London to Beijing by Bicycle = feasible?

In My Humble Opinion
1

I’ve had this idea on my mind for a while now and I think I will do this in the next few years, I just wanted some advice as to what I should get or take with me, how much money I need, how to avoid my bike being stolen and whatnot, if I need any special requirements before I go, that sort of thing.

London to Beijing is 5,070 mile, so by my calculation, if I did 27 miles a day, for 6 months, I would of completed that distance, it may take a little longer taking into account rests repairs etc, but again it’s quite a feat to do such a thing in that amount of time.

So is this feasible, or am I entering pipe dream territory here?

Thoughts.

2

Well, Göran Kropp managed Sweden->Mount Everest in about six months, so I imagine that he could have done London->Beijing, if there had been a mountain for him to climb there.
Of course what an insane adventurer like Kropp could do doesn’t really reflect what us mere mortals can do.
Money and safety aside you also have to consider the issues with visas since you’d be passing through a fair number of different countries.

3

get in contact with a documentarian

4

Your biggest problem might be accomodation - once you’re outside of Europe, I don’t believe you can count on finding a place to sleep every 27 miles. Sounds like an awesome idea, though - best of luck!

5

I’ve never been to Europe or Asia. I have bicycle toured in the U.S., in the summer, carrying camping gear. Here are my thoughts:

Think of food/clothing/shelter. These basic necessities must be provided for daily.

Clothing is probably the simplest, but there are the auxiliary concerns of washing and drying every so often.

While meals can often be bought, or offered by kindly folks, I’m sure that some of the time you’ll need to provide them yourself. This means carrying some food, probably utensils, and maybe even cooking gear and fuel. Perhaps most problematic is carrying sufficient water for long stretches between populated areas. Water is heavy and it sloshes around, making it difficult to carry much on a bicycle.

Carrying a tent, sleeping pad, and sleeping bag or equivalent is feasible, but of course takes a fair amount of the packing capacity of the bike.

Weather can be a serious problem. Significant cold, wind, and/or rain can be a huge challenge to traveling by bike.

If certain things get damaged or stolen (e.g. tent, money/charge card, bicycle), you’re very likely screwed. Access to backup resources will be quite limited in some areas.

Probably people have made similar trips and done okay. We’ll hope some post here with some helpful info. I’d sure think long and hard, though, about being realistically prepared for a venture of this magnitude.

6

Try starting from Calais instead. :wink:

7

I met a handful of people in India who had biked from Europe, so that is completely feasible. The problem I see is going from India to Beijing. I don’t think independent travel is possible in Tibet, and you have to consider the practicality of riding your bike over the Himalayas. A coastal route is preferred, but again, I don’t think independent travel is allowed in Burma/Myanmar. Even if it is, it probably isn’t a good idea at this point. You might be able to skirt through the NE part of India and into China, but there are serious problems with that. Travel is restricted because it is disputed, and it is pretty rural.

I think the northern route through Kazakhstan and Mongolia isn’t possible due to lack of roads and weather.

8

A journey of 5,070 miles begins with a single (roll, pedal?)…

Yeah, of course its possible. Here’s how to think about it. Look at the countries you would potentially pedal through, then look at

  1. Weather
  2. Road quality/access to services
  3. Political Situation

I would map a route based on the most favorable conditions of the top three.

Money, gear, etc. all depend on the above three factors. Answer yourself a basic question; what would happen if your bike got stolen or destroyed? Would you quit? Get a new bike sent to you? Buy a local village bike and keep going? How much money will you have in the bank?

Plenty online about biking across China. See what gear these riders take. In terms of documents, it all depends what countries you ride through.

Probably have to go North of the Black Sea as I imagine Iraq and Iran off limits, although biking through Istanbul, across Turkey, ferry across Caspian Sea, through the “Stans” and then into China seems easy enough (!!!).

You would need to carry all of your biking gear and parts after you leave Europe and head East (you could get spare parts send to you, or send them to yourself in advance). You could certainly bike through most of Europe and spend the night in Refugios/hostels but I imagine you’d want to camp most of the time. So lightweight tent, bivy sack, sleeping bag. My guess is you would need to carry at least 50-80 pounds of gear, you could consider a trailer too.

Access to food might be tough once you are east of the Caspian.

A lot of reasons not to do it, but if you have the mental and physical stamina and can deal with intense loneliness, daily setbacks of seemingly monumental proportions, why not? A lot would depend on your frustration tolerance and your ability to soldier on. A lot depends on circumstances completely out of your control…

9

He also carried with him everything he would need to climb Everest, and he biked most of the way back. Your bike would need to be rather tough, and you would need the ability to make repairs (and/or carry spare parts). 27 miles a day sounds low, that’s a pretty short ride for most folks (3 hours in even on bad roads) but you may need many rest days and time to explore.

10

Here is the blog of a guy who went from Amsterdam to Vladivostok, so biking across Russia and down to Beijing has essentially been demonstrated.

Looking at Google maps, it seems Kazakhstan is well equipped with major roads, and it seems to be a reasonably safe country. The problem would seem to be that you’d either enter China through Tibet (just how many mountains do you want to climb?) or Xinjiang (how do you feel about deserts?).

It’s been a while since I’ve spent time in China, but I think the general feeling towards Westerners doing unusual things like biking across the country lean a little more towards “What is that crazy laowai doing?” and a little less of “Spying Westerner must be a spy.” Can’t say much about the other places that you may travel through.

I highly encourage the OP to try this and report back.

11

Go for it! It’s a great idea. It might be a bit tough when you get to Central Asia, but I met plenty of people doing similar rides in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, and Iran. Some of them even taught themselves how to read books while riding on the long, dusty roads through Central Asia. Look around the internet for blogs and such. I’m sure you’ll find lots of sound advice.

12

I was thinking through the 'stans route, taking me through Xinjiang, seems safer than going through Iran considering what happened to those hitchhikers. Plus I want to do it in a group, safety in numbers, I would still do it on my own, but it’s alot better to share this experience.

I’m thinking of saving around 10 grand and I’ll go when I’m 29. It’ll be a nice experience before I hit 30.

13

The Horizons Unlimited website might be worth a look http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/

14

Go for it! We’re cheering for you!

15

Wouldn’t your tires wear out several times during the course of the trip? Or do they make sturdier tires now than when I had a bicycle?

16

I was in Beijing about 7 years ago and met two guys who’d ridden their bikes from Scotland to Beijing. From memory they mainly went through Russia. So it can be done.

17

We get a few people biking through every now and then. Based on their stories, I’d say to plan your route carefully. The old adage about people just bein’ people everywhere is not necessarily true. I recall one guy who said he had some trouble in Pakistan. An entire village came out to throw rocks at him, and this was way before the current troubles, sometime in the 1990s I think.

18

This apparently still happens - not only in Pakistan. I’ve heard stories about this from Iran and the entire Stan region. It’s mostly kids (from what I’ve been told).

The overwhelming majority will happily welcome visitors, though, so I don’t think this should be considered a real hazard. Traffic is much more likely to kill you than an angry village mob.

19

What is it with the Scots? I met a Scottish guy in Lhasa who’d cycled there from Singapore. Saw him later camped on a glacier on the way to Base Camp in about -15. He’d been arrested four or five times after crossing the border into Tibet. Nutjob.

20

The long way round documentary with Ewan McGregor might be a good reference point. They did it on motor bikes and I think ended up in Vladivostok before crossing the Pacific but I figure much of their route might be applicable. I believe they wrote a book to accompany the documentary which probably goes into greater depth.