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Why do this?
Curiosity and a genuine lust for adventure are the key elements for going on a trip like this. It has never been done before. We want to test our abilities and inner strength, and to see if it is possible. There is also a deep burning wish to experience the last, vast wilderness on the planet, and to tell the rest of the world about it afterwards. There is really no other good reason…
What do we want to achieve?
Besides mastering the challenge and hopefully reaching our goal in cycling with the bears on Kamchatka, we have a desire to create memories for life. We want to meet and interact with some of the last ethnic people of their kind and see how they live and survive in this remote part of the world with burning hot summers and winters with the lowest temperatures on earth. On his last expedition through Siberia Thor was met with kindness and generosity, warmth and respect – and this time we have more time to interact with the people and we hope to find the soul of Siberia. We want to see and record some of the wildlife in this magnificent nature as we travel slowly through it.
We wish to experience the gigantic Lena river, mountains, the endless tundra, glaciers, volcanoes, hot springs, diamond mines, salmon rivers and gold prospecting. This area was rich with mammoths in the old days, and every year the permafrost pushes up huge tusks from the ground. Maybe we will be lucky enough to find some? And lastly the Behring sea and Kamchatka peninsula. This area is also home to six or seven ethnic groups of people with only a few hundred left in each group. Like the Koryaks, the Itelmens surving by hunting and fishing, the reindeer herding Lamutyers, the forefathers of the Alaskan Inuits, the Chukchi nomades and the last 390 Aleutes.
What problems will we experience?
The challenges will be plentiful. Will the cyclists manage 7- 8000 kilometres on roads and tracks of variable quality? They are all well into their fifties… Will it be possible for the support car to follow them? Will the cyclists hold up to the malicious beating of 120 kilometres per day? Will the wildlife pose a danger to us? After all, we will enter the area with the highest density of bears in the world… Will the equipment endure, will we be able to find sufficient food and drinking water, or other supplies on the way? What about sleeping quarters, staying healthy, injuries? Will there be roads the entire way? Is it at all possible to undertake this trip? We do not know what problems we will meet, but that is part of the challenge – to improvise and solve them as they crop up. This is all part of the great adventure – and it also makes good television…
We are experiencing difficulties in finding maps covering the whole route. We have found maps of the regions where people live, but vast areas are not populated, and it will be an exciting task to see how we progress through these places; especially the area between Magadan and Kamchatka looks a little deserted. If everything fails, we will have to cross the sea of Okhots by boat or helicopter...
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