Round the World Bicycle Tour since 2006
Sunrise cycling on a beautiful tropical island is about as good as it gets. Soft pastels brighten into a blazing blue, a gentle breeze rolls in from the sea and the air is fresh with possibility. I savor these moments
Visa extensions in hand, we slipped out of Surabaya. Kalimantan–with its heat, humidity and hills– had left us exhausted. Downtime imposed by the dawdling Indonesian immigration officials had done us good. We’d satiated our appetite for internet and were eager to start cranking the pedals
One of the best parts of an extended bike tour is the luxury of time. Time to take it slow, drink in the landscape and stop for a chat. But sometimes bureaucracy forces you to slow down. That’s our current
I hate the feeling of giving up. You probably do, too. Yet we all have those throw-in-the-towel days. During our two and a half months biking around Borneo I’ve had plenty of them. But I stuck it out. And I’m
I’m not normally a jungle person. Pedaling through places with steamy equatorial climates—Guyana, Gabon, Borneo—ranks just above biking through China’s factory belts or on Southern California’s 8-lane freeways. Jungles scare me. The thick tangles of vegetation feel forbidding. The constant buzz of
For a cyclist, Indonesia–a country comprised of some 18,000 islands–poses more than a few logistical challenges. If you stick to the main islands—Java, Sumatra, maybe Bali and Lombok—getting around’s not too tough. It’s when you venture farther afield, say to