Cycling from the UK to Russia... ARE YOU CRAZY?!?! Maybe
August 2016 and there I am, waving off to 200 or so people as I set off on a cycling adventure which was ‘planned’ to be from the UK to China. In truth it was a relatively easy decision to make to do a trip of this nature I weight up the following;
9-5 job = boredom x lack of personal progression
OR
Cycle from UK to China = tough prospect + no training + potentially best lesson in life
Obviously I opted for the latter of these two made up calculations. The decision was actually pretty easy due to the fact I was MEGA naive, I didn’t take into account everything, to start off I didn’t really realise how far away China was! I had no idea what equipment was good or needed, never cycled more than 26-miles in one go but more so I didn’t realise how much mental strength I would need.
The mental strength I was able to somehow conjure up got me through some incredibly tough circumstances, it showed me physical strength I didn’t realise I had and it also was a lesson in letting my emotions out. I cried at times, I did and there is no point in trying to hide that, emotions are what makes us human. I had to do some pretty grim things too such as shitting in the woods, yes I brought truth to whatever saying that is…
I cycled for so much, so much to prove to myself, to learn for myself and hopefully progress as a persona and grow a deeper understanding of myself and life. I thought it had happen, heck I thought I had learned that all back in 2015 when I travelled around Southeast Asia… I didn’t. I am only 24-years of age whilst writing this and there is no way I can answer those grand questions with certainty, I have actually more questions than answers, but that’s good right?
Along with this motivation for my travels I had an even greater purpose in that I wanted to show the world how beautiful human beings are, I aimed to meet as many people and build connections to then share with the world, reassurance that humanity still prevails! I’m doing this still with my project called ‘Faces & Places’ – I may do a whole post about this (let me know if you’d like that…).
Another aim and motivation for my trip was to share experiences my experiences in a realistic but positive manner, to show people also that you can do anything (almost anything) if you desire it enough. The way I aimed to prove this was with the fact I’ve had cancer twice and yes I am only 24-years old, I had no training, I had no idea about bicycle mechanics – all in all the odds probably weren’t in my favour but I’ve gone for it!
So you may have realised that the title says Russia not China and that is because I unfortunately had to fly home from Russia due to illness and have had to wait to fly back out to continue my journey. HOWEVER I do pick my trip back up next month as I fly to Kazakhstan on the 24th of July… let the good times roll!
Very cool! I love biking
Thanks! Yeah there's some beautiful freedom to it all!
Well said, I love that feeling of freedom! I also get a proud moment, I'm proud Im out doing things and seeing places when I take long motorcycle trips
Too right man, good to be proud of being in that situation as you're experiencing that moment of being present! :) You must see some awe inspiring places around Arizona!
I really admire this guy!
Thanks mate 👍
You did good
I do! I plan to share them soon :) I have pics and vids coming. Been here 4 years and I love it. So nice here
Awesome, I'll be very interested to see them! What's your favourite thing about it there? I need to visit there at some point my friend lives in Tuscon and I haven't seen him since we worked in Bali, so it's long overdue! I see your profile says 'gamer' ... what games dude?
Oh cool man, tucson is nice. I love that I can be in the pine trees, snow, desert, lake all within 1 hr. I love all the season, I love the desert, freedom, mountains... I love a lot about it. I like first person shooters and you
Can't wait for it mate!
It's amazing how he did it.
Thanks a lot @deveerei 👍
You're welcome!
By the way, I love those photos, the scenery is really wonderful!
Thanks! I wish I could take credit for it but the nature was what made it 😜
You're welcome. Haha
Credits every where, gentle gentle
Well you were the one who took the shot
Haha true... still giving credit to the surroudnings
Agreed! Taking a trip like this would be awesome too!
There's a downside to this for me, I don't bike... I don't know if I know how to.
It's okay, you have time to learn? My brother can't cycle (at the moment) and never learnt to due to conditions he couldn't control but he's going to one day and I know he's open to it because even though it's not common to see an adult learning to cycle at least that human is still willing to learn and apply themselves 😊
Thanks for those words. I pray he'd do it too. God bless you both.
God bless you too
Thanks!
Fantastic!
Keep us up to date on the next leg and I hope you recover soon.
This will make a fantastic book too
Thanks a lot @centaurmystic ... Yeah, I still can't believe less than a month today I will be in Kazakhstan... I hope I can write well enough to make the story into a book, I kept a journal every day so fingers crossed!
Great work man !!!!
He should start creating the book. Maybe there's a publisher lurking here in Steemit.
That's a great shout, maybe there is! I'm wary of publishers, but have started writing, but that's an amazing shout!! and what a place to share my writing to potential publishers, thanks for that idea! :)
You're welcome. Pray and it will come your way.
Very soon!!!!
Very soon indeed!! :)
Biking is about enjoying, what you are doing perfectly
and pictures are damn good
what a great work
????
Thanks a lot Shahzad! It's nice hearing compliments on my work! I just read read your article 'Hold the Door', I'm still new to the idea of crytocurrency but I've been reading from other people that it's the time to buy... is this true?
Yep, everything is so cheap :D
Damn.. okay! even still today? Where do you go to purchase as I don't deal in bitcoin either yet? :O
BEAST! What bike did you use?
a two tyres bike ;|
Okaaaay??
Good question!! :) Well with my naiveity I set off on a supermarket style bicycle (I had no idea about components or anything to do with a bicycle really), his name was Turbo! He ended up breaking down on me and then I got myself a VSF Fahrradmanufaktur TX 400 (his name is Brutus), and wow I can't imagine cycling my old bicycle! 😆
TX 400 is a great one (Y)
It certainly is, good sturdy steel horse!
That's a cool expedition bike! Looks expensive, though (hahahaha)
It's an amazing bike in fairness! :) It was a bit pricey and I was at a point in life where I had little money and thankfully people helped raise enough money for me to be able to purchase the bicycle, as well as the seller reducing it in price out of good-will! Overall what an example of alturistic humans! :)
Aww mate I love this, here have an up vote. I can't even imagine how hard this was especially with no training. Not just cycling training but training your arse to accept a saddle for extensive lengths of time. It took me ages to overcome that pain!
I can't wait to here more about your journey and please do write the Faces & places series I for one would be eager to read it.
Good luck for next month.
Thanks a lot! Ahh mate tell me about it, didn't even know of chamois cream at that time either! What kind of saddle do you ride on?
That's all I needed, one person to want to hear about that, consider that a future piece of writing! Going to be reading part 1 of your tales of a cyclist on my break today.
Thanks a lot, appreciate it!
@hopefulvagabond it is a racing saddle, but I only do a 20 mile commute so it is nothing in comparison to your experience. And now that I am writing it, I feel a little embarrassed even making that comparison.
Can't wait to read it, I will look forward to it. And hopefully you will find time to tell as all about the rest of your journey to china once you get going again.
I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it. There are still a few more stories in that series left to come, I am not completely up to date on my commuting career yet.
Eh man, don't feel embarassed, at least you're using your bike to do a 20-mile commute, better than most so feel good!
That's the plan, my brother recommends I try write 2-3 articles a day whilst travelling about anything, be it the music that day, a person I met that day... could be anything ... what do you think would be personally interesting though mate?
Did just read part 1... perfect. 😆
Glad you enjoyed it.
2-3 articles a day, that would be impressive. I think I am only going to be able to do that in a week.
I like seeing the world and its people, so stories of what you have done that day and people you have met sounds perfect. I would definitely try and get lots of piccies though and just supplement them with text, a picture says a thousand words and all that, @sweetsssj is excellent at doing this. Plus it might make it easier to keep that 2-3 article a day target.
Yeah I was thinking that was a lot too... probably won't be that, but I'll try as much as possible! I know from the past I had to conjure up enough energy to write my journal...
That's great input mate, really appreciate it, so much so that I have screenshotted it, ha! That's a good shout with the photos, I should just give context to it... I've seen her posts, she's got a good following from it too... will look more at her posts though
Kudos to you mate!
Thanks a lot 👌
You just earned another follower. I salute your strength, mentally and physically.
Very nice compliments
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Thanks everyone involved in the upvote!
Thats correct hopefulvagabond
You're welcome!
Wow, I admire your zest in life.
First, congratulations on winning your battle against cancer twice, not many people succeed there. I hope you are well and I understand it can recur, I'm positive you'll continue winning in this battle.
Secondly, resounding round of applause for doing all these things at a young age! Travel and cycling, and I imagine you do lots of other things in between. Epitome of living life to the fullest!
Continue being an awesome hopeful vagabond :)
Wow! Thanks so much for all your kind words😊 I've been sitting here for 3-minutes since I wrote the first reply to your comment and I am quite overwhelmed and not sure what to say, thanks! 😊
Thanks is more than enough. I wish you all the best in what you do :)
Thanks so much... and equally to you! Just stick by that motto of "a little crazy, a lot of sense" 😜
Wish you the same
It's so cool to see someone with same interests as me. You are also very good at writing, in my opinion at least! I'm truly sorry to hear about your cancer and then even at such a young age?! I hope it will never hit you again and that it is or will become a thing of the past for you. Keep it up and enjoy life! No way to do it better than on a bike with a sore ass if you ask me ;)
Ah man, thanks for the compliments!! Yeah it did suck a lot at haven't it at a young age, but it taught me a lot which is a big positive! Yeah hopefully it will never creep up on me again (fingers crossed). Haha you know it, nothing like cycle thousands of miles! 😆
Being positive is a beautiful thing! That would be an epic trip!
It is indeed, not an easy thing to be but worth it once you nail the mindset but it's about keeping it hey! :) It was pretty amazing man... might post some more about that part of the trip, what do you think?
You should post more, and most difficult thing is the mindset actually ;p
Thanks man! I'll have to maybe curate a piece to becoming mentally prepared (or at least trying to be! ha)
Upvoted, btw.
You are really, REALLY crazy! But I love this! Cool travel and cool post! You are very brave guy! Upvoted! Resteemed!
Спасибо!!! :) Crazy in a good sense I hope ha
Of cource in a good sense!
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Have you published much about the first part of your trip?
Most of the writing regarding the first part is on my website www.thehopefulvagabond.com ... I'm currently thinking of merging my Steemit to my site, but need to look into it first too
I've seen a wordpress plugin for displaying your steemit feed. Not sure what you're running your site on.
this is very interesting.
this is great. keep it up.