Moments from the road, living on a bicycle around the world.

UAE & Oman

After a month in Thailand I was off to the Middle East, a corner of the world I’d wanted to travel to for a long time. When first scheming up this trip I had the dream of going from Muscat, Oman, across UAE to Saudi Arabia and into Jordan & Israel, finishing in Cairo, Egypt. Instead I stayed in UAE & Oman for 5 weeks and could easily have stayed longer if it wasn’t for the ever looming summer heat. The Al Hajar Mountains are mega, one of the most beautiful corners of the world. It brings together the two landscapes I love the most, deserts & mountains. From 3000m+ peaks to vast desolate views, it had it all.

I flew into Dubai and was met with the super city that it is. Very quickly however, I was walking my bike through sand dunes in the desert. It didn’t take long to escape the money and noise of Dubai. I always try to find the quiet roads and back tracks but I took that to the next level as I rode towards Oman. Taking what I though was a shortcut turned into a half day of walking up and down steep and deep sand dunes. Up down, up down for hours. However, like all things, it eventually came to an end and I stumbled into the actual road that I thought was going to be much closer.

Once I entered Oman, it felt like I was in a playground of mountains, valleys and epic passes. I’d see the roads cutting up and over the ranges and be in constant awe. Views and valleys which would go on for far as the eye can see. Mixed with the amazing Wadis (oases of water and palm trees) it very quickly become one of my favourite countries I’ve ever cycled. It was the people who made it extra special though. A whole mix of cultures. Africans, Indians, Turkish and Sri Lankan men were the whole work force, opening their own restaurants, running cafes and brining a beautiful mix of traditions, food and conversation. Alongside the quite reserved Muslim culture of Oman’s locals, it was a fascinating place. As the weeks went on in Oman the temperature rose and rose. By the end of my time there it was reaching mid-forties (celsius) and I was ready for some cooler weather. That’s when an invite to Taiwan popped up.

Taiwan

The beauty of the unknown, that’s why I love to travel. At the beginning of the year in Thailand I met 3 bikepackers from Colorado, they were going to Taiwan to carry on riding bikes and conveniently it lined up with Oman getting too hot for cycling. So naturally, I flew to Taiwan to meet them. Now as all good stories go within a couple days of us being together in Taiwan we all got a bout of food poisoning. Classic. The best bit was we sought refuge in a ‘Hello Kitty' themed Airbnb and as you can imagine, we got to know each other a whole lot more…you couldn’t script it. Being violently ill underneath a wall covered in Hello Kitty toys and artwork, in the middle of Taipei, with 3 people I really didn’t know that well certainly wasn’t something that was on my 2024 bingo card.

Once the 4 of us had moved beyond the confines of the Hello Kitty castle and managed to hold food down again we ventured away from Taipei. In search of Taiwan’s mountain roads. Oh boy did we find them. I had no idea Taiwan was the cycling mecca that it turned out to be. It’s roughly 1000KM to cycle a lap of the island with bicycle paths to connect it all. Topped off with one big mountain range at 4000m high down the centre. To cross the island were passes and climbs that go on for hours and days. We even rode through the Toroko Gorge road, famous for the Taiwan KOM Challenge. I found such a love for the cycling in Taiwan that I was there nearly 6 weeks, 3 with my Colorado friends and another 3 on my own. Raging around and riding as many mountain passes as I could. It was a dream, particularly with a 7/11 on every corner, life was made easy! To share it with the crew from Colorado was pretty special.

Philippines

Part of the fun in travel is playing the visa game, timing your entry and exit of countries. That was the reason I ended up in the Philippines. To prolong my entry into the USA and line up the three months I could get up with my plans.

Now, the Philippines was a hard place to ride a bike, I won’t sugar coat it. The heat, humidity and shear chaos of the roads was a lot. If you’re ever planning to ride a bike in, out or through Manilla then hats off to you. It’s one of the most chaotic and scary city crossings I’ve ever done… And I’ve been though some crazy spots. Once you’re out of the Manila flats however, it does then get very tropical and beautiful. Be careful of the roads you take though, Komoot really sent me down some stinkers. One found me walking through knee deep mud, hours of hike a bike up and down tropical mountains. I was climbing trees and cutting down coconuts for water and crawling along to get to the next village. It really felt like my survival story moment.

Eventually I found myself in the mountain province on Luzon Island, in Sagada & Bontoc. I ended up staying for close to two weeks here. Higher altitude brought the cooler weather and then being famous for its coffee growing had beautiful cafes and shops with baked goods. Once I got there, I found it hard to leave… Saying that though, Sagada is quite a small town and I found myself needing to leave so I could get to a hospital. Oh the glamour of bike touring hey.

I’d had a large, no... enormous growth begin to show on my back and I rode the few hundred kilometre south to Baguio to get it checked out. At first, I ended up at the kidney specialist hospital thanks to a translation issue but eventually found my way to the ER room of Baguio student hospital. I’ll save the gory details for another time but what had grown was an infected lump in my back and with the help of google translate and what seemed like very young doctors, sliced, diced and cut me open. Very painfully might I add. Leaving me with drains sticking out and multiple stiches down my back. The perk I guess, was it turned out to be quite cheap. I think maybe I’d wished too hard never to ride through Manilla again. Because due to the surgery I couldn’t. I used a private taxi to drive the final few hundred kilometres back into Manila and onto plane out of there. A quick stop at the legends of Tamby Bikeshop had me sorted and I was off to San Francisco. Infection free and ready for some less tropical weather.

USA

I began my three months in North America from San Francisco heading towards a mountain range I’d been wanting to explore for long time. The Sierra Nevada. I can tell you now, I was not disappointed! Without a doubt I could have spent the 3 months around just these mountains. First in Yosemite then to Lake Tahoe and eventually down to Mammoth Lakes. Just stunning. Still being early in the season I was quite good at finding the passes which hadn’t quite melted yet. Leading to some good fashioned hike-a-bike fun.

The amazing thing about spending so much time abroad is now the web of friends I’ve built. Conveniently I met a man named John a couple of years ago in Northern Vietnam. Turns out he lives in a beautiful log cabin with his girlfriend Olivia in Mammoth Lakes. Even more conveniently was as I rolled into Mammoth Lakes so did a snowstorm. I hunkered down with them. Another one of those moments that was just meant to be.

From the Sierras in California, I carried on across the US towards Colorado. Through Nevada & the deserts of Utah. I managed to connect as many back roads and bikepacking routes as I could and found myself on the Kokopelli trail out of Moab. A 300KM MTB trail all the way into Colorado. I met a bunch of wild people on that trail. Because I rode it on over a weekend there were some supported guided tours going on. All happy to hand out water, donuts and even a beer or two.

One group I met even blessed me with whiskey. Halfway down a wild descent they were taking photos on a vista. I got talking and before I knew it I was sharing their flasks of whisky and hollering into the valley with them. As I left one blessed me on my way, *imagine this in the thickest American accent you can…* “My friend, I don’t know what you’re searching for on this journey. Be that a wife, freedom or just that wind in your hair, may God bless you son as you find your way”. That was washed down with whiskey and then on I rode into the setting sun. I don’t know what I’m searching for through all of this, maybe all of that. I’m still working it out, I guess. But I did know where it was leading in that moment – The Tour Divide.

Tour Divide 2024

The Tour Divide is a 4,400KM bikepacking race down the spine of the Rockies. Beginning in Banff, Canada and going all the way down to the USA/Mexican border. The plan was for it to be the pinnacle of my 7 months. All year through travel and living on my bike I was building up to the Divide. A culmination of it all. It certainly culminated in style.

The route is a stunning adventure, it truly does deserve the prestige and aura it has. Every corner you’d turn would be a new view you’d be in awe of. Mixed in with snowstorms, desert heat, wind and rain it’s a brutally beautiful race. However, for me it wasn’t meant to be this year, that’s just how it goes. In the Basin of Wyoming, I fell into a state of sickness I wasn’t willing to ride through. It was a hard blow to take but hey, that’s ok. I’m 25, I’ve got a lot of years of this ahead of me and this race isn’t going anywhere. I’ll be back soon again without a doubt. After resting in Wamsutter, Wyoming for a couple of nights I tried my best to roll down into Colorado and eventually pulled the pin in Salida, Colorado. Ironically the same town where my Colorado friends were from. Maybe that in its own way, was an omen.

As I reflect on the year, it became so much more than the Tour Divide. When I left home in January I would have seen it differently. Instead, it became 7 months of travel, adventure and life on the road. New connections, countless beauty and whole lot of moments. Maybe as that man on the Kokopelli said, I was just looking for the wind in my hair and freedom in the unknown. I think that’s why I speak so much about the 6 months of build up than the Divide itself when people ask about my travels. Funnily the Divide ended up playing a small role in the impacts and learnings from my 7 months away.

There’s an untapped level of beauty and freedom when living on a bicycle, it’s a simple life. I find the ‘unknown’ to be one of the scariest things, however when you lean into it you start to see the hidden beauty it provides. To have everywhere to go and nowhere to be. Try it one day, who knows you might find out something new.

For the geeks - what bike did I ride?

The project of creating my Tour Divide bike was a fun one, filling me with alot of joy & pride. I think this set up is one I’m most proud of in all my years of travelling, touring & racing. It was a bike built by Aussie’s, for an Aussie rider.
Australian brands & people from back home have been a huge support in creating this bike - so what was it and who helped bring it together?

It’s a Curve Cycling Titanium Big Kev. Designed specifically with the Tour Divide in mind. On it is Curve’s carbon 415 fork and Curve’s carbon 29” Dirthoop wheels with 2.1” Mezcal Tyres and a SON dynamo hub.

My drivetrain is a thing of gold beauty, built by Garbaruk. I’ve opted for a 10/52 casette matched with a 36t front chain ring and gold pulley wheels–makes the bike POP! Bringing it together is a mix of SRAM force/rival AXS parts.

Bags are custom made by the beautiful people at Treadlite and we’ve created a downsized Sol seeker handlebar bag specially for the Divide.

My lighting is in two halves; I have a full dynamo set up from Kerry at kLite dynamo and then for those slower, more techy sections I’ve chosen to run a battery powered front light as well–an Exposure Toro matched with a rear exposure blaze.

Finishing touches are the stylish and oh so comfy handlebar tape by Burgh Cycling (Mt Ossa themed) wrapped around my 46cm Curve Walmer bar.

Finally a SQ labs saddle, Shimano pedals, profile designs aero bars & Revelate saddle bag.