Around the World

Slowly, as is usually the case when travelling by bicycle, the idea and subsequently, dream of riding a bike around the world grew into an ambitious reality over a period of 21 years building to this trip. Having spent the last two week traversing the roads, lanes, tracks and cycle paths of the southern Unted Kingdom I’m ready to board a ferry to France and southwards towards Italy before turning east and towards Asia on an attempt to circumnavigate our beautiful planet by bike.

The road to this place began in 2003 when I bought a cheap Trek 4300 mountain bike and just headed out on short multiday trips in my then home of Thailand. Over the past 20 or so years each tour has grown in scope, distance and ambition. The end of one tour prompting thoughts of “That was cool, how can I raise the level for the next one?” For the longest time, I didn’t know anyone else who did this. I didn’t look to the internet for advice, I was going to do it in my own peculiar fashion. I bungled my way along making mistakes, and sometimes even learning from them.

On my first tour outside of Thailand, I turned up on the Pehrentian Islands of Malaysia red raw because I didn’t think to pack sun cream and spent the 3 days not enjoying the spectacular beaches but recovering in my beach hut. A year or two later, I was given a pretty stern roadside ticking off by a Canadian truck driver for not wearing easily seeable clothing shortly before he made a cup of tea and refilled my water on my way through the Rockies from Calgary to Vancouver.

Each mistake is a story and each story contained a lesson (or ten) and these were important lessons to learn, cos there was always going to be a next trip, a little bit longer, a little more challenging and a little more remote. My ambition for cycling touring quickly outstripped any career ambitions I had as an educator. It is on the road, on two wheels, often in the middle of nowhere, I have felt the most alive and most purposeful. Therapy to treat the unfortunate side effects of an otherwise normal life.

And now, 21 years on, at the ripe old age of 52, therapy continues with a crack at my ultimate… a lap of planet earth.

That’s the nomad bit, the noizy part lies in my interest in the world of music. I’ve been teaching music internationally since 1998 and have been fortunate to live in some amazing places. During these time I have been fortunate to explore a world of music and sonic expression and on this trip I hope to explore the unknown (to me) musical and narrative cultures of Turkey, Central Asia and Mongolia. From the little research I have done I know that “interesting times” lie ahead and I hope you will enjoy following along with the noizynomad.