Touring - Anyone bike around the world?

I was at work 'daydreaming', and wondered about what the best route might be? What obstacles are there? What countries would NOT be a good place to ride? How best to get across seas and oceans? Anything that anyone taking on such a grand trip might offer would be highly interesting.

I did europe when in my twenties...something like 3600 miles...pretty tame in today's adventures, ha...but probably a pinnacle of my lifetime [I'm 60 now]. I'm gonna be dead soon [just a generic realization...no desease or anything yet]...and...well, 'dreaming' is where it all starts [me, like a dodo bird getting off the ground though, ha].

Help me out. Anyone else 'dreaming' upon such adventures as this? I gather it's a pretty common achievement anymore. Some UK guy just did it averaging over 14 MPH I just read. Hmm...'speed' would not be a high priority for me, ha. 'Dying in the saddle with my boots...ahem...uh...bike shoes on'. Now that would be a good way to go out, say what, hehe.

I think the biggest issue is just defining exactly what "around the world" means when 3/4 of the distance is going to be water. Cycling across the US is fairly common, I've heard of people cycling across Russia and China, so the pieces should be there if anyone cares to put them together.

Seems like I recently read of a family completing a trip of the Americas from north to south over a period of years, which seems comparable to me. (Not as far, but all on land, too.)

Hmm...here's a question. Is there ANYTHING that 'hasn't' been done yet on a bicycle? Is there some record book somewhere that keeps a tally? Just to wander the face of the globe seems sort of 'aimless'...drifting to nowhere for no reason. Maybe a pilgrimage or something to that Tibetan mountaintop where the wise guru sits who can explain what life was all about, ha? He'd probably peek out from behind smokey weed bitten glasses with a glint in his eye, "The ride man, it's all about the ride", I'm sure he'd say :). Ah well. I've got to go to work and plow some guy's field for him. It's ok though; he feeds me well, and the barn is pretty 'safe'. But out there...somewhere...my dreams dance around upon starry nights, longing to be free.

ha...yes, at 60, you still have 'dreams'. It's no longer really all that old don't you know...just slower.

Just google "around the world on a bicycle".

First hit, with a penny-farthing: http://www.amazon.com/Around-World-Bicycle-Classics-American/dp/0811726533

you probably want to look in the touring forum (http://www.bikeforums.net/forumdisplay.php/47-Touring) for pursuits like this. Every once in a while I get caught up reading people's journals on crazyguyonabike.com

I believe that BF member "roughstuff" has done the 'round the world thing. You could PM him and find out.

look up
crazy guy on a bike
www.crazyguyonabike.com/

Fred did it...



The original Fred was Fred Birchmore from Athens, Georgia... an adventurer who rode his single speed bicycle around the world back in the mid 1930's. (Extra credit for anyone who knows why he named his bike "Bucephalus"). During his bike trip, he was reputed to be the first white man to make it out of Afghanistan alive since Marco Polo. He also hiked the Appalachian Trail and the Inca Trail in Peru both solo.



One of his most famous incidents came in South America during his bicycle circumnavigation. He apparently was penniless and starving out in the jungle... until he came upon a huge snake. He killed and ate the snake, skinned it and sold the skin at a village for enough cash to get him further down the road. Check Amazon for the books that he wrote about his adventures.



His marks still show in his hometown of Athens, GA in a massive stone wall that he built by hand when Fred was in his 70's... a wall 14 feet high in some places and dug 4 feet into the ground.

Mr. Birchmore celebrated his 100th birthday this year.



Here's Fred posing with Bucephalus:

https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/-PRG7rk-zrEw/TiBEzLgYgLI/AAAAAAAAAJI/iwsUyYlMQtM/s800/birchmore.jpg

I'm moving this to touring

see : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Beaumont_(cyclist)

Hans Stucke, is still on the road decades later..

Just me, but...
I think of "biking around the world" as kind of a vague and random thing since you really can't do a major portion of it by bike due the existence of those pesky oceans. As a result, I personally would be inclined call it a world tour and hit the places that interest me linking it together with ships, buses, planes, and trains rather than focus it on circumnavigating the globe.

I have not (yet) really had the urge to tour outside the US.

One way of looking at it would be to plot your route so you start and finish at the same point, pass through two antipodal points (opposite points of the globe, e.g the north and south poles - that would be an epic route! but other points will do!) and ride at least 24000 miles (equivalent to the earth's circumference at the equator).

Heres an antipodal map (http://www.antipodemap.com/)

Spain and New Zealand are diametrically opposite each other for example... not a bad start :)

or here's a pretty straightforward route (I think)

Los Angeles
New York
Fly
Paris, France
Brindisi, Italy
Boat
Igoumenitsa, Greece
Turkey
Syria
Aqaba, Jordan
Boat
Nuweiba, Egypt
Cairo, Egypt
Fly
Mumbai, India
China
Laos
Thailand
Melaka, Malaysia
Boat
Sumatra, Indonesia
Boat
Java, Indonesia
Boat
Gilimanuk, Bali, Indonesia
Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia
Fly
Darwin, Australia
Sydney, Australia
Fly
Santiago de Chile
Peru
Ecuador
Colombia
Central America
Mexico
Los Angeles

That would make a nice little jaunt and keep you out of mischief for a while! :D

I really like the concept of dying with my cycling shoes on...preferably during a rest stop with an incredible view and perfect weather....with a hot babe attempting to give me CPR.

Read Thomas Steven's books, and you'll realize that the path is likely the least of your worries these days. Don't be afraid to get lost. The best experiences and adventures come when you are most vulnerable.

see : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mark_Beaumont_(cyclist)

Hans Stucke, is still on the road decades later..

As someone who grew up in Louisiana, it doesn't surprise me that Mark Beaumont was hit by a car AND robbed in Lafayette in the same day. Shame...

I met a few people doing it when I was touring through South America the past year. A South African guy a met had passed through Pakistan, and Iran, and had trouble in both places. In Pakistan the police insisted on escorting him for his entire trip through through the country. He had to argue with them extensively to let him ride, they just wanted to drive him in a truck and get him out of there. In Iran some guys pulled guns on him from a car and demanded his passport. He was able to create a traffic diversion and get out of there. Otherwise he had traveled extensively in Africa, South East Asia, India, China, etc, and not had any problems. Your results may vary.

Another difficulty/ big expense can be visas. The great thing about traveling through Latin America is the ease of the visa situation. It can get really complicated in Asia, from what I've heard from other travelers.

You could easily spend 2 - 3 years heading from Alaska to Argentina, which would be awesome. I spend 8 months going from Argentina to Ecuador and I loved it.

I was dreaming about a continental U.S. 48-state tour the other day and was wondering how long that would take...inspired by a group doing a tour 8840mi around the US clockwise to raise money for clean water! (http://www.h2oride.org)

I was at work 'daydreaming', and wondered about what the best route might be? What obstacles are there? What countries would NOT be a good place to ride? How best to get across seas and oceans? Anything that anyone taking on such a grand trip might offer would be highly interesting.

I did europe when in my twenties...something like 3600 miles...pretty tame in today's adventures, ha...but probably a pinnacle of my lifetime [I'm 60 now]. I'm gonna be dead soon [just a generic realization...no desease or anything yet]...and...well, 'dreaming' is where it all starts [me, like a dodo bird getting off the ground though, ha].

Help me out. Anyone else 'dreaming' upon such adventures as this? I gather it's a pretty common achievement anymore. Some UK guy just did it averaging over 14 MPH I just read. Hmm...'speed' would not be a high priority for me, ha. 'Dying in the saddle with my boots...ahem...uh...bike shoes on'. Now that would be a good way to go out, say what, hehe.

Yep, it's a great dream. Mine - Arkansas to Alaska, one-way trip. If I survive, I ain't coming back. Just a dream right now.

“All men dream: but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty recesses of their minds wake in the day to find that it was vanity: but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act their dreams with open eyes, to make it possible.” - T.E. Lawrence (AKA Lawrence of Arabia)


“Dream big and dare to fail.” - Norman Vaughan (mushed the Iditarod 13 times after age 69)