Nearly two years in the making, I've now shifted from mostly dreaming about the trip to hurriedly planning and preparing for it. This involves both the mundane, e.g. negotiating with letting agents, organising travel insurance, and the inspiring, e.g. poring over trail maps of the Rocky Mountains, marvelling at how small my sleeping mat compresses to. But where did this all begin?
This guy was the spark of inspiration that set my own plan in motion:
Oguz Tan, July 2014, Ladakh, Indian Himalayas. I was backpacking for the umpteenth summer and doing one of the activities that all backpackers do if you stay in Leh - riding down from Khardung La. This is the world's highest motorable pass (the sign says so) and an exhilarating ride down. However, this guy, Oguz Tan, was riding up. We stopped to speak briefly. He told me he had packed in his job to cycle here from Turkey via Iran and Pakistan. He seemed serene, calm, fulfilled and in complete control of his own destiny. He was in the same place as the backpackers but having a completely different experience to all the rest of us. I imagined what it would be like to travel the Himalayas at a different pace, being able to see all the places 'in-between', skip the traveller hotspots when it didn't suit, use the backpacker network when I needed it. The seed of an idea was sown and in the coming weeks in India I met other travellers who were seeing the world from their bicycles.
The objects of my inspiration - trail maps, small sleeping mats and the awesome Adventure Cycling Handbook.
