The Accidental Bicycle Tourist

Jacqui Webster and Joe McNamara are a middle-aged Australian couple who in 2023 paused their sensible careers for one year to hop on heavily laden bicycles and pedal from England to Singapore. Except things didn’t go as planned and they ended up riding across Europe and Africa instead. Prior to this episode, I got a chance to read Jacqui’s entertaining book about the journey, Two Bugs on Bikes. I laughed out loud at Joe’s genius packing strategy, which left them stranded in Rwanda with two ri...

Israel or Palestine? Damascus, Syria or Damascus, Virginia? West Virginia or Western Virginia? To David Landis, all are points on a map. David has made it his mission to find shared humanity across borders, even in conflict zones like the Middle East, through hiking and bikepacking trails. Having first visited the Middle East for a semester abroad during his university studies, David returned there to live for almost a decade. During his travels in the region, David experienced the incredible...

At age 70, most people are perfectly happy to take up golf or knitting. Not Canadian Tom Perlmutter. After accidentally agreeing to a weeklong cycling trip in Patagonia because his friend essentially dared him, Tom found himself hopelessly addicted to long-distance bicycle touring. In this episode, hear how Tom went from having zero cycling experience to conquering entire continents on supported tours, including riding the length of Africa and crossing Asia along the Silk Road. Listen as he b...

Fifty-one is the number of years that Heinz Stücke spent on a bicycle away from home. Fittingly, Episode 51 provides the finale to the Heinz Stücke saga, where more keywords are pulled from the Christmas cookie tin. Heinz recounts how he stumbled his way into an audience with Ethiopian Emperor Haile Selassie, accidentally fired a gun in a crowded Zambian bar, charmed his way into a Saudi Arabian visa by procuring a fake airplane ticket, then smuggled his bike into the country on a confused do...

In the Season 3 premiere, you’ll meet Antonella Giacomini, an Italian mountaineer and adventurer who has been called the Queen of the Ice because she loves to traverse glaciers in remote corners of the world. A woman accustomed to skiing while pulling a sled across ice fields, Antonella recounts how she accidentally got into bike touring while trying to reach a glacier in Patagonia with her expedition gear. She has come to love the concept of bicycle touring, visiting countries like Italy, Co...

On this episode, you’ve got a front-row seat to one of the wildest rides of the year. Follow the story of Ana Carmen Navajas as she evolves from an innocent 14-year-old who brought along a water pistol and a pile of CDs on her first group overnighter to a hardened road warrior. A critical moment in Ana’s adult life came when, while living in England, she rehomed a naughty, energetic dog named Dexter. Together, Ana and Dexter took on increasingly challenging bicycle tours, accumulating new fri...

Imagine setting out on a bicycle tour for world peace, only to be chased by machine-gun-toting militias in Syria, get dangerously ill from rancid kidney beans in the Sahara, and be forced by border guards to take a huge detour to Jerusalem, only to get tear gassed upon arrival. That was Alan Stillman’s reality. In the late ‘80s, Alan embarked on a wild 15,000-mile journey that was less about quiet reflection and more about surviving incredible mishaps and adapting to foreign cultures. Hear ho...

“Just Do It” is Henry Gold’s motto for life. (In his mind, at least, he beat all famous athletic footwear companies to this slogan). Henry’s story is a wild ride, starting with a childhood fascination with Africa sparked by a legendary barefoot marathoner. Henry moved from Czechoslovakia (via Israel) to Canada, where he studied engineering in college, which set him up perfectly to… co-found a non-profit organization working in Africa called Canadian Physicians for Aid and Relief. During his t...

What's the best way to cycle 20,000 miles from the top of Alaska to the tip of Argentina? Probably not on a tandem bicycle pulling a trailer - by yourself - hoping that complete strangers will hop on the back seat. Still, that's exactly what British filmmaker Dominic Gill did between 2006 and 2008. Hatched as a grand, "hairy-chested" expedition to prove his adventurer credentials, the journey quickly turned into an emotional roller coaster and a profound exploration of human connection. Hear ...

Get ready for an inspiring adventure as Ellie Mitchell-Heggs shares her incredible plan to pedal 10,000 kilometers across Africa. As of this episode, Ellie is in Tanzania, one-third of the way to Cape Town. She discusses the motivation behind her ambitious project – which she calls Cycle Africa – to connect with 100 non-governmental organizations and social enterprises to gain a firsthand understanding of local, community-led development. Ellie also tells about her family background and how i...

What happens when a Spanish software developer who loves open-source technology and an Austrian biomedical scientist who didn’t always love bicycling decide to travel on second-hand grocery-getters from Europe to Central Asia? You get the wild, unpredictable, and heartwarming adventure of Hacker Bikepacker. In this episode, we catch up with Javi and Rebecca four months into their year-long expedition. They share incredible stories, from being questioned by armed soldiers in the middle of the ...

For cyclist Julia Esser, a dream journey through South America turned into a nightmare when she was brutally attacked by three dogs in a remote Colombian town. Forced onto crutches and faced with a long, painful recovery, Julia had every reason to fly home to Germany. Instead, what happened next is a testament to the power of human connection and inner resolve, as Julia found the courage to get back on the saddle. Join Julia's adventure and discover how she turned a major setback into her gre...

Ever dreamt of dropping everything to cycle across continents? Meet Yann Tourman, who did just that, embarking on an epic bicycle adventure in 2018 that's still rolling! Beginning with a spontaneous decision in New York to bicycle to the tip of South America, Yann's journey has been anything but conventional. Hear his astonishing tales of a Canadian winter crossing (all the way to Vancouver Island!), a mid-winter hitchhike to Alaska, and a nine-month zigzag across the USA before heading south...