About Us: Who are we?
So, a little about us. We are an Aussie couple that share a passion for travel, adventure and the outdoors. We each have travelled to over 70 countries, climbed several mountain summits and hike every opportunity we get. In 2014, we discovered cycle touring, and headed off on our first (unplanned/ spontaneous) cycle tour. We cycled 8,500km from the French Alps to China. We loved it so much that it is now our preferred way to travel. To date we have travelled over 20,000km by bicycle.
Why we love cycling?
We had no idea what to expect on our first cycle tour, but we soon came to realise that cycle touring is the best way of travelling and seeing the world. Not only is it affordable and a great way to keep up your fitness levels. Cycle touring also allows you to breakdown any boundaries that may exist between you, the locals and the culture. You are no longer just looking at a country and it’s tourist highlights, you are experiencing the country and meeting it’s people. It is also a very environmentally friendly way to travel. Through the cycle touring lifestyle we became even more aware of waste and conserving. Whether it be water, food, equipment or even gas for the stove, we learnt to make it last. We became strong haters of any form of waste and came to a realisation of how ridiculous materialism and consumerism is.
But what is Cycle Trekkers?
Sharing’s caring! We thought it would be nice to share our experience with others. I hope our website can help people with their cycle touring plans, inspire people to hop on a bicycle instead of taking a car or bus, and to teach people about some of the amazing eco-friendly businesses we encounter. It’s also a great way for us to record our memories and share them with friends and family. So though keeping a website and blog is quite time consuming, we think it’s worth it and hope you enjoy it!
If you do have any suggestions then please get in touch – we’re always looking at ways to improve.
We hope you enjoy our site and look forward to sharing our journey with you.
The Cyclists:
Kelly
Born in Perth, Australia, but has spent a lot of her life yoyo-ing back and forth between Australia and the UK. She was brought up into a life of travel so it was natural for her to develop the desire for travel and adventure. She has a degree in Environmental Management and is slowly completing a Masters in International Business. Her background is in environmental conservation and tourism. Although she is currently working as a yoga teacher in Bristol, UK and using this to raise money for Avon Wildlife Trust.
As she’s started to use her knowledge in anatomy and yoga to help cyclists, she’s included her credentials below.
- 230 hour Yoga Teachers Training & Hot Yoga teachers training
- 30 hour Yin Yoga Teachers Training
- 40 hour Yoga Nidra Training
- Yoga Anatomy Continuing Education
- Workshop on teaching Chair Yoga
- Indian Head Massage certificate
- Leadership in Running certificate
- First Aid at work qualification
- Mental Health first aid qualification
Michael
Also, born in Perth. Michael didn’t leave Australia for the first time until he was 21, and once he started travelling he was hooked and has been travelling on and off ever since. Michael has lived in Turkey, England, Scotland, France, Canada and Guatemala, and has the dream of owning a hostel or guesthouse, where he will be able to display the thousands of postcards and beer labels that he’s been collecting over the years during his travels.
Though Kelly came up with the cycle touring plan, it was Michael that planted the seed. Michael has wanted to cycle across countries since meeting a Scottish guy in Turkey, that cycled to Turkey on a beat up, old bicycle. Michael believes that cycle touring can be done by anyone and that you don’t need fancy gear to do it. The hardest thing is the initial step, just getting out there and doing it. Kelly and Michael proved his theory right, as they have cycled through 16 countries with homemade gear, cheap hybrid bikes and very little money. Michael has also written about his travels on his and his mates’ website Balls out Traveller.
The bikes:
We talked a bit about us, now lets talk a bit about our bikes. We both ride Brodie Circuit touring bikes. Michael’s bike is a 2015 Brodie Circuit and Kelly’s bike is a 2016 Brodie Circuit. These bikes were born and bred in Vancouver, Canada, where we picked them up at the start of our trip.
We’ve been racking our brains for names for our bikes and have been struggling to find something that fits, though I am tempted to just go with Lady and the Tramp. Other names we’ve come up include Kermit, the green machine, Fiona and bitch-face (usually reserved for steep climbs) for Kelly’s bike. And various “cow” related names for Michael’s bike, “El vaca sueño” (sleepy or dreamy cow), “el vaca” (the cow) “El vaca hambre” (hungry cow) and a few others variations (don’t ask me why they are all in Spanish).
