In this Episode of Bike Tour Adventures i speak with Luke Grenfell-Shaw while he is temporarily back in the U.K. after the Corona Virus made things too difficult to keep on cycling. Luke’s story is different from most, in that on 19 June 2018 he was diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer, a very aggressive and rare type of sarcoma which left his lungs riddled with 13 cancerous nodules. One year after being diagnosed and having been through chemotherapy, surgery and radiotherapy, Luke wants to show that it is still possible to live with cancer and to never give up. On January 1st, 2020, Luke left home on a tandem bike with a dream of cycling 23,000km from Bristol to Beijing, passing through 24 countries along the way. Luke decided to ride a tandem bike in order to allow other Can Livers to join him along the way. One major aspect of Luke’s adventure is to also raise money for four cancer related charities as well as a selected charity for each of the legs on the journey.

In Interview 034 of Bike Tour Adventures I have the chance to talk with and get to know James Lagen. In 2008, James and three friends rode their bikes and skateboards from Chicago to New York City. Fueled by youthful ignorance, the four navigate America’s landscape through a maze of wrong turns and unfortunate circumstances. Today we are going to hear from James about their adventure and what they learned along the way. With their upcoming documentary, Shred America, their project is coming to an end.

In Interview 33 of the Bike Tour Adventures Podcast, I have the chance to speak with 53 year’s young Ian Finlay. In August of 2018, he loaded up his bike with everything he would need to finally take his “gap year” and cycle around the world, old enough to appreciate it and young enough to do it by bike. Within a few weeks, the tour grew from a few months to two years. Having never cycle toured, filmed, photographed or blogged, Ian decided he would learn as he goes and through these media he would share his Endless Summer.

In Episode 032 of Bike Tour Adventures, I have the chance to talk with Arie Hoogerbrugge. He recently started an epic bike tour adventure in St. John’s, Newfoundland and will be riding approximately 55,000km over the next 3 years as he makes his way west across Canada and then north to the top of Canada before turning around and heading south for the next couple years. The thing that makes Arie’s adventure especially interesting is that he decided to start in the winter, so that he could have the full experience of riding across Canada and to test his mettle against Canadian winter. This is a true story of man vs. nature.

In Episode 031 of Bike Tour Adventures, I have the opportunity to talk with Ben Davies, an ultra-distance endurance racer from England that has done some epic bike touring before getting more involved in ultra-distance racing. Starting in 2017 Ben participated in the Transcontinental race and in 2019 he came 2nd place in the TCR and 3rd in the Race Across Poland. For 2020, Ben is planning an epic fast-tour from Cairo to Cape Town while raising money for World Bicycle Relief.

In Episode 030 of Bike Tour Adventures, I have the chance to talk with Dan Hurd, a Navy Veteran from the United States that is cycling 25,000 miles around the Lower 48 in the USA. Having now been on the road for 2 years and having cycled 15,000 miles, he is well on his way to achieving his goal. Dan’s story is extraordinary but it doesn’t come without a cost. For Dan, cycling was exactly the therapy he needed. Without it, he might not be here with us. He did this “One Pedal At A Time”.

In Episode 029 of Bike Tour Adventures I have the opportunity to speak with Joe and Verity, a young British couple that decided to take follow their passion for education and gender equality by cycling to Mumbai to visit the Magic Bus charity headquarters. After reaching India they decided to continue on their journey and cycle all the way across SE Asia, before finishing up their trip in New Zealand. Now back in the U.K. I have the opportunity to chat with Joe and Verity about their adventure.

In Episode 028 of Bike Tour Adventures, you get to hear the rest of the conversation with Nima Khalkhali, as he leaves Europe and crosses from Italy to Tunisia. Nima provides tips and advice for cycling in Tunisia and Morocco.