Cycling from London to Shangahi

[MickeyFinns]

Just imagine what this guy will achieve at the end of it (a place in 'Guinness World Records').

Unfortunately this has been done many times before! And I'm not in the same league as the people who have the records (They do 200+ miles a day, I'm going average 50).

What countries will you be bypassing and heading through?

The plan is;

UK
France
Luxembourg
France
Germany
Austria
Slovakia
Hungary
Croatia
Serbia
Bosnia
Croatia again
Montenegro
Albania
Macedonia
Greece
Turkey
Georgia
Armenia
Iran
Turkmenistan
Uzbekistan
Tajikistan
Kyrgyzstan
China!

 

[Messiah Khan]

Have you seen Tom Allan's film Janapar?
http://tomsbiketrip.com/films/
That will get you fired up! I would love you join you for this journey btw, but I think I need to settle down a bit for a few years. I have always wanted to explore central asia.

I saw a lecture by German explorer Michael Martin once, who had motorbiked his way around the world. Some of his talk covered Tajikistan which looked amazing, and a part of the world that is still mostly undiscovered (Certainly by western media).

Going to get by on tap water until Turkey (with some coffee filters and purification tablets in case I have to resort to any bad stream water). After that I'm going to pickup either a Steripen or Lifesaver bottle so should be covered!

I would highly recommend look at using a Sawyer Squeeze. They are very reliable and a lot more field maintainable than mechanical filters or UV treatment. You probably don't want to reply on chemical treatment for that amount of time as it tastes nasty and can't do you much good. Just my 2p.

 

[MickeyFinns]

Yeah seen Janapay, I was little bit disappointed if I'm honest. It's more of a story of how he met his wife, thought it was going to be more of a documentary of the trip.

Will have a look at the Sawyer Squeeze now .

 

[matthab]

Good on you, good luck and ill donate when you get on your way.

 

[antijoke]

Excellent idea. Good on you for doing it. Will watch with interest.

 

[Raymond Lin]

Someone I know (who is a member of this board) is currently motorcyling around the world, she is about to enter Alaska as we speak, already rode down through Europe, through africa, shipped to NYC, up eastern North America and crossing (crossed Canada) and then will ride down the western United States down central America before shipping over to Australia and then Asia then back.

 

[topgun06]

Wow! It will be amazing. Best of luck.

 

[platypus]

I've got an Olympus E-PM1 plus a Go-Pro 2 so should get some good stuff!

Solar charger?

 

[MickeyFinns]

Solar charger?

Solar panel that charges a battery pack that will be able to charge the GoPro.

I've got a spare battery for the Olympus and they can only be charged from a wall socket so I'll just have to keep on top of that. I may come up with more of a backup plan for the remote legs of the journey as it'd be shame to run out of battery!

 

[Tackle_Berry]

When you get to China, are you ditching the bike and hoping on a plane? If so will be a shame not to take the bike home with you.

 

[MickeyFinns]

When you get to China, are you ditching the bike and hoping on a plane? If so will be a shame not to take the bike home with you.

I'll by flying back and bringing the bike with me. Most airlines will take a properly packaged bike as hold luggage.

 

[Trifid]

I'm rather jealous! Isn't 50 miles a day a little low of a target though? Are you planning on stopping a lot?


Don't forget a Kindle full of books (loads of free ones on Amazon).

 

[MickeyFinns]

I'm rather jealous! Isn't 50 miles a day a little low of a target though? Are you planning on stopping a lot?


Don't forget a Kindle full of books (loads of free ones on Amazon).

50 mile average, so probably 70 on cycling days. Although sections will be slower , I think on the Pamir highway I'll struggle to do 50!

Yeah going to be stocking up on Kindle books!

 

[anything I don't mind]

I noticed there is a big gap between georigia and uzbekistan. Do you have any thoughts on what route you would take there because i am not sure how well the roads are. I think some of that could be riding through the desert or mountains without shops on the side of road etc. Are you going to rough it completely with tents and survival back packs or take public transport with your bike and thinks like that?

This an epic journey, riding across china is a big enough of a challenge. How many people is going at the same time?

 

[MickeyFinns]

I noticed there is a big gap between georigia and uzbekistan. Do you have any thoughts on what route you would take there because i am not sure how well the roads are. I think some of that could be riding through the desert or mountains without shops on the side of road etc. Are you going to rough it completely with tents and survival back packs or take public transport with your bike and thinks like that?

This an epic journey, riding across china is a big enough of a challenge. How many people is going at the same time?

I've left it blank because of how tricky it is to get the Iranian visa. The main plan and backup are as follows;

Plan A:

Tbilisi, georgia
Yerevan, Armenia
Tabriz, Iran
Tehran, Iran - Stay for two weeks whilst getting Uzbek visa and Turkmen transit visa
Mashad, Iran
Race across Turkmenistan via Mary in 5 days.
Head to Bukhara, Uzebkistan.

Plan B:

Get Azerbaijani visa in Tbilisi.
Cycle to Baku, Azerbaijan.
Get Kazhak and Uzbek visas.
Get weekly ferry from Baku to Aktau, Kazhakstan.
Head to nukus, Uzbekistan and then down to Bukhara.


Plan A is all fairly developed, lots of truckers go through Turkmensitan so lots of shops by road.

If I go with Plan B the bit of Kazhakstan I'll be going through as well as Western Uzbekistan will be quite remote so will stock up on supplies.

 

[agnes]

How comfy is that saddle?

 

[MickeyFinns]

How comfy is that saddle?

Very . It's a Brooks flyer saddle with about 500 miles on it so far so should be broken in. On top of that I wear padded cycling shorts. You'll find most long distance cyclists agree there isn't a better saddle for the job!

 

[anything I don't mind]

No GPS? lol you will take one for backup though? Just not a car gps? like a hiking gps or handheld gps.

 

[Hank_Marvin]

Look forward to reading it. Good Luck.

Someone else posted a link to a blog of someone they knew cycling to russia about 6 months ago and also to a guy cycling to india I think it was, that was an excellent read, young guy who grew a propa dirty beard haha, i need to go back to that one and see if he finished the blog.

 

[Hank_Marvin]

This one http://www.englandtoindia.com/index.html