European "Alternative" Grand Tour

This summer, I will undertake a solo bike adventure through Europe, it's an ambitious project, and I'm looking for financial support for this trip. Here are the key details:

- what: solo bike-packing tour spanning 41 cities and 13 countries over a 10-11 week period. The total distance is roughly 7100 km (4400 mi) with an average daily mileage of 190 km (120 mi). The entire route can be found here, with a map found here.

- when: I will begin the tour on the 23rd of June, but donations will be open throughout the tour, which you can follow through my Strava page here.

- why: there are three main reasons for this trip. The first and primary reason is a deeply personal story of promise and ambition ending in disappointment; it is described in full below. The second is to showcase what/how bike-packing works. The final is a long-term ambition of creating a platform that will allow individuals to plan and share multi-day sports adventures like bike-packing more effectively. All of these reasons are outlined further below.

If you are interested in supporting my bike adventure through Europe, you can donate through this page. The specific details regarding your kind donations are also outlined below.

My Story:

This summer, I planned to head to Europe with the chance to take a step into the professional cycling ranks through training and racing with a top team. The team had promised me the opportunity of an "audition" that would involve both racing, training, and lab testing. It offered a slither of hope at my dream of becoming a professional cyclist - it was all the motivation I needed. I had devoted hours on the bike throughout the year in Chicago and made many sacrifices in preparation for what I was promised to be a potentially "golden ticket" opportunity. Sitting for 3 hours straight on an indoor stationary trainer during the bitter cold months and stupidly riding outside in the freezing rain to come home on the edge of hypothermia were some of the highlights. But the most challenging part was balancing my university degree with work commitments and the 15 - 25 hour training weeks, which often came at the cost of social life and mental health.

Nevertheless, after a final conversation with the team and heading into the last weeks of training before Europe, I felt somewhat ready to give my best shot at what had been my singular goal for the past few years. But when I arrived, what I was promised never materialised. Whether it was some form of miscommunication on my end or some other reason, I felt puzzled and embarrassed, but more than anything, I felt aimless. The over 13,000 km (8000 mi) I had ridden in 2022 alone seemed to all be for nothing. These past few weeks had been particularly tough as I was starting to give up entirely on what I had worked so hard for, but I knew that sulking over this false promise would get me nowhere. So as of the June 13th, I have committed to a new goal: the European "Alternative" Grand Tour.

 

This project will be a 7100km (4400 mi) solo bike tour throughout Europe over 10 to 11 weeks. Throughout this journey, I will compete in three bike races and integrate structured training into the bike tour to not lose all my top-end fitness so far. I will begin my journey in Rome (from the city where all roads supposedly lead) and venture my way up to Sweden and Norway. Then I will continue back south, finishing in Paris, the city that hosts the end of the iconic Tour de France. You can see a complete visualisation of my route here and the full day-by-day itinerary here. I plan to stop in 41 cities across 13 countries, with an average mileage of 190 km (120 mi) for the days I am riding. Physically and mentally, I am unsure whether I can complete it, but that is the source of motivation for this project. You can follow my progress on this journey through my Strava page here , where I will post the ride alongside photos, a diary entry, food reviews, and a cost breakdown of all my spending. I aim to be as transparent as possible, to show everyone the reality of bike-packing and how liberating it can be!

 

I am looking for potential donors willing to offer financial support to fund this project. I will set the initial target as $7500 (€7,110) as a symbolic amount representing €1.00 for each kilometre I plan to cycle. But as I continue the journey, this amount will be updated and can be found on my Strava page. As mentioned, I will explicitly state how much money is spent. Therefore any donations that exceed the necessary amount will be donated to Doctors Without Borders (a truly admirable charity that offers medical aid to areas in crisis). Given what is happening in the world today, I know very well that there are far better causes to donate to, but if this project inspires you or is something you can relate to, and you happen to have some spare change, I would genuinely appreciate any help.

 

Again, thank you so much for spending time and reading through this, and if you are interested, I want to share a few additional details about my trip below.

 

Additional Details:

Food & Sights Recommendations: As I'm travelling through Europe, and if you happen to know of any local dishes, restaurants, or significant sights/attractions that are worth visiting, please let me know! You can suggest these either through this google form or let me know through social media (e.g., Strava, Instagram, Facebook, etc.). I will try to check out every recommendation and even offer some reviews featured in each day's blog post! Important note: these are external costs that I will cover myself.

 

Multi-Day Adventure Platform Development: As I am currently planning for this trip, I realise that there is not a unified platform where enthusiasts and athletes alike can share specific routes, hotels, restaurants, and other tips that are specifically geared towards multi-day adventures (like bike-packing or running events). A one-stop platform where individuals can easily access this information and plan for these trips would make bike-packing and similar events much more accessible and less daunting! Moreover, I also want to potentially talk to existing sports social media platforms (like Strava and Komoot) to improve their support for multi-day adventures. For example, imagine Strava had a tool that allowed you to group blog posts, activities, and live tracking under a single page within your profile instead of being a chain of multiple separate activities. This platform would allow individuals to easily share and follow along with multi-day adventures like mine! These are all ideas that I will further develop after my trip, in which I will contact existing platforms in hopes of developing such features.