Frequently Asked Questions
Here are a few quick answer’s to some of our most frequently asked questions. If you have any other questions feel free to contact us here or message us on social media.
Stew planned the trip for 2.5 years. I met him during the last nine months of planning and chipped in financially.
Within 2.5 years Stew/we had:
- Saved enough to travel without a job
- Planned (and created) the route
- Spec’d and built the bikes
Stew planned a 24,000 mile, turn-by-turn route around the entire world before we left!
He did it all on Google Earth. You can check out his world cycle tour route for yourself.
Not really!
We both liked cycling already and did a fair bit of it.
Stew kept himself in great shape.
A few months before the trip I actually had an operation and I recovered just in time. Due to the op. I was not active at all before the trip. For me, I was pretty unfit, but it’s fine! You can get fit as you go.
In my opinion. you actually don’t need to be fit to do a cycle tour. You just need to be fit enough to ride a bike for long enough to go to a new place, whether that’s 5 miles or 50, you’re cycle touring.
If you want to do a big trip you’ve got time to get fit on the road. Most of us aren’t trying to break records.
Yes. We met a lot of people who had planned to get a Chinese visa while they were on the road and almost everyone had failed.
Things may have changed since we sorted our visa, but we got ours ahead of time and we had to book an itinerary of flights and hotels that we didn’t end up using.
I wrote about getting a Chinese visa here.
We camped roughly 10% of the time and stayed in accomodation the rest of the time. Our main reasons for camping were either we couldn’t find anywhere to stay or we needed to save some money.
No not really!
I mean, sure, there are days when it’s a bit uncomfortable. Zoe had some struggles in Uzbekistan because the roads were so bad, plus it was very hot.
Generally, we were fine. Saddle sore is not as bad as you’d expect if you:
- get your bit fit by a professional
- wear the right gear
- find a saddle that suits you
You should be alright. Plus you just get used to it.
We were literally 9 days off a year when Boris made an urgent call back for travellers.
During our year on the road we’d cycled approximately 13,000 miles and travelled through 21 countries.
We did occasionally, but really not a lot. If we had any feeling of missing home it was normally when we were physically sick from food.
On average, when we cycled we rode 50 miles (80kms) per day. Our goal when we set out was 62 miles so that’s pretty good!
On the whole, the bikes have been brilliant.
Stew spec’d and built our bikes with premium parts and we’re very lucky to have them. Stew also takes tremendous care of the bikes.
The biggest problems we had were:
- 1 x snapped gear cable on Zoe’s bike
- Many punctures to Stew’s back tire in China. A small problem to have, but it did grind us down over time.
The short answer: no.
That said, we did come across a very aggressive dog and at the time we didn’t think we were getting out unscathed. You can read about stray dogs and cycle tours here.
Stew is and always will be the strongest cyclist.
Stew puts a lot of space between us when there’s a hill as he climbs them so much faster than I can.
We cycle separately most of the day but Stew is usually within eyesight. He waits for every few kms or at the top of hills.
Stew is incredibly patient and never makes me feel guilty for being the slowest.
We’re a team and we move to the paces of the slowest rider, which is Zoe nearly all the time.
In short, it’s all down to Stew’s incredible patience.
Never! It was the best thing ever.
Generally not and that’s the beauty of carrying a tent. We just turned up and hoped for the best. If we were planning to stay somewhere for a few days we would usually plan a place in advance as we’d look for somewhere a little cosier. If you roll up on the day you could end up anywhere!
Never say never, but we’d probably not cycle the desert again. Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan were very difficult. We’d likely not be inspired to do that again, but we would return to Uzbek cities like Samarkand or Khiva.
Stewart: China, it was my favourite and least favourite for different reason but overall it’s was my favourite country. Everywhere else we’ve travelled feels like it’s aspiring to be like the west but China does everything it’s own way.
Zoe: It’s not an easy choice, but Laos was my favourite. The country is absolutely stunning with mountainous views quite unlike anywhere else. I loved cycling through villages and being greeted with a friendly: ‘Sabaidee’ from locals. The beer is really good, too!