2010.12.27: December 27, 2010: Vanuatu RPCV Anthony Siracusa is Riding a bike around world -- how's that for challenge?
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2010.12.27: December 27, 2010: Vanuatu RPCV Anthony Siracusa is Riding a bike around world -- how's that for challenge?
Vanuatu RPCV Anthony Siracusa is Riding a bike around world -- how's that for challenge?
During his service in Vanuatu, Hirsch sent an e-mail to the Kona Bicycle Co. "I said I was a kid with a dream to ride my bike around the world, and they said, 'If you can get to Vancouver, we'll get you a bike and a trailer and a waterproof bag." Immediately after he completed his Peace Corps commitment, Hirsch set out for Vancouver. Hirsch visited every continent except Antarctica. He bicycled down the continental divide through Central America, alternating from mountain to coast "to keep it interesting," and followed the Andes Mountain range to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost point in the Americas. Taking a flight to northwest Africa, Hirsch endured what he described as "a visa nightmare" before traveling by boat to the southern tip of Spain. From Spain, Hirsch bicycled to the northernmost tip of Norway and rode through Sweden and Denmark on his way to Eastern Europe, Greece, Turkey and the Republic of Georgia. After crossing the Caspian Sea by boat, he began cycling again in Kazakhstan ("the craziest country of my trip") before spending 19 months crossing Asia. His Asian experience ended in Singapore, where he flew to Australia to bicycle the outback and the Australian Alps. Hirsch flew from Melbourne, Australia, to Los Angeles, cycled back to Vancouver to check in with his friends at Kona, and then cycled back across the United States to Maine. The latest leg of his cycling adventure led him down the eastern coast of the United States to Memphis.
Vanuatu RPCV Anthony Siracusa is Riding a bike around world -- how's that for challenge?
Anthony Siracusa: Riding bike around world -- how's that for challenge?
* By Anthony Siracusa
* Memphis Commercial Appeal
* Posted December 27, 2010 at midnight
Robert Hirsch rides his Kona bicycle with trailer through Southeast Asia during his 5-year, round-the-world tour.
Photo courtesy Robert Hirsch
Robert Hirsch rides his Kona bicycle with trailer through Southeast Asia during his 5-year, round-the-world tour.
Like Forrest Gump's run across the United States, once Robert Hirsch began riding his bike, he just couldn't stop. "When I started in British Columbia, I had no idea how far I would go."
Now 5 1/2 years, 60 countries, and 3 Kona bicycle frames later -- Hirsch has returned to his hometown of Memphis to be with his mother for Christmas.
"When I finished college, I said maybe I should go to med school or law school. Not that those things aren't challenging, but I knew I could do them all."
Drawn to bigger, self-propelled challenges, Hirsch walked the entirety of the Appalachian Trail and the Pacific Crest Trail from Mexico to Canada.
While walking the Pacific Crest trail, he received word that he'd been accepted into the Peace Corps to serve in Vanuatu in the South Pacific.
During his service in Vanuatu, Hirsch sent an e-mail to the Kona Bicycle Co. "I said I was a kid with a dream to ride my bike around the world, and they said, 'If you can get to Vancouver, we'll get you a bike and a trailer and a waterproof bag."
Immediately after he completed his Peace Corps commitment, Hirsch set out for Vancouver.
Hirsch visited every continent except Antarctica. He bicycled down the continental divide through Central America, alternating from mountain to coast "to keep it interesting," and followed the Andes Mountain range to Tierra del Fuego, the southernmost point in the Americas. Taking a flight to northwest Africa, Hirsch endured what he described as "a visa nightmare" before traveling by boat to the southern tip of Spain. From Spain, Hirsch bicycled to the northernmost tip of Norway and rode through Sweden and Denmark on his way to Eastern Europe, Greece, Turkey and the Republic of Georgia. After crossing the Caspian Sea by boat, he began cycling again in Kazakhstan ("the craziest country of my trip") before spending 19 months crossing Asia. His Asian experience ended in Singapore, where he flew to Australia to bicycle the outback and the Australian Alps. Hirsch flew from Melbourne, Australia, to Los Angeles, cycled back to Vancouver to check in with his friends at Kona, and then cycled back across the United States to Maine. The latest leg of his cycling adventure led him down the eastern coast of the United States to Memphis.
Total mileage for the trip? Hirsch simply said, "a lot."
A disciplined regimen of saving money throughout college and the Peace Corps enabled an adventure that Hirsch says inspired within him an understanding of the world as a benevolent, friendly place.
"If the trip has taught me one thing, it's that the world is a beautiful, kind place full of beautiful, kind people. When you base your life and your world vision on newspapers, 'NBC Nightly News' and CNN, you live in a constant state of fear. For example, when I rode across Colombia, I was told I would be kidnapped 17 times, but it was the best country I traveled to."
Acknowledging that bad things can happen anywhere, Hirsch uses 9/11 as an example of how people learn to persevere in spite of hardship. "Life goes on," he says, "and people pet their dogs and check the mail."
Hirsch described his trip as a kind of vulnerability: "If you open yourself to the kindness of this world, it starts flowing. You'll see that the world is a more beautiful and kinder place."
But for all the kindness, Hirsch also witnessed the frank and often-heartbreaking reality of global poverty.
"It is unbelievable the disparity of wealth in this world. I've seen poverty, I've seen hunger, I've seen little boys who can barely blink their eyes they're so hungry. I've also seen the opposite -- say in France -- where people only eat 30 percent of the food on their plate. ... You hop across the equator and there are people who would murder another human being to get their mouth across that food."
Hirsch's travels opened his eyes to the perplexing ways in which the world is now developing. "I've been to villages that don't have potable drinking water, but they have high-speed Internet cafés. For the Western world, we went from the first IBM screen to the Xbox in little steps, but for other countries it's like a warp zone to a new world. It's like taking a helicopter to Mount Everest, whereas we climbed from the bottom of the mountain."
Anthony Siracusa, a native Memphian, is the community service coordinator at Rhodes College. He is the founder of Revolutions Community Bicycle Shop and commutes daily by bicycle. Contact him at 843-3401 or through his blog at anthonysiracusa.blogspot.com.
Travel pictures
Robert Hirsch will present slides from his bike travels at 6 p.m. Wednesday at the Cooper Young Conference Center inside First Congregational Church.
Anthony Siracusa, who spent 13 months traveling through eight countries studying bicycle cultures, will also present slides and findings from his travels.
RSVP at anthonysiracusa. blogspot.com.
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Headlines: December, 2010; Peace Corps Vanuatu; Directory of Vanuatu RPCVs; Messages and Announcements for Vanuatu RPCVs; Bicycles
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Story Source: Commercial Appeal
This story has been posted in the following forums: : Headlines; COS - Vanuatu; Bicycles
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