Seek Travel Ride

Daragh Cronin has been on the road for 68 days. He left Blackrock, Cork, on a loaded bike with Everest Base Camp as his final destination, and this week he is checking in from Istanbul.

This is a midweek update episode, and it covers a lot of ground. Daragh has already cycled the length of Africa, Morocco to Cape Town, so crossing Europe was his second continent. 

In this episode we discuss:

Megan Young is a UK-based ultra cyclist and bike packer from Dorset. She's raced the Atlas Mountain Race in Morocco as a pairs entry with her husband Angus, taken fastest female honours on the Dorset Divide, spent six months cycling through Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia and Chile on sabbatical, and then finished that stretch with the Tour Te Waipounamu, a 1330km ultra race down the South Island of New Zealand. And right now she is  lining up for Lostdot 101, a women-only road race across Spain and Portugal where riders plan their own routes.

In this episode we d...

Chris Petermnn has been cycling across the world for four years. When he set out to cross the Sahara on the final leg of his Africa circumnavigation, he was craving one silence. After months of never being alone in West Africa, the desert felt like it might finally offer him some peace. Unfortunately, what he got instead was 1,500 kilometres of relentless headwind.

In this Tuesday snippet, Chris takes us through his ride north from Nouakchott in Mauritania, through Western Sahara and up toward the Atlas Mountains. Fair to say it was a stretch that pushed him to...

What does it take to cycle 15,000 kilometres from Scotland to China along the ancient Silk Road? And what happens when the countries you just rode through are plunged into war the moment you get home?

In 2009, Helen Watson and her husband Ed clipped in at Glasgow and pointed east. Their route took them through Syria, Turkey, Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and into China, riding one of the most remote, politically charged and culturally rich corridors on earth. 

Months after they got home, the Arab Spring broke. And the world they had just ridden through started b...

Brian Sampson is  cycling through China for the second time, and this update is packed with everything you'd actually want to know before attempting it yourself. He covers the apps that make daily life manageable (WeChat, Alipay, trip.com, and a VPN you'll need from day one), how to find hotels that accept foreign passports, what border crossings look like, and why cycling in northern China is a completely different experience to the mountainous south.

 Brian also shares his highlights so far including the Terracotta Warriors, the Great Wall at Yanmen Pass, and a hidden ancient town in...

Leonie Katekar was 56 years old when she set off solo from Guatemala to cycle 12,000 kilometres to the tip of South America and had no prior solo bike travel experience. The whole adventure was driven by one question: what would you do if you weren't afraid?

In this episode:

If you're planning to cycle Southeast Asia, or just want to hear what it's actually like, this one's for you.

Olly Hargreaves is back with an update and this time he's sharing how his girlfriend Ellie has decided to give bikepacking a go.

Olly rode to Thailand from the UK and Ellie's longest ride prior to this, was about 30km!  We'll hear how they got on, Ellie's first big day on a loaded bike straight out of Bangkok heading south through Thailand and into Malaysia.

This episode covers what cycling this route is a...

Javier Carrasco rode from Austria to the other side of the world on a bike rescued from a dumpster. Over 20,000 kilometres and 200,000 metres of climbing travelled on a bicycle that cost him exactly nothing.

Javi is the partner of previous guest Rebecca Gross, and while Rebecca made it back to Austria after a year on the road, Javi wasn't quite ready to stop. I got to catch him in person here in Canberra before he headed north, and we sat in the sunshine at the National Arboretum and talked about all of it.

It's been...

In this solo episode, I'm talking about post-adventure blues. The experience of coming home after a big journey and finding it so much harder than you ever expected. It's a theme that has come up again and again across three years of conversations on this show, and one I've been deliberately exploring with guests for the past year.

The prompt for this episode was a brilliant piece of research by previous guest Alee Denham of cyclingabout.com. Alee fed every transcript from Seek Travel Ride into AI and surfaced the seven biggest lessons bike touring teaches you...

What if the whole point of racing ultras wasn't the race at all? Claire Stevens is a surgeon and ultra cyclist who rides for the experience of pure presence in wild places.

She has lined up for events such as the Indian Pacific Wheel Race, Silk Road Mountain Race, Race to the Rock, Rhino Run and GB Duro. 

We get into what happens to your senses when you push into the night, what it actually feels like to cycle in the huge mountain landscapes of Kyrgyzstan, the flooded river crossing at Race to the Rock t...

Rebecca Gross has been sending updates from the road all year and  After cycling from Austria to Australia across something like 30 countries this is the final one!

In this update Rebecca talks us through cycling theTassie Traverse, a relatively new bikepacking route running from Hobart up to Launceston through the Highlands and along the east coast. She covers a detour to Maria Island (wombats everywhere, no cars, highly recommended), a night in a tent that was decidedly not waterproof, a private waterfall at sunset after the worst day of the whole traverse, and a Huntsman spider making a...

In 2018, at 24 years of age, Luke Grenfell-Shaw was given a stage 4 cancer diagnosis and told he had months to live. Within weeks, he also lost his brother John in a freak accident. Most people would have pulled the covers up. Luke signed up for a half marathon, hopped on a stationary bike in the hospital ward, and started planning to cycle from Bristol to Beijing.

On 1 January 2020, Luke set off on a tandem bike. Over the next few years he rode 32,000 kilometres through 30 countries, with more than 800 different people taking a turn on the back seat. Some...

Daragh Cronin is 40 days into his solo cycling expedition from Ireland to Everest Base Camp, and I sent him four questions via Instagram to find out how it's actually going.

He talks about the send-off from Cork that genuinely blew his mind, how it compared to the low-key departure for his West Africa ride, and why the first two weeks on the bike were so much harder than he expected. He gets into the reality of solo wildcamping for the first time, hitting big milestones across Europe, and a very special stop in Germany to see the...

Ever wanted to take a bike adventure through Scotland? This episode is for you!

Guest Sheelagh Daley shares her experiences cycling Scotland's Highlands and the Hebridean Way. This was a trip she planned specifically to challenge herself to wild camp and tackle off-road routes solo. She had ALL the weather, sunshine, rain and of course wind.

Find out about Scotland's Bothies, what it's like to wild camp solo, taking ferries between the islands on the Hebrides, and why Sheelagh says she could return to Scotland for all her bike adventures and be happy.

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This week, listeners Juan Pablo and Paula share a day from their cycling adventure in Mongolia which has to be one of the most remote and rewarding places you can ride a bike on this planet. You can keep up with their adventures via their instagram channel - @juan.pablo.toro

I also opens up about my own bikepacking bucket list, and throws the question out to you: where is the destination you're dreaming of? Where would you go if you could go anywhere?

Also mentioned this episode: A Life in Tandem — the in...

Daragh Cronin booked a flight to Marrakesh before he even owned a bike. He had no cycling background, no camping experience, but he had a goal to ride the length of Africa from Morocco to Cape Town. 

Just over 200 days and 13,500 kilometres later, he arrived. In this episode, Irish adventurer Daragh talks through the mental and physical reality of cycling Africa's west coast: navigating borders, battling food poisoning, riding the notorious iron ore train in Mauritania, the strangers who became lifelong friends, and what it was like to finally arrive at the Cape of Good hope

What does it actually take to spend three months a year cycle touring through Europe? This week, Alison Fullerton shares how she and her husband make it happen every single year . She talks about the budgeting, the fitness worries, the accommodation, navigating trains with bikes, and the mindset that has turned their bike adventure dreams into a yearly reality.

The thing I love is that Alison and her husband are retirees and they are making this work for them, but her tips are relevant regardless of your age  

If you've been telling yourself a big c...

What happens when you strap skis to a loaded bike and set off to cycle 1,700 kilometres around Iceland in winter? Skier and filmmaker Cody Cirillo did exactly that on a trip he took with his good friend. What's more he also documented the whole experience in his film A Hundred Words for Wind.

Cody is a professional skier who's chased remote lines in Mongolia, Morocco, and Iceland. In recent years he's started cycling to his ski terrain instead of driving, something we have called ski bikepacking. Using human powered forms of travel has now completely changed how...

Ever camped in bear country in Japan? Brian Sampson has. This is his second update from his mission to cycle every destination in 1000 Places to See Before You Die.

In this episode Brian shares stories from cycling through Japan, including encounters with bears and wild boars. He also shares his experiences exploring the Hiroshima Peace Museum.  From Japan Brian crossed into South Korea, where herides the famous Four Rivers trail and shares the buzz of cycling in the huge city of Seoul.

Brian is now heading into China. Make sure you're subscribed so you don't m...

What would it look like to tour a concert by bicycle?

Sarah Small is a viola da gamba player who did exactly that. Between May and July, she rode across the UK with her instrument on the bike, playing concerts in village halls, churches, community spaces, and remote locations. Along coastlines, across islands, as far north as the Hebridean Way and the Shetland Islands, bringing live music to places that rarely see it, under her own steam.

We talk about the logistics of carrying a fragile instrument by bike, the warmth and generosity Sarah encountered...

Imagine cycling from Glasgow to China for your honeymoon! Well that's exactly what guest Helen Watson did with her husband Ed, back in 2010. That extended honeymoon turned into a huge 15-month adventure across Europe, the Balkans, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia, and into western China.

Helen gives us an insight into what it's like to use cycling as a way of moving slowly through cultures, and about what it feels like to experience places that are often reduced to headlines. She shares powerful stories of hospitality in Iran and Syria, including an experience which left her husband needing...

What is it really like to cycle solo from Vietnam to the UK?

In this episode, I’m joined by cyclist Matt Whitley, who set off from Ho Chi Minh City in March 2025 to ride home to the UK. Nearly a year into the journey, Matt shares stories from riding solo across the Tibetan Plateau, Central Asia, Pakistan, Afghanistan, and Europe.

We talk about the intensity that comes with taking long-distance bike travel, choosing the remote mountain routes, managing mechanical issues when you are far from help, as well as how Matt was ab...

Ever wanted to cycle the South Island of New Zealand?

Rebecca Gross shares an honest update from her time bikepacking the South Island. It was a bikepacking trip shaped by relentless rain and freezing summer temperatures. This led to long days of riding chasing weather windows that would allow for side quests such as hiking around Mount Cook.  From Te Araroa sections and west coast gravel to the high mountains around Mount Cook, the final days of riding saw her and partner Javi ride into Paradise near Queenstown.

A must listen if cycling in New Z...

Ultra cyclist Lotti Power has completed the Atlas Mountain Race, the Hellenic Mountain Race, and the Silk Road Mountain Race in a single season. Often the youngest rider on the start line, Lotti did not come into ultra cycling through a traditional racing background. Instead she embraces the idea of learning by doing  and it has to be said it has served her well!

Lotti first came into long distance riding through the world of Audax. What began with brevets and Paris Brest Paris quickly opened the door to much bigger ideas, She signe up for the T...

You are descending from the Annapurna Circuit when one pothole changes everything. A crash, a broken collarbone, and the ride comes to an abrupt halt.

In this midweek update, Olly Hargreaves shares what it was like cycling through India and Nepal. He drops us right into the chaos of riding out of Delhi before reaching the huge peaks of the Himalayas in Nepal. He talks through the aftermath of his accident, a week in hospital, and how quickly long-term bike travel plans can shift.

I also give a shout out to listeners who have been...

Ever thought about bikepacking across multiple countries?

In this episode, I chat with Belgian bikepacker Xiao, known online as @Ciao_Xiao, who set off on a long journey from China back to Belgium.

Xiao first got into bike travel as a teenager, riding with his mum and later heading off with friends when time was plentiful and money was not. That curiosity eventually grew into a much bigger ride, beginning in eastern China and unfolding west through Central Asia.

In this conversation, we talk about:

How long would it take to cycle your way through A Thousand Places to See Before You Die?

This week I am introducing you to Brian Sampson, who has been doing exactly that since 2018. Brian shares an update from his journey so far, and across the year he will be checking in with audio updates as his adventure unfolds.

Follow Brian's adventure via his instagram -@brian.sampson4  and check out his blog - https://justfeltlikebiking.blogspot.com/

Also this week:

Fergal Guihen (Rossi to Aussie) f...