- 1 hour 33 minutesCould You Spend Two Years Bikepacking? Paula and Juan Pablo
Juan Pablo's first bike trip was a huge solo journey over 16 months. Then he came home to Chile, met Paula, they got married and six weeks after their wedding they both got on bikes and started bikepacking together..
All up they hope to spend two years on this adventurous version of a honeymoon.
We discuss:
- Bikepacking as a couple: a newlywed honeymoon covering 20,000km
- Solo bike touring: 19,000km across Turkey, the Middle East, and Africa
- Bikepacking Kyrgyzstan and Mongolia: expectations vs. reality
- Route planning and gear for long-distance cycle touring
- Relationship and communication tips for touring as a couple
- Bike mechanical failures and storm survival on tour
- Juan Pablo's 104 tips for bike travel
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music1 August 2026, 5:00 am - 22 minutes 13 seconds51 Years Cycling The World: Remembering Heinz Stücke
This week's episode is dedicated to Heinz Stücke, who passed away on July 22 aged 86. Heinz is a legend in the bike travel community, the holder of the world record for the most travelled person in the world. He spent over 51 years cycling to every single country and territory in the world.
In Sept 2025, I visited Heinz in his home in Hovelhoff and spent the day chatting about this adventures. This episode features excerpts from that conversation.
You can listen to the original episodes in full here - Part 1 and Part 2.
RIP Heinz. I like to think you are still out there travelling now.
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music28 July 2026, 5:00 am - 1 hour 38 minutesBike Touring the World with Marielle Jauring (re-visited)
Marielle Jauring has ridden roughly 89,000 kilometres across the United States, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, Europe and Asia since her first tour in 2017.
This interview was recorded midway through her current ride from Poland to Sri Lanka. The conversation ranges from lighter moments (a turtle sanctuary in Malaysia, blue lava in Indonesia, petting a bear in Canada that turned out to be drunk, not dead) to genuinely hairy ones (heatstroke in the Australian outback, a car accident with her sister, and getting stranded cashless at the Russia–Kazakhstan border before hitchhiking 750 km back into Georgia with two truck drivers).
Marielle also opens up about grief, and how cycling has become a form of meditation for her.
Follow Marielle's adventures via her instagram - @_the_biking_viking_
This episode was first released in Nov 2024
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music25 July 2026, 5:00 am - 17 minutes 5 secondsThe Best Countries for a Bike Adventure (According to You)
What's the best country to take a bike adventure? I put that question to the Seek Travel Ride Instagram community, and the answers poured in, from expected favourites to a few genuine curveballs. This episode is dedicated to running through every single one.
It comes on the back of a scorching European summer and a roadside afternoon spectating the Tour de France, which got me reflecting on how the race first brought me to France and ultimately to the Pyrenees back in 2013, where I now live.
Countries featured in this episode:
- Most votes: France, Turkey, Spain
- Mountain destinations: Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Bolivia, Norway
- Off the beaten path: Tunisia, New Caledonia, El Salvador, Saudi Arabia
- Classic bike-adventure countries: New Zealand, Thailand, Japan, China, Peru, Iran
- The philosophical answer: "Wherever you haven't been yet" (and "any country" will do)
Got a country to add to the list? Get in touch and let me know your pick for the best country to take a bike adventure.
Mentioned in this episode
Slauka' Macurak's Norway episode (recently re-released)
Leonie Katekar's episode on cycling solo from Antigua to Ushuaia
My YouTube series on crossing the Pyrenees coast to coast
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music21 July 2026, 5:00 am - 1 hour 26 minutesCycling 12,000km Through 16 Countries: Germany to Turkey with Rieke Schmees (re-release)
In 2022, German psychologist Rieke Schmees swapped a desk for a bike and cycled 12,000km through 16 countries. This adventure took her from Germany to Turkey, via Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Italy and the Balkans. It was the first type of adventure like this she'd taken with almost no camping experience prior to setting off as well.
Rieke shares the reality of taking this adventure as a solo female, the toughest weeks in Morocco which also became teh most rewarding, and how it came to be that she rescued a puppy in Bulgaria.
This episode originally aired in June 2024.
Be sure to follow Rieke's future adventures via her instagram - @riekeschm
Check out Old Man Mountain for the perfect way to carry gear on your bike.
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music18 July 2026, 5:00 am - 33 minutes 46 secondsBikepacking Mongolia: Rob MacLennan on Ultra-Cycling to the Silk Road Mountain Race
Rob MacLennan is back on the pod, this time mid-adventure sharing updates as he bikepacks from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia to the start line of the Silk Road Mountain Race in Kyrgyzstan.
We learn about how Rob has transitioned from long-distance touring (London to Cape Town) to getting into the world of ultra-cycling and how he ended up signing up to one of the hardest off road ultras out there in the SRMR!
He also tells us why he is now out there combining both disciplines on this trip, and what it's actually been like riding through Mongolia's empty grasslands, staying in gers with hospitable nomadic families. He also shares a crazy story of ending up driving a minivan full of people after his bottom bracket failed after teh water exposure from 30 river crossings in the Orkhon Valley.
You can listen to the original episodes featuring Rob's adventure from London to Cape Town here - Part 1 and Part 2.
Be sure to also give Rob a follow via his instagram @Robbo_On_The_Road
Check out Old Man Mountain for the perfect way to carry gear on your bike.
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music14 July 2026, 6:00 am - 1 hour 25 minutesCycling to Everest Base Camp in 1986 with James Baile (Re-visited)
Back in 1986, two Englishmen in their early twenties flew to Delhi with brand new mountain bikes and a paper map, and set off to ride through the Himalaya. James Baile takes us back nearly 40 years to a trip that saw him carrying his bike over three high mountain passes, reaching Kalapattar at 5,545 metres as one of the first cyclists ever to do it, and crossing into India solo after his riding partner's frame gave out.
Highlights from the episode:
- Two 20 year olds, no maps of their own making, no local language, and a bike that had barely existed as a category three years earlier
- Two weeks of carrying rather than riding, before the terrain eased into Namche Bazaar
- Reaching Kalapattar at 5,545 metres, among the earliest cyclists to have done it
- The transition from cycling with a friend to riding solo across northern India
- The hospitality of strangers shown throughout the journey
- Five days in McLeodganj giving Tibetan kids bike rides outside the Green Hotel
Follow along with James' future adventures via his instagram - @JamesB.Adventures
This episode originally first aired on Feb 01 2025.
Check out Old Man Mountain for the perfect way to carry gear on your bike.
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music11 July 2026, 5:00 am - 38 minutes 49 secondsRaid Pyrénées by Bike: Cycling Across the Pyrenees Coast to Coast
Ever wondered what it's like to cycle across a mountain range? Well in 2023 I loaded up my bike with gear and set off from the edge of the Atlantic Ocean at St Jean de Luz, to cross the Pyrenees mountains all the way to Argeles-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean Sea.
The route we took was a mix of the Classic Raid Pyrenees road bike and touring routes and we took nine days to complete the crossing. All up it was 803kms, 24 Cols and almost 18,000m of climbing.
You can watch the visuals behind this adventure via our Raid Pyrenees video series on YouTube
Check out Old Man Mountain for the perfect way to carry gear on your bike.
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music7 July 2026, 5:00 am - 1 hour 29 minutesSolo bikepacking 9000km Across South America | Marta Ballús (re-visited)
Ever wanted to go bikepacking in South America? This episode is for you. After being laid off from her job in Barcelona, guest Marta Ballús decided to take back control of her life by loading up her bike and taking an adventure in South America. I spoke to her while she was nine months and over 9,000 kilometres into her solo South American journey. A trip taken to help her reclaim her confidence and learn to trust herself.
Marta's mantra on this trip is 'Do what scares you until it doesn't'.
Highlights have included:
Southern Chile/La Carretera Austral: Her emote and rugged starting point heading south
Argentina desert: So boring she ditched the bike, hitchhiked instead and learnt to paraglide
Peru: Demanding bikepacking routes
Bolivia (Salar de Uyuni): Cycling across the salt flats and seeing the sunset and stars in the night sky was like a dream.
Colombia: Brought with it a tropical climate and an explosion of exotic fruits.
Ecuador: Where she witnessed the incredible strength of Indigenous women doing hard physical labour
Galapagos Islands: Unique wildlife experience most bikepacking journeys never get to see
Follow Marta's future adventures via her instagram @MartasWay
Check out Old Man Mountain for the perfect way to carry gear on your bike.
I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music4 July 2026, 5:00 am - 32 minutes 19 secondsBikepacking through Malaysia and Singapore: Olly Hargreaves
Planning a bike adventure through South East Asia? Olly and Ellie just rode Thailand into Malaysia, dealt with Ramadan closures, ferry logistics, and hit some gnarly climbs. Tune into this episode for intel on what it's like to go bikepacking in South East Asia plus a masterclass in pivoting when ferries only run once a month.
Follow Olly's adventures on Instagram - @sagas.of_olly.hargreaves
Check out Old Man Mountain for the perfect way to carry gear on your bike.
I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:
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👉 Zorali
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music30 June 2026, 5:00 am - 1 hour 46 minutesA 1,500km Bike Packing Adventure Through Norway with Slauka (Revisited)
This week we're re-releasing one of our favourite episodes. 1,500 kilometres through Arctic Norway on a fully loaded bike. Our guest Slauka had never done a bikepacking trip before this but she didn't let her lack of experience get in the way of a good adventure.
Slauka's journey took her from the Lofoten Islands all the way to the North Cape
In this episode we Cover :
- Why May could be a perfect time to go bikepacking in Norway
- Wildcamping in Norway
- Preparation, testing gear in bad weather, and packing strategy
- Why flexibility in your schedule matters more than having the perfect plan
- An Italian photographer who rode her bike up a mountain for her
- Cycling through the North Cape Tunnel
GUEST: Slauka Macurak (Instagram: @allridegirl)
Check out Old Man Mountain for the perfect way to carry gear on your bike.
I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:
👉 CycPlus– ePumps (enter code STR for 5% off!)
👉 Zorali
👉 Helinox
👉 Ombraz
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Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music27 June 2026, 5:00 am - More Episodes? Get the App