The Protagonist
Hi David
Howdie
Wooah , strong salutation. You strike me as a shoots-from-the-hip son of a gun.
If you say so. Any questions for me question master?
Right. Yep. So let’s start with the website name. What does it mean? Where did ‘Cadencebro’ come from?
So ‘cadence’ is a cycling term basically talking about how quickly you are spinning your legs around. Everyone’s got their own natural cadence and for this journey of mine it’s all going to be about keeping them legs spinning round nice and fast. The ‘bro’ bit originated from a story of my old work friend – who was cycling into the office one morning, stopped at a traffic light on his bike when an American cyclist leaned over, probs lowered his shades and said to my friend – ‘Cadence… bro’. What a hero. What a saying. Hopefully now forever immortalised on my new age interweb thingy.
Cool story bro. Tell it again.
Yeah. Different saying, and not entirely sure whether you’re mocking me, so…
Right. Ok. So, high level, what were you doing before this started?
I was working in London for the last 8 years as an accountant and later an analyst. Lots of spreadsheets and whatnot.
Yeeesh.
I know, right??! I enjoyed working with the people and living in London but am definitely up for a change.
And you’ve packed it all in now to do what?
The base case is cycle from the UK to Singapore. A solo cycle. I’ve got a friend who’s just moved out there and it is sort of the end of the landmass of Asia so seems a good target. The hope is to continue beyond and cycle the east coast of Australia, both islands of New Zealand and across America before returning home. A full round the world jobby (don’t tell mum!!)
Wow. Impressive. What actually constitutes an official round the world cycle then? Are there any rules?
Well. The official Guinness rules state that the journey should be continuous and in one direction (East to West or West to East), that the minimum distance ridden should be 18,000 miles, and that the total distance (including transits) travelled by the bicycle and rider should exceed an Equator’s length, i.e. 24,900 miles. They also state that you should start and end at the same location, and that the route must be ridden through two approximate antipodal points.
It turns out there aren’t that many land based antipodal points – i.e. places that are opposite on the globe – that you are actually likely to cycle through. America lies opposite the Indian Ocean. Europe and Asia sit opposite the Pacific. Should I take on the round the world, then the one I’ll be aiming for is Wellington, New Zealand and Madrid, Spain.
Like it. Ambitious stuff. So you’re riding solo? Will you be unsupported? How will you carry around all your belongings?
It will be an unsupported trip. I’ll carry all my belongings on my four panniers attached to either side of my front and rear wheel, with my most important items being held in a handlebar bag which I will carry around with me when leaving the bike locked up in towns. All told the bike and kit will weigh something close to 50kg. I’ll be carrying clothes for on and off the bike as well as the tools needed to repair the bike should it give up the good fight in the ass end of nowhere, and camping equipment to hole up in the aforementioned ass end of nowhere while I wait for someone, anyone, with inevitably more bicycle repair knowledge than me, to pass by.
How will you navigate you crazy kid?
I’ll have offline maps on my iPhone, and otherwise just buy maps in each of the countries and rely on those. The idea being that this will help increase interactions with the locals when asking where the eff I am.
Do you need visas to get around?
I will do. Most, I can just pick up along the way from the capital cities in previous countries. However the Pakistan and Chinese visas need to be arranged in your home country so I’ve gone about getting those whilst still in Blighty.
Sounds horrendous. Why are you doing this again??
I’ve always had a passion for adventurers and I read loads and loads of books in the topic. I’ve also got a passion for riding, having started cycling to work and taking part in a triathlon 6 years ago. I’ve had so many positive benefits from this change in my life and in a way I want to take part in a personal homage to my favourite pastime. Also, as I’ve got a bit older I’ve realised I can’t bear to watch my active years pass by without taking on any meaningful adventure of my own. So here we are.
Are you raising money for charity?
Sure am. I’ll be raising money for UNICEF to try and pay something back to all the different peoples and countries that will be helping me along the way. You can see the charity giving page at https://mydonate.bt.com/fundraisers/cadencebro
Wow. Well good luck with it all. And keep up that sweet cadence… bro
Thanks question master.
