. Because I wanted to find out if the fries at a McDonald's in Paris tasted the same as the fries at a McDonald's in Peoria. Because I enjoy looking view of life from over the handlebars. Because it is the road less travelled.

I used a steel frame touring bike for most of my travels. It is the right tool for the job. It carried me an around 40-45 pounds of gear. As far as tires, I used medium weight touring tires...various brands. Usually whatever was available cheap in whatever locale I happened to be when I ruined a tire and had to mount my spare or whenever one wore out. Buy a bike that uses the sizes tires available where you are going to be touring.

I never had a problem with the bike that couldn't be quickly solved with a few American dollars, a few tools and Yankee ingenuity.
I never had a problem with a fellow human being that couldn't be solved with a kind smile, some gentle words or the quick draw of a .357 S&W Magnum snubbie revolver.

Cycling around the world sounds wonderful. I've cycled in many different parts of the world, but it hasn't crossed my mind to ride my bike for thousands of kilometers. I have a friend from the UK who does just that. When he visited me in Australia, he rode his bike all the way from Melbourne up to Cairns, where I lived at the time. That's roughly around 3000km. He loved it so much, that he told me next time he goes to Australia he wants to do the west coast. All he has is his bike, backpack and a tent. Oh yes, and not to forget: his precious camera.

I have an online acquaintance from another forum who set out a few years ago (from England) to cycle the world with her husband. She was somewhere in the Middle East when she was mauled by a dog. She suffered severe damage. She has an article about it online, but I have lost her info, will find it and pass it on.

It sounds like an incredible journey, but it would obviously be a difficult one. There are more than the weather and elements that you'd have to worry about, even if you only choose to travel a limited geographical area. You'd probably have to use multiple bikes along the way, and it sounds like something you'd have to be in peak physical condition to accomplish, unless you plan on doing small chunks of the journey at a time.

I finally found the info about the online friend who has attempted cycling the world. Her name is Emma Taylor, and you can find details of her adventure at https://www.crazyguyonabike.com. There are multiple sites with different parts of her story, I highly recommend checking them out.

I would love to cycle around the world, there are many times when I've though about this. It's just something I can't do right now as I'm looking after my elderly folks. That documentary sounds interesting though and I should make a point of checking it out, thanks for sharing. I guess one of the biggest problems would be ensuring travel visas are in order as one moves from country to country.

As much as I would love to, I won't. Unfortunately, I don't have the time or budge for that. As a college student with a bike that's a couple of years old, I don't think I'll be doing this anytime soon. But, if anybody does, I would love to watch the footage from your journey.

Damien Lee said:

I would love to cycle around the world, there are many times when I've though about this. It's just something I can't do right now as I'm looking after my elderly folks. That documentary sounds interesting though and I should make a point of checking it out, thanks for sharing. I guess one of the biggest problems would be ensuring travel visas are in order as one moves from country to country.

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Yeah, it's important to remember family in life. It's very responsible of you to take care of your elderly rather than go out and have fun biking the world. Not that this comment will financially help you in any way, I just thought that you should know that you're making the right decision.

I haven't tried to go round the world on bike yet, no, however it is certainly something that I am considering, and something that I hope I will be able to do at some point in the future. I think that there is just so much to see that it is silly to limit yourself to only going to certain places. So instead, why not hop on your bike so that you can make the most of all of the scenery that is around? You should buy a couple of books about the area you're interested in going to, set your heart on places that you'd like to visit, and then plan your route from there. It really is a great thing to be able to do, and something that many people enjoy.

You have to be physically fit to enjoy this kind of adventure. The change in the weather could easily bring some illness or issues that may affect the entire experience of cycling the whole world. Maybe if I were still in my early twenties with not much responsibility I can go on a trip like this one. It would be a lonely trip if I would not be tagging along a buddy.

This reminds me of a long time friend who used to join us in our annual hikes - we walk 28 kilometers as a religious tradition which ends in the cathedral of the Antipolo town in Rizal province. The guy is happy go lucky from a rich family so he can afford his whims. And one of that is a plan to walk from Metro Manila to the northern part of the country. From my estimate, it would take 1 month of daily walking of 8 hours. I still have to hear from hiim if his dream to walk that far had materialized.

I really like that story about Ben Weaver in a recent issue of Bicycling magazine. He bicycled from gig to gig with his music stuff, from Minnesota to Louisiana. Now that caught my imagination! I'd love to do something like that -- but there doesn't seem too much market for just-passing-though software developers. Maybe if I could learn a modern profession with real possibilities I could drum up steady business every 100 miles or so. Like blacksmithing, shoe repair, clothing alterations, something that people need.

I still have a dream to just ride cross-country.

Thanks a ton

Bob

It would be nice to have my name go down in the annals of history and be written in the Guinness Book of Records, but there are just some feats that I will never attempt. I cycle to keep fit and healthy, not for fame or fortune. I don't mind looking good while I am at it, but world Dominion is not my focus.

thomas pendrake said:

I finally found the info about the online friend who has attempted cycling the world. Her name is Emma Taylor, and you can find details of her adventure at https://www.crazyguyonabike.com. There are multiple sites with different parts of her story, I highly recommend checking them out.

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Gee, what an experience with that sidelight of their world tour. We are travelers but we take the plane. When in another country, our first concern is the safety. When we were in Bangkok, we toured the floating market. To get there, we had to ride a motorized banca that was being swayed by the wavy water of the river. I was really scared.

And probably being on a bike would scarier because you seem to have no defense.

Note: It seems that the link is not working or maybe it's my connection?

Recently we had a guest who was biking around the country. He had come here from Texas. I am trying to upload a photo of his bike and trailer. He had his dog with him.

I have to admit that cycling around the world, or trying to at least, as never really crossed my mind until I saw this thread. Thinking about it now though, I'm positive its something that I wouldn't want to do and while you'll definitely have a lot to talk about when you get back, I'd be more worried that I might not be able to make it back in the first place!

BobCochran said:

I really like that story about Ben Weaver in a recent issue of Bicycling magazine. He bicycled from gig to gig with his music stuff, from Minnesota to Louisiana. Now that caught my imagination! I'd love to do something like that -- but there doesn't seem too much market for just-passing-though software developers. Maybe if I could learn a modern profession with real possibilities I could drum up steady business every 100 miles or so. Like blacksmithing, shoe repair, clothing alterations, something that people need.

I still have a dream to just ride cross-country.

Thanks a ton

Bob

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You can do this, I'm sure of it.

At the moment I work as a web developer and I'm sure I could go freelance and still make a decent enough living.

I'm actually contemplating doing something like this, except travel mostly through Europe, doing freelance gigs wherever there's internet. You can find tons of jobs that can be done remotely online, I actually work one of those. Except my company is just on the other end of the town, but I have a friend who lives in Germany and works as a web developer for a company in the United States.

I'm sure there are similar opportunities for work online for a software developers.

While it wasn't the world, I knew of someone who rode from one end of the UK to the other for some charity event. The plan was to do the ride in so many days and the original route was to go from one end to the other and then cycle to London but as it turned out they could only mange to get from one end to the other before time ran out.

Susimi said:

While it wasn't the world, I knew of someone who rode from one end of the UK to the other for some charity event. The plan was to do the ride in so many days and the original route was to go from one end to the other and then cycle to London but as it turned out they could only mange to get from one end to the other before time ran out.

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I also know a local cycling club that toured the UK for charity. They didn't have a time limit as such but they went from lands end on the southern coast of England to John O'Groat's at the very top of Scotland.

They raised quite a lot of money as well although I have to admit it's not a trek I'd imagine myself doing!