The Accidental Bicycle Tourist

68 Episodes

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ABT068. Bikecentennial: Fifty Years Later

2026-10-3001:43:13

Fifty years after the summer of 1976, the voices of the Bikecentennial generation are still full of energy, gratitude, and adventure. What began as a celebration of America's bicentennial grew into something much larger. In this special episode, riders from across the United States look back on bicycle journeys that became one of the defining experiences of their lives, shaping careers, relationships, philosophies, and often instilling lifelong passions for cycling and fitness. Bill and Barba...

ABT067. Reorienting Your Internal Compass: Two Life-Changing Trans-American Adventures

2026-10-1001:20:11

In 1972, fifteen‑year‑old Cyndy Schlaepfer‑Youker had barely bicycled beyond her hometown of Ithaca, New York. In 2020, fifty‑six‑year‑old Teri M. Brown hadn’t bicycled in four decades. Neither woman fit the profile of someone poised to pedal across the United States. Yet both did, tracing remarkably similar routes nearly fifty years apart. Cyndy joined her father and three brothers on an adventure supported by a VW bus that carried the rest of their family of eight. Teri rode a tandem with h...

ABT066. Finding Adventure in the Everyday

2026-09-2557:01

Alexander Leonard reflects on a life shaped by bicycles, from his long student commutes across Montreal to his two-wheeled explorations through Berlin in search of forgotten corners like an abandoned swimming‑pool complex. In 2013, 18-year-old Alex traveled to Cambodia, where his volunteer work at an orphanage reshaped his sense of the world. He pedaled through Phnom Penh’s swirling scooter traffic, met curious locals, and taught students almost his age geography and astronomy. His journeys e...

ABT065. Live to Your Full Potential

2026-09-1101:03:58

In this inspiring episode, adventurer Renata Chlumska recounts her time supporting Göran Kropp’s historic, self-powered ascent of Mount Everest in 1996 and how witnessing both tragedy (the disaster Jon Krakauer chronicles in Into Thin Air) and triumph (Göran’s successful Everest summit) shaped her lifelong dreams and philosophy. In 2006, Renata followed the perimeter of the 48 contiguous United States by bicycle and kayak. In 2014, she conquered the Seven Summits, the highest mountain peaks o...

ABT064. No Ordinary Bicycle Ride

2026-08-2801:27:53

Imagine visiting a museum to study a penny-farthing—a classic bicycle with a giant front wheel and a tiny rear one—not out of idle curiosity, but with the intent to build one yourself. Then, you decide to hop atop this contraption with no gears, solid rubber tires, and virtually no brakes and eventually take it around the world. It sounds nearly impossible, yet that is exactly what Joff Summerfield did. After designing and constructing his own custom penny-farthing, Joff departed Greenwich, E...

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