Australian adventurer Juliana Fontana shares her bikepacking experiences having just returned from a massive solo journey across Europe. That adventure began  in Hungary, saw her riding over the Alps, and continuing all the way to Norway. Once there she realised she was having so much fun so she decided to ride all the way back again.

Now back in Australia Juliana has been continuing with her bike adventures and we also discuss her taking on sections of the Hunt 1000 bikepacking route from Canberra to Melbourne through the challenging Australian high country. 

Her reflections on bikepacking in Europe vs Australia, overcoming fear when camping alone, and the generosity of strangers make this a must-listen for anyone dreaming of their first bike adventure or planning a long-distance tour.

You can follow Juliana via her instagram account - @juliana_ft

Other guests mentioned in this episode:

Sheelagh Daley

Claire Wyatt

 Gear I trust: You've heard me talk about my own bike adventures. Whenever I head out, I'm running Old Man Mountain gear. Their racks are the most reliable work horses out there. Check out the Divide Rack for a bombproof set up that fits almost any bike!

🚲 Explore the Old Man Mountain Collection

Check out Zorali for all your outdoor adventure needs!

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Buy me a coffee!

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This week adventurer Kurt Werby gives us an update on what it's been like so far cycling on the Route of Caravans in Morocco. This is one of the first longer bikepacking adventures Kurt has taken on and it's been great to hear how expectations have met up with reality there on the route. 

We also hear what some of your favourite episodes have been as we celebrate 150 long form episodes of Seek Travel Ride, and lastly - hike a bike - do we love it or do we hate it?

 Gear I trust: You've heard me talk about my own bike adventures. Whenever I head out, I'm running Old Man Mountain gear. Their racks are the most reliable work horses out there. Check out the Divide Rack for a bombproof set up that fits almost any bike!

🚲 Explore the Old Man Mountain Collection

Support the show

Buy me a coffee!

I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

👉 Zorali

👉 Helinox

👉 Ombraz

👉 CycPlus– ePumps (enter code STR for 5% off!)

Follow us on Social Media!

• Instagram - @SeekTravelRide
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In this episode I’m joined by adventurer Mark Gresser, who is currently in the midst of a huge journey: walking solo across Australia from Steep Point in Western Australia to Cape Byron in the east,  a distance of more than 6,000 kilometres.

Alogn with being a huge physical challenge, Mark is undertaking this expedition to raise awareness and support for youth mental health, partnering with the Australian organisation Batyr to encourage young people to speak up and seek help. 

In our conversation, we discuss:

• The moment Mark decided to attempt this massive walk
• Mark's own mental health journey and experiences
• How he physically and mentally prepared for the journey
• What life really looks like walking alone through remote Australia
• The set up of his walking cart which fully loaded can weigh up to 175kgs
• The powerful purpose behind Trek 4 Youth Mental Health

Follow & Support Mark

🌐 Website & Journey Updates

💛 Donate to the Fundraiser:

📸 Instagram - @trek4youthmentalhealth

 Gear I trust: You've heard me talk about my own bike adventures. Whenever I head out, I'm running Old Man Mountain gear. Their racks are the most reliable work horses out there. Check out the Divide Rack for a bombproof set up that fits almost any bike!

🚲 Explore the Old Man Mountain Collection

Check out Zorali for all your outdoor adventure needs!

Support the show

Buy me a coffee!

I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

👉 Zorali

👉 Helinox

👉 Ombraz

👉 CycPlus– ePumps (enter code STR for 5% off!)

Follow us on Social Media!

• Instagram - @SeekTravelRide
• Facebook - Seek Travel Ride
• YouTube - @SeekTravelRide

Seek Travel Ride Newsletter

Leave me a voicemail message

Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music

In 2013 Tom Cartledge and his friend Rhys  James quit their jobs to ride from the UK to India. This week he shares his experiences while in the country of Georgia. Tom says his motivations for this adventure were to visit the 'spaces in between' the landmarks. Slow travel in this manner lets you see the areas you'd otherwise miss, on a train, plane or bus. Can you relate?

Tom has also written a book about his journey called Saddle Sores - which you can find available for purchase here.

 Gear I trust: You've heard me talk about my own bike adventures. Whenever I head out, I'm running Old Man Mountain gear. Their racks are the most reliable work horses out there. Check out the Divide Rack for a bombproof set up that fits almost any bike!

🚲 Explore the Old Man Mountain Collection

Support the show

Buy me a coffee!

I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

👉 Zorali

👉 Helinox

👉 Ombraz

👉 CycPlus– ePumps (enter code STR for 5% off!)

Follow us on Social Media!

• Instagram - @SeekTravelRide
• Facebook - Seek Travel Ride
• YouTube - @SeekTravelRide

Seek Travel Ride Newsletter

Leave me a voicemail message

Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music

In this episode guest Harriet Gruen shares what it takes to go from novice cycle tourer to an ultra cycling record-breaker. 

In 2022 she set off from London to ride 10,000 km to Central Asia.  She'd barely ridden much at all and so she named the trip The Unlikely Adventure.

Along the way she fell in love with cycling and by the time she returned back to London 5 months later, she turned her mind to  ultra-distance racing.  

She's since lined up at events such as Dales Divide, Trans Pyrenees and Badlands, more recently she has et the fastest known female time on the Three Peaks by Bike Challenge, climbing Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon while cycling the 700 km between them.

Follow Harriet via her instagram - @anunlikelyadventure and also her personal blog - An Unlikely Adventure

 Gear I trust: You've heard me talk about my own bike adventures. Whenever I head out, I'm running Old Man Mountain gear. Their racks are the most reliable work horses out there. Check out the Divide Rack for a bombproof set up that fits almost any bike!

🚲 Explore the Old Man Mountain Collection

Check out Zorali for all your outdoor adventure needs!

Support the show

Buy me a coffee!

I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

👉 Zorali

👉 Helinox

👉 Ombraz

👉 CycPlus– ePumps (enter code STR for 5% off!)

Follow us on Social Media!

• Instagram - @SeekTravelRide
• Facebook - Seek Travel Ride
• YouTube - @SeekTravelRide

Seek Travel Ride Newsletter

Leave me a voicemail message

Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music

This week guest, Rebecca Gross shares her experiences from cycling across China and the Tibetan Plateau. This was very much an unplanned inclusion on her bikepacking journey and it took her through breathtaking landscapes. It also gave her insights intoTibetan culture, and she also had to deal with some extreme weather. Rebecca opens up about kindness from strangers, moments of homesickness, and what it was like to travel sections of this area as a solo female cyclist too. 

Follow Rebecca via her instagram account - @rebecca_grb

 Gear I trust: You've heard me talk about my own bike adventures. Whenever I head out, I'm running Old Man Mountain gear. Their racks are the most reliable work horses out there. Check out the Divide Rack for a bombproof set up that fits almost any bike!

🚲 Explore the Old Man Mountain Collection

Support the show

Buy me a coffee!

I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

👉 Zorali

👉 Helinox

👉 Ombraz

👉 CycPlus– ePumps (enter code STR for 5% off!)

Follow us on Social Media!

• Instagram - @SeekTravelRide
• Facebook - Seek Travel Ride
• YouTube - @SeekTravelRide

Seek Travel Ride Newsletter

Leave me a voicemail message

Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music

Heinz Stücke returns for Part 2 where he shares the honest truths and life lessons learned from 51 years of cycling the world.

Check out Part 1 of our discussion here.

Listen if:
You’re curious about the real cost of a life of adventure, how long-term travel shapes a person, and what 51 years on a bicycle teaches you about the world.

Key takeaways:

• The cost of long-term travel and what Heinz had to sacrifice to keep travelling
• How travelling alone opened more doors for connection and kindness
• How Heinz worked kept funding his travels and his bases for working out where to go next
• The “a bike is a bike, is a damn bike” philosophy and why Heinz never romanticised his bicycle and stayed proudly Mr Analog
• What decades of travel with paper maps and film cameras taught him that today’s digital world of internet, smartphones and GPS can't replicate
• How Heinz is still permanently travelling now

Links mentioned:

Once again a big thank you to Lizzie Jenkins for coming along to film this interview. Be sure to give her a follow on Instagram - @Lizzie_Jenkins_Film

 Gear I trust: You've heard me talk about my own bike adventures. Whenever I head out, I'm running Old Man Mountain gear. Their racks are the most reliable work horses out there. Check out the Divide Rack for a bombproof set up that fits almost any bike!

🚲 Explore the Old Man Mountain Collection

Check out Zorali for all your outdoor adventure needs!

Support the show

Buy me a coffee!

I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

👉 Zorali

👉 Helinox

👉 Ombraz

👉 CycPlus– ePumps (enter code STR for 5% off!)

Follow us on Social Media!

• Instagram - @SeekTravelRide
• Facebook - Seek Travel Ride
• YouTube - @SeekTravelRide

Seek Travel Ride Newsletter

Leave me a voicemail message

Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music

Ever wanted to go bikepacking on the European Divide Trail? It's the longest continuous off road route that crosses the European continent and this week Romanian bikepacker Mircea Arǎmescu is sharing with us his experiences from riding it this year. 

Mircea is also the youngest person to have ridden the trail and he tells us all about his experiences specifically at the northern part of the trail. You can find Mircea on instagram via his account - @Mircea0907

Previous episodes featuring the EDT are:

Rebekka Wiedener

Russell Nankervis

This week I also shared your top tips on what to tell someone who is keen to get started with their first bike adventure. 

Support the show

Buy me a coffee!

I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

👉 Zorali

👉 Helinox

👉 Ombraz

👉 CycPlus– ePumps (enter code STR for 5% off!)

Follow us on Social Media!

• Instagram - @SeekTravelRide
• Facebook - Seek Travel Ride
• YouTube - @SeekTravelRide

Seek Travel Ride Newsletter

Leave me a voicemail message

Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music

I’m joined by Heinz Stücke, the world’s most travelled cyclist, to reveal how a one-year bike trip became 51 years of cycling the world. This is part 1 of 2 from our conversations. 

Huge thanks to Lizzie Jenkins who filmed our session. Check her out on insta - @Lizzie_Jenkins_Film

Listen If:

You love a good “how on earth did that happen?” travel story, you’re craving a nudge to shake up your routine, or you want to hear from someone who chose perpetual travel and adventure over the expected path in life.

Key Takeaways:

• Start small, then keep going.
  Heinz didn’t set out to travel for 51 years, he just kept saying “yes” to the next road. 
• People make the journey.
  The most important aspect for Heinz were the encounters, kindness, and tiny moments he collected with people. 
• Movement clears the mind.
  For Heinz, cycling was his “yoga.” 

 Gear I trust: You've heard me talk about my own bike adventures. Whenever I head out, I'm running Old Man Mountain gear. Their racks are the most reliable work horses out there. Check out the Divide Rack for a bombproof set up that fits almost any bike!

🚲 Explore the Old Man Mountain Collection

Check out Zorali for all your outdoor adventure needs!

Support the show

Buy me a coffee!

I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

👉 Zorali

👉 Helinox

👉 Ombraz

👉 CycPlus– ePumps (enter code STR for 5% off!)

Follow us on Social Media!

• Instagram - @SeekTravelRide
• Facebook - Seek Travel Ride
• YouTube - @SeekTravelRide

Seek Travel Ride Newsletter

Leave me a voicemail message

Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music

This week we have an update from Olly Hargreaves all about his time spent cycling through Afghanistan. He shares some great insights about what it has been like to cycle through the country, his experiences meeting the locals as well as the Taliban themselves. We are tracking Olly's journey from the UK to Thailand with these periodic updates and it is amazing to see his progress so far. Be sure to give him a follow via his instagram page - @sagas.of_olly.hargreaves

I also share tips from the community about locking up your bike when on tour. 

 Gear I trust: You've heard me talk about my own bike adventures. Whenever I head out, I'm running Old Man Mountain gear. Their racks are the most reliable work horses out there. Check out the Divide Rack for a bombproof set up that fits almost any bike!

🚲 Explore the Old Man Mountain Collection

Support the show

Buy me a coffee!

I’m an affiliate for a few brands I genuinely use and recommend including:

👉 Zorali

👉 Helinox

👉 Ombraz

👉 CycPlus– ePumps (enter code STR for 5% off!)

Follow us on Social Media!

• Instagram - @SeekTravelRide
• Facebook - Seek Travel Ride
• YouTube - @SeekTravelRide

Seek Travel Ride Newsletter

Leave me a voicemail message

Seek Travel Ride Music Playlist available now on both Spotify or Apple Music