This podcast episode that will take you on a journey across continents, through adversity, and into the heart of human experience. Today we're diving into an epic adventure that defies imagination. Picture this: A lone cyclist, pedaling across the globe, starting in the quaint villages of Central Europe and venturing into the rugged Balkans. But that's just the beginning. Our intrepid traveler pushes eastward, through the ancient lands of Georgia and Armenia, into the mystical realms of Iran,...
Kimberly Coats is the CEO of Team Africa Rising, a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports cycling development in Africa. Kimberly has over 12 years of experience creating and managing innovative and impactful programs that empower African cyclists and foster a culture of excellence and inclusion. She is also a certified USA Cycling Coach Level 2, passionate about coaching and mentoring young and aspiring riders. Her mission is to be a global voice and advocate for African cycling,...
Explorers Kristen and Ville Jokinen met and fell in love while scuba diving in Vietnam. Ville then left his native Finland to join Kristen in Oregon and together they embarked on a life-changing two-year cycling adventure covering 18,000 miles from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, to Ushuaia, Argentina. Despite never having cycled further than around the block, they persevered unrelenting, punishing rain and wind, altitude sickness, dog attacks, bike accidents, and countless flat tires to cycle between t...
In this episode we speak with Laura Massey-Pugh, one half of the team that recently set a Guinness World Record by cycling 18,000 miles on a tandem bicycle in 179 days and 12 hours. Stevie (Steven Massey) is a very experienced ultra-distance cyclist, completing his first 100+ mile ride at the ripe age of 11. In his racing days, he achieved 4th in the National 24 hour time trial championships (725km in 24 hours) and has finished London-Edinburgh-London, and Paris-Brest-Paris in the top...
Tim embarked on a daring dream to pedal around the globe. With nothing but sheer determination and a modest budget of 6 pounds (7 USD) per day, he mounted his trusty 90-pound (110 USD) bicycle, setting off from Reading, United Kingdom, without a map and nothing more than a pocketful of hope to make it to Reading, Pennsylvania in the United States. In the sun-scorched Australian outback, he struggled for every precious drop of water in the relentless 110°F (40°C) heat and battled the ele...
In this thrilling episode, we embark on a two-wheeled expedition through one of the world's most breathtaking landscapes - the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan. Join us as we pedal our way through this mountainous wonderland, exploring the culture, the challenges, and the sheer beauty that make this journey a must for every adventurer. Hosted by seasoned cyclist and travel enthusiast, George Balarezo, this episode takes you on a virtual journey through the heart of the Karakoram Range. ...
After cycling 700 kilometers in 24 hours as a competitive cyclist, Marc Tiburski left his home in Germany and is now 666 days and 40,000 kilometers into his world cycling tour. In this episode we talk about how he achieved celebrity status in Iraq after getting his phone stolen, his experiences fasting during Ramadan, and pedaling while literary drunk on hospitality in Iran. Marc also talks about his adventures cycling across Saudi Arabia, a country that has been open to tourism only since 20...
YJ & Gracia are currently on a mission to cycle across the world to get back home to Singapore on a tandem bicycle. Before their adventure, they did van life for a year in the United States driving around 48 states. In this episode, they talk about their romance, which all started in an abandoned house during COVID lockdowns before getting "caught with their pants down" by the owner while on a date, their social experiment in the most racist town in the United States, as well as the cha...
Richard is the founder and CEO of 10Adventures, where he helps people create the experiences that end up as the photos on their walls, the stories that are told at family reunions, and the memories that last a lifetime. Richard has spent his 20-year career in high-growth start-ups and scale-ups, having worked across three continents, and worked in English, French, and Spanish. Richard is an alumnus from Harvard Business School and London Business School, where he was a Sloan Fello...
This is an interview I did for the 10 Adventures Podcast. The host Richard Campbell read my book, Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle in preparation for the episode and we took a deep dive into the journey. In this episode I detail some of the hardships faced while on the road in Ethiopia and give advice to novice adventurers looking to step outside of their comfort zones. Enjoy the conversation. Be bold. Be intrepid. To support the podcast pleas...
Juan Pablo Toro is a tennis player and adventurer who was born in Santiago de Chile. He had a normal life. Almost too normal. To defeat boredom, in December 2019 he started traveling around the world, but 4 months later the pandemic started and he had to come back to Chile, disappointed. His expectations were high for the trip, but his adventure was cut short. In August 2021 he started traveling again, this time with a bicycle and a tent, and low expectations in order to avoid more disappoint...
Mike Nixon is a globetrotter who has spent nearly a decade living and traveling abroad. From experiencing Paraguay in the Peace Corps, being stationed in Japan with the United States Navy, NGOs in Nicaragua, and everything in between, Mike has done any- and everything to transform his life into an adventure. He has visited thirty countries across four continents, and shares some fascinating stories in his award-winning debut memoir “Life Travel And The People In Between.” For Mike, travel has...
The Goliath Expedition is Karl Bushby's attempt to walk around the world "with unbroken footsteps", from Punta Arenas, Chile, to his home in Hull, England. He began his journey on November 1, 1998 and originally expected to finish the over-36,000+ miles (58,000+ km) trek in 12 years, though there were questions about the three gaps that created uncertainty. The first gap would be the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, the Bering Strait between the US and Russia, and the Channel tunnel be...
Adam Swanson is 19 years old and is 1.5 years into a world cycling tour as a gap year between high school and college. He is traveling to educate himself on the world before going to university, to grow as a person, and to grow his love for cycle touring. He's toured with his family all his life, ever since his dad and pregnant mom pulled him in a Burley trailer across Mexico as a baby. Since then he's toured the US from coast to coast, Cuba, Eastern Europe and gone on some weekend trip...
In 1999, Trevor Lund set out to fulfil a 10-year dream of cycling the length of the Americas, from southern Argentina to north Alaska. With little planning and no mobile phone and soon finding himself all alone after his companion quit, his journey was far from ordinary. He enjoyed and endured so much that he felt compelled to write a book on his return home but self-doubt meant the book would take 19 years to complete. Trevor still cycles and has completed many enjoyable - and not so e...
I am happy to introduce you to Tetsuya Mizoguchi, a veteran adventurer and character in my book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle via a podcast conversation. Tetsuya Mizoguchi has been bicycle touring since high school and has pedaled solo across South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. We met in Ethiopia while he was on his journey from Cape Town to Cairo and rode together for several days. About 15 years my junior, he displayed unrivaled poise...
M. Scott Ault is a Calgary based artist, author and sporadic adventurer. He grew up in east- central Ontario and knew there was more "out there" than just what had been taught in books and through movies.. adventure and that it was sitting there.. waiting for him. All he had to do was reach out and grab it. Thus, one day he decided to give away nearly all his personal property and, armed with just a backpack and a cardboard sign, he was en route to... nothing short of Life, Immeasurable. In t...
Adventurer and YouTuber Roman Onillon joins us for another conversation. This time we discuss his walking trip across Malaysia- a 500 kilometer journey with his wife during the steamy summer months. They were on a mission to clean up his adopted country and spent several hours per day clearing trash during the trip. Roman sprained his ankle during the second day of his trip, but continued to limp on, ignoring doctors' advice to cancel his plans. Learn how Roman and his wife became overnight...
Beth Godshall was in the Peace Corps as an Environmental Volunteer for 1 year in Mongolia. She lived in a ger, or yurt without running water, so she had to walk to the river whenever she wanted to bath or cook. She witnessed the magic of horse whisperers, or people who tame wild horses by whispering in their ears, started a museum in her town, and participated in a snow leopard survey. Beth and her husband's fourth date was a bicycle tour from Indiana to New Orleans and then over to Aus...
Sanna and Benjamin are two Swedish human rights defenders who are currently cycling 48,000 kilometers through 40 countries for two years to raise awareness about Western Sahara, Africa´s last colony. While biking up and down the equivalent of 27 Mount Everests, through the busy streets of Tokyo and Beijing, cold Georgian mountains, and the scorching Sahara in Northern Africa, they meet up with local human rights defenders to create long lasting collaborations between oppressed groups. ...