Top to bottom

Two long distance cyclists, one male and one female, have shown courage in the face of adversity, as well as sheer stubbornness, by riding bicycles from one side of the planet to the other. A New Zealand woman took 20 months to ride her cheap, 18 speed mountain bike from the UK to New Zealand. The journey took her through no less than 22 countries, including some of the world's most dangerous areas. The woman surprised members of the New Zealand Army stationed in Afghanistan when she turned up at their base
February 20, 2012 Read time: 2 mins
Two long distance cyclists, one male and one female, have shown courage in the face of adversity, as well as sheer stubbornness, by riding bicycles from one side of the planet to the other. A New Zealand woman took 20 months to ride her cheap, 18 speed mountain bike from the UK to New Zealand. The journey took her through no less than 22 countries, including some of the world's most dangerous areas. The woman surprised members of the New Zealand Army stationed in Afghanistan when she turned up at their base. She described this as one of the high points of her trip and the astonished soldiers fed her as well as helping service the travel worn bicycle. She has since revealed that she is considering a career in the New Zealand Army. Other notable meals included eating camel, dog and rats, as well as finding food in rubbish bins that had been thrown out by supermarkets. The woman said however she benefited from the help of strangers on many occasions. Some countries did present particular problems for cyclists and she was knocked off her bicycle three times in one day in Java, Indonesia while she found cycling in China difficult due to the large numbers of heavy smokers amongst the population. While in Australia she rode from the most northerly point to the most southerly, and estimated that even before returning home her bicycle had clocked some 50,000km. Meanwhile a British man undertook his journey in the other direction, commencing his trip in Sydney, Australia and ending in UK capital London. The man rode his bicycle, a former Australian postal bike he nicknamed Dorothy, a distance of 37,000km on his journey home. In doing so he rode through 18 countries, including Pakistan, India, East Timor and China. The man crossed the Himalayas three times on his trip and other high points of the journey included being made an honorary member of an Indonesian gang called the BigZoners, sleeping under machine guard in Islamabad and riding through Kazakhstan.

Related Content

  • Parking problems
    March 21, 2012
    An Italian woman ended up parking her car on the roof of a house when she accidentally forgot to use its handbrake. The woman had stopped to photograph a scenic view but as she stood to one side and adjusted the settings on her camera, the car rolled from the road, through a barrier, down a hillside and onto a house below.
    Read More
  • Improving safety for vulnerable road users
    January 2, 2013
    Dutch-style cycle safety for other European nations – Mike Woof writes A recent event held in London during October was aimed at improving safety for vulnerable road users. Called Love London go Dutch, the event was intended to highlight some of the experience from Holland in reducing risk rates for vulnerable road users such as cyclists. Similar events were held in other UK cities, while other major European cities such as Paris that are seeing an increase in cycling also have a lot to learn from Dutch exp
    Read More
  • Cycling drives down costs
    February 21, 2012
    Local officials in the Scottish Highlands are being encouraged to cycle rather than drive to official events and meetings. The Inverness-based Highlands Council has to reduce its spending and the move is intended to cut costs. Other measures include the introduction of video conferencing and car sharing. The move will offer secondary benefits however as a recent report indicates that over 60% of British adult males and over 70% of British adult females take insufficient exercise. Scotland also has the highe
    Read More
  • Open and shut case
    February 21, 2012
    Two British police officers were surprised to see a woman driving her car with the bonnet (hood) open. They stopped the woman who explained that the bonnet was faulty and that she was taking the car to a garage to be repaired. She had been squinting through a small 100mm high gap between the dashboard and bonnet as she drove her car to the garage. The incident was recorded by police in the UK county of Dorset where the authorities have been cracking down on bad driving. In another case, police stopped a man
    Read More

Highlighted Content