DUNCAN COVEY - ROUND THE WORLD ON A REILLY
Beginning in April 2024, I’ll set off to ride my bike, a Reilly Gradient, over 40,000km around the world. Carrying everything I need, from my tent, spare kit and up to a week’s worth of food at a time,
I’ll take in as many gravel roads as possible as my adventure heads east around the world.
I’ve been riding bikes for as long as I can remember. Throughout my childhood, I looked forward to school summer holidays where our family would often pack camping gear onto our bikes and head off to explore the lanes of rural France and Spain. Throughout university, I took an interest in ultra-endurance sport, began riding further and further and here we are now……
WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS TRIP?
This trip has been a long time coming. I’ve read many books and watched many films about people who have done similar and always yearned to take on something similar myself. I recently realized that I didn’t need to be a spectator and that if I wanted it for myself, it’s time to make it happen!
HOW CAN YOU AFFORD IT
I’ve been working for a few years out of uni and saved every penny. That and by spending the year sleeping in a tent and eating porridge and pasta cooked on my petrol stove!
WHAT ARE YOU LOOKING FORWARD TO & WHAT ARE YOU DREADING?
I’m looking forward to seeing spectacular sunrises and sunsets in places I can’t yet imagine, experiencing the kindness of strangers and learning about places that are different from home. On the flipside: mosquitoes, wild dogs, bureaucratic hurdles and mosquitos again.
ARE YOU RUNNING AWAY FROM REAL LIFE?
Maybe. But I’m also at the glorious age where I have the freedom to steer myself towards a ‘real life’ that I won’t want to run away from.
WHAT'S YOUR ROUTE?
I'll head east across Europe, through Central Asia on the
Pamir Highway, across Mongolia, down through China and South East Asia, across
Australia, New Zealand and the USA before riding back home from Portugal.
DOT WATCH DUNCAN (POWERED BY FOLLOW MY CHALLENGE)