Steve's Cycling Blog

There are several of you who will be very pleased to finally (one year to the day later) get confirmation that I have in fact finished riding from Beijing to Istanbul and I’m not still lost somewhere in between (I’m thinking about you Ross and Leanne 😉 – I’ve posted details about stages 115 and 116!

I had one rest day in Istanbul before heading back to the UK the following day – it was a sad time saying farewell to the people who we’d travelled so far with through times good and bad. I’ve stayed in touch with most, to one degree or another, and have seen a number of riders over the intervening year.

Back in the UK and it was a night in London catching up with New Zealand friends who were over, and then it was home. But not for long in that home, as the next adventure was already unfolding while I was travelling, with a relocation to Latvia where we now call Riga home.

One of the questions I’ve been asked a lot is “would you do it again?”. Though I had a fantastic time, and I’m extremely grateful for the opportunity to have done this amazing trip – no, I wouldn’t want to do it again. For me, in the end the duration of the trip (in time) ended up being longer than I would like.

It’s been great fun over the last five months reading along with my journey in ‘real time’ one year on. It’s still close enough in my mind that the blog posts bring back all sorts of other memories!

The other question I’m often asked – so what’s next? Well the current thinking is this:

It’s run by the same company, and has many of the same characteristics that attracted me to this trip – interesting countries in places which are hard to visit on your own. If you’re interested in coming along, check out the website.

Thanks to all of you who came along, or followed along, with my journey. Those who commented and supported me in ways small and large – it was a blast!