We are Nate Roter and Jaco Roesch, and we are in the business of pursuing all things epic. This impulse has already taken us from the massive glaciers of Denali National Park and the arctic tundra of northern Finland, to the mountains of Turkish Kurdistan and across the United States by bicycle. In March of 2011, we will embark on a 9-month voyage that will set the new standard for our travels: a journey by bicycle running the length of the Eurasian supercontinent, from the west coast of Portugal to the shores of the East China Sea.
It is part wanderlust and part love of and belief in the bicycle that drives us to make this trip. Our route will take us through scorching deserts and prodigious mountain ranges, up and down tens of thousands of meters of elevation change, through all kinds of weather conditions, through villages representing scores of different cultures, and across 19 international borders. From the cobbled streets of Porto, past the tiled blue mosques of Samarkand, to the skyscrapers of Shanghai, this trip covers the most expansive landmass in the world.
The bicycle is the perfect vehicle for our journey. Eccentric yet unintimidating, our fully-loaded bicycles will surely pique the curiosity of many a local. Conversation will be struck up, and an adventure within the adventure will begin. A connection will be forged on a local level, exchange will take place, new friends will be made. Is this not why one travels? Traveling by bicycle will help us build bridges with people we meet along the way, and, one would hope, help us come closer to understanding one another.
But our journey is about something bigger than two adventurous souls out to see the world. We seek to be rich in experience rather than money. In part, this journey is about showing people that alternative paths through life do indeed exist. We hope to inspire others to follow their dreams and define their own lives, because through our actions they see that dreamers can be doers, and that the unlikely can be reality. We hope that our actions might give credibility to their dreams, just as the actions of others have given credibility to ours.
