Not Just a Holiday

For this trip you need two things in abundance. A lot of time and a whole lot of stamina. This kind of trip is hard graft and a proper adventure that is not for the faint hearted.

The process of planning is pretty simple – commit to the idea of a huge cycle challenge, select the Americas as the backdrop to probably biggest adventure of your life and then work out if and how long you can afford to go for.

Next you are into the fun stage; fill your days with researching and then buying the best kit and bike you can afford, do an awful lot of homework on which countries, cities and roads you will be passing through. As you get closer to the leaving date you can select a charity to support for sponsorship, setup a blog and, if you haven’t already, buy the camera that will help you record the stunning things you will see.

In the mean time make sure you train as much as possible and when you think you are ready, buy your ticket, sort your visas and when the date arrives... set off.

Not many cyclists attempt the full trip from the top of Canada to the bottom of Argentina – and although it’s an incredibly difficult task, you sense it’s because of the time it takes rather than the effort involved. After all, what’s an extra 3,000 miles to your legs when you have already done 5,000! More often than not cyclists attempt a section of this route – say Mexico to Chile or Alaska to Panama.

Not Just a Holiday has interviewed Kris Mallin, who completed a challenge with a friend, and have searched and read some of the best web diaries to give you a greater understanding to what it takes to undertake such a journey.

Kris' Journey: Cancun to Lima

Kris’ trip took him 4,790 miles from the top of Mexico to Peru on a 4 month career break (he also climbed two of South America’s largest mountains for good measure). After he got back from his trip he reflected “It was a fantastic, life affirming experience which I feel lucky to have experienced - it was brilliant on a few levels. Firstly, travelling through Central and South America gave me an incredible insight into the countries and the people who lived in them. Secondly, although I am quite athletic and sporty, completing a gruelling and difficult challenge like this gives you a massive sense of achievement.”

Kris felt he had less experience going into the trip than his travelling companion Nick. “Nick had a lot more biking experience behind him, which meant I was struggling to keep up the pace, particularly for the first month. It made it hard, but it also ensured that I was pushed to achieve distances I would never have attempted by myself. Ultimately, it ensured we made our goal of Lima, Peru.”

So looking back how would you sum it all up? “It’s a while ago now so it all seems so positive, which it was, but obviously it was very tough in stages, cycling at high altitude on terrible roads – I recently re-read the blog and I was surprised how much of the tough days I had forgotten – on one of the last days a not uncommon blog entry included “After a bit more climbing we entered a large grassed ´golden´ plain that went on and on and bloody on! I wasn´t enjoying myself. The wind was against us now the hills were very tiring for me. By the time we reached our proposed destination, Conococha I was exhausted and pretty much ready to go to bed. We´d done 50 miles, were at 4100m, and the village was pretty desolate and cold.”

But it was nearly all positive – the good days far outweighed the bad.

So what advice would they give to people thinking of doing a similar trip?

Kris says “Two things kind of jump out and are actually pretty obvious – one, the more preparation you can put in terms of pure and simple cycling long distances the better. It’s obvious to say really but preparing your body and legs for the daily slog of around 50-70 miles a day, the better you will feel on your trip. Secondly, and we did this pretty well, make sure you have some time in your itinerary to take days off and experience life away from the bike. The achievement of making it that far is excellent, but without the luxury of time away from the bike it will feel like a chore or a process you have to complete.”

Best of the web – Alaska to Southern Argentina.

We loved Simon Perry's blog, which covered his huge journey of 35,000km, travelling from set off from Fairbanks, Alaska, and travelled to Ushuaia, Argentina. He wrote on his blog after completing the trek  ““I am not able to put into words the emotions I feel, but to sum it up I am both ecstatic for having finished but also a little sad that it’s all over and it’s back to the real world from here!“.

Simon’s trip was obviously tough and gruelling at many stages but he reflected. “I’m a very forward looking person so I don’t like to give thoughts on what has been a very long trip. It tested me to my limits and I learnt a lot about myself. There were highs and lows but I only take with me pleasant memories from what has been the experience of my life!”.

Kris’ Recommendations: