What does that have to do with anything?

Do you ever lay awake in bed at night asking yourself questions you can't answer, and hear that little voice inside your head say, "Who are you talking to?"

_________

It's a thing. My family has long done everything they could to keep me out of anywhere in Mexico out of safety concerns.

I've had friends reject corporate overseas assignments both for safety...and even air pollution concerns.

Doesn't surprise me one bit that some people globally might now be thinking US is not a great place to visit.

I have a gay friend here/US with Irish heritage who just got citizenship in Ireland in case things turn south here for her and her wife. She wasn't born in Ireland, never lived there...but she's prepared to jump.

I know this is harsh but it's how I really feel about this action.

To make a conscious decision to bike through Afghanistan at best is a foolish and dangerous decision. The likelihood of this man making it out alive is at best 50/50, and that's if he's lucky. This kind of adventure through Afghanistan doesn't take guts, it takes a mindless, ignorant fool. The US Tax payers should not have their tax dollars spent to get this guy home.

What does he think is going to happen there? I'm serious, what does he think could happen to him?

I hope he makes it.


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93.13% of probabilities are made up.

I'd like to see the 95% CI on that,

Pfft! That's ridiculous! It's nowhere near that dangerous!

The U.S. Dept. of State issued a Level 4 - Do Not Travel advisory back in February for Afghanistan. You must know something that nobody in our Government knows. I generally don't trust the Government but on something like this I do.

Way to set the bar low.

50/50 is average....There is place called Sentinel Island where the chances for any outsider or visitor of making it out alive are zero. Only a person with suicidal tendencies would go there.

Especially given the current war on expertise.

Reminds me of the exchange in the first "Pirates of the Caribbean" movie, where someone says that the stories say the captain of the Black Pearl never leaves any survivors.

Capt, Jack Sparrow says, "“Never leaves any survivors No survivors? Then where do the stories come from. I wonder."

That is a protected area with a uncontacted tribe. It seems like a poor place to bike tour or bikepack anyway as it is a small island and the Indian government doesn't allow people in for that very reason.

Same here. I have no interest in visiting and travelling through a country that has been torn apart by pointless wars and is now governed and controlled by radical jihadists. I am sure there are millions of good people there who haven't done anything wrong but they are just caught up in this mess which is no fault of their own, but I would still not go there.

If they clubbed you over the head with an intent to rob you they would most likely take not only your bicycle but also your smartphone, your wallet, your credit cards etc and you wouldn't be able to call police or call for help. Also depending on what they used as a club and how hard they hit you, you might not even be alive or you might be in deep coma.

Just because the government forbids it doesn't mean that some adventurous rule breaker who likes high-risk adventures can't sneak in there.

I enjoyed the story and especially the pictures. I wouldn't go there myself, even when I was young and bold, but this guy, Ryan is handling this well. He seems to have experience traveling in different countries with different cultures. One thing that i will note is that he seemed to say, that people that he encountered had little hostility, and by and large there was overwhelmingly hospitable. It is also interesting that Ryan commented that he told a local man that this was the most beautiful place he had ever seen and the man responded that he thought that he'd like to go to New York City for a beautiful place. We always wish for what is just out of reach. I'm looking forward to reading more.

I've traveled to many countries. Nothing like Afghanistan, but each trip had tense moments and surprisingly good moments. The good times far outweighed the bad or tense times.

I just teleported to Waffle House. ​​​​​​Can I get you anything?

I’ve got some bad news re: your tax dollars in Afghanistan…

Just say no to drugs.

I am well aware, and that is a different discussion.

Why? I could be Mayor of D.C.

I remembered reading about a bikepacking adventure in Bike magazine years ago. They had similar experiences with the locals as did the author in the OPs' story.
I googled it to see the date and it was 2013. While I googled it I saw several other stories about traveling through Afghanistan by bike. Read a bit of them and the same theme. Locals were friendly, curious, and generous and the Taliban were watchful but not cruel and actually supplied tea and even food to the cyclists.

I'm not saying it's not dangerous but I've read many stories of people bikepacking in remote areas all over the world and their interactions with the citizens has been overwhelmingly positive. I did read one about Russia where the guys tried to ride into Siberia and were turned away by rifle toting guards.

BITD, while riding across the country, our little group camped in the city park in tiny Ione, WA. No one but myself and the former CHiP who was part of the group noticed the hand-to-hand drug transactions that took place. Much later in the trip, he and I were the only ones who rode the optional mileage in Cleveland up through Cleveland and Shaker Heights. Everyone else was too scared of the perils of the “big city”.