Intrepid Global Citizen Podcast – Détails, épisodes et analyse

This podcast episode that will take you on a journey across continents, through adversity, and into the heart of human experience. Today we're diving into an epic adventure that defies imagination.

Picture this: A lone cyclist, pedaling across the globe, starting in the quaint villages of Central Europe and venturing into the rugged Balkans. But that's just the beginning. Our intrepid traveler pushes eastward, through the ancient lands of Georgia and Armenia, into the mystical realms of Iran, and across the opulent Gulf countries.

But hold onto your handlebars, because the real heart-pounding adventure kicks off in Kenya. Imagine cycling mere meters from the Equator, your body dripping with sweat, as you navigate through a land of stark contrasts - from gut-wrenching poverty to breathtaking beauty, from perilous game reserves teeming with lions to encounters with some of the kindest souls on Earth.

From the wildlands of Africa to the roof of the world - Valentin aims to pedal on the legendary Pamir and Karakoram Highways, before seeking solace in the vibrant chaos of India. And that's just the halfway point! Southeast Asia, Australia, and the diverse tapestry of Latin America all lie ahead on this incredible odyssey.

You might think this journey is an insurmountable challenge, a feat reserved for superhumans. But here's the twist - our cyclist found it less daunting than expected. What secrets of human resilience and global kinship has this journey unveiled?

Tune in now to hear firsthand accounts of close encounters with wildlife, heartwarming tales of human connection, and insights that will challenge your perception of our world. This is a masterclass in human endurance, cultural understanding, and the art of embracing the unknown.

Don't miss this opportunity to experience the world through the eyes of a global cyclist. Click play now and let the adventure begin. Your perspective on travel, humanity, and your own potential will never be the same.

Contact Valentin and follow his adventure on Instagram and Facebook here: @valentin_vagabond

To support the podcast please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

To find out more about host George Balarezo's adventures, you can find the book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle at the following link- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/

Contact me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com and let me know your thoughts and feelings about the podcast or if you have a story you'd like to share. 

Kimberly Coats is the CEO of Team Africa Rising, a nonprofit organization that promotes and supports cycling development in Africa. Kimberly has over 12 years of experience creating and managing innovative and impactful programs that empower African cyclists and foster a culture of excellence and inclusion. She is also a certified USA Cycling Coach Level 2, passionate about coaching and mentoring young and aspiring riders.

Her mission is to be a global voice and advocate for African cycling, especially for women who face many barriers and challenges in accessing and advancing in the sport. She has established solid partnerships and collaborations with cycling federations, governments, NGOs, sponsors, and media outlets across the continent and beyond to raise awareness, generate funding, and create opportunities for African cyclists. Kimberly is proud to have contributed to Rwanda becoming the first African country to host the UCI World Road Cycling Championships in 2025 and to have produced numerous African Olympic cyclists and professional riders.

She was also the 2022 BikeBiz Woman of the Year.

You can find out more about Africa Rising here: www.teamafricarising.org

To support the podcast please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

To find out more about host George Balarezo's adventures, you can find the book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle at the following link- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/

Contact me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com and let me know your thoughts and feelings about the podcast or if you have a story you'd like to share. 

Juan Pablo Toro is a tennis player and adventurer who was born in Santiago de Chile. He had a normal life. Almost too normal. To defeat boredom, in December 2019 he started traveling around the world, but 4 months later the pandemic started and he had to come back to Chile, disappointed. His expectations were high for the trip, but his adventure was cut short.

In August 2021 he started traveling again, this time with a bicycle and a tent, and low expectations in order to avoid more disappointment. He ended up cycling 18,500 kilometers through 33 countries in Middle East, Africa and Europe, completing 5 different multiday hikes, and even visiting the Arctic Polar Circle.

After suffering through surgery in Armenia, he was nearly killed in a head on collision with a car in Iran two times in a sick prank, only to spend the night in the driver's home in a perverse twist of fate. After cycling through Asia and the Middle East, he continued cycling in Kenya with the goal of meeting one of his heroes, marathon world record holder Eliud Kipchoge, and pedaled to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa.

You can read his blog (English and Spanish available) and connect with Juan Pablo here- https://deportistanomade.com/

Enjoy the conversation. Be bold. Be intrepid.

To support the podcast please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

To find out more about host George Balarezo's adventures, you can find the book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle at the following link- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/

Contact me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com and let me know your thoughts and feelings about the podcast or if you have a story you'd like to share. 

Mike Nixon is a globetrotter who has spent nearly a decade living and traveling abroad. From experiencing Paraguay in the Peace Corps, being stationed in Japan with the United States Navy, NGOs in Nicaragua, and everything in between, Mike has done any- and everything to transform his life into an adventure. He has visited thirty countries across four continents, and shares some fascinating stories in his award-winning debut memoir “Life Travel And The People In Between.” For Mike, travel has been about living outside of his comfort zone, learning about the world, building relationships with people, and sharing stories that inspire others.

You can find his book "Life Travel And The People In Between" here- https://mikenixonauthor.com/

You can follow his blog here- https://brogotravel.com/ and find him on Instagram at @brogotravel

Enjoy the conversation. Be bold. Be intrepid.

To support the podcast please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Find the book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle at the following link- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/

Contact me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com and let me know your thoughts and feelings about the podcast or if you have a story you'd like to share. 

The Goliath Expedition is Karl Bushby's attempt to walk around the world "with unbroken footsteps", from Punta Arenas, Chile, to his home in Hull, England. He began his journey on November 1, 1998 and originally expected to finish the over-36,000+ miles (58,000+ km) trek in 12 years, though there were questions about the three gaps that created uncertainty. The first gap would be the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, the Bering Strait between the US and Russia, and the Channel tunnel between France and the UK.  The journey was defined by two rules:

1. Karl will advance unassisted by any form of transport.
   
   
2. Karl will only return home on foot.

In 2001 Karl crossed the treacherous Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, taking two months to travel from the city of Medellin to Panama city, crossing the frontline of fighting between the Colombian government and FARC. Traversing 200 miles of dense jungle and spending many days floating down jungle rivers, Karl avoided FARC (revolutionary armed forces of Colombia), yet would spend 18 days in jail in Panama detained by Panamanian police after crossing the closed border zone due to the conflict. Karl was released to continue once his intent was clarified. 

In March 2006, Bushby crossed the Bering Strait on foot, having to take a 14-day route across a frozen 150-mile (240 km) section to cross the 58-mile (93 km) wide strait from Alaska to Siberia. He was detained by Russian border troop officers for not entering Russia at a correct port-of-entry. 

Over 6.5 years, across 4 continents, over 20,000 miles, 14 countries, and a handful of islands, Angela Maxwell discovered her innate courage, strength, and conviction. She traversed desolate deserts, snow-capped mountains, and bustling ancient cities....alone. Twelve pairs of shoes and too many cups of noodles consumed to count, she walked nearly the circumference of the earth.

A novice adventurer when she began, Angela faced the incredible odds of surviving the outback in Western Australia, dengue fever in Vietnam, a physical attack in Mongolia, and the sheer challenges of being a solo woman sleeping in a tent wherever she could lay her head for the night.

Angela’s goal was never about the pace of her travels, but rather the faces she met along the way.

“I wanted to truly feel and experience the world, not just be an observer,” says Angela. “I wanted to sink in, to learn and understand the ‘them’ as I learned more about the ‘me’.”

Although she set goals for where to start and end within a given country, she took breaks to have once-in-a-lifetime experiences. She helped renovate a sheep farmhouse in Sardinia and learned how to mush sled dogs in Alaska. She assisted on a cattle ranch in Australia and did interior design for a floating hotel in Thailand. And when Karl invited her to join a camel expedition in Mongolia in 2017, she didn’t hesitate.

Together, Karl and Angela created a team of five other adventurers (and ten camels) and embarked on Steppes to the West. Although short-lived, this is when they realized how well they worked together in some of the most dangerous and extreme conditions. Now, Angela is thrilled to walk with Karl and be part of a team.

In this podcast episode, we talk about their upcoming challenge of swimming across the Caspian Sea before Karl finally completes his several decade-long Goliath Expedition.

Follow Karl and Angela at https://www.westboundhorizons.com/

Enjoy the conversation. Be bold. Be intrepid.

Find the book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle at the following link- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/

Adam Swanson is  19 years old and is 1.5 years into a world cycling tour as a gap year between high school and college. He is traveling to educate himself on the world before going to university, to grow as a person, and to grow his love for cycle touring.

He's toured with his family all his life, ever since his dad and pregnant mom pulled him in a Burley trailer across Mexico as a baby. Since then he's toured the US from coast to coast, Cuba, Eastern Europe and gone on some weekend trips with family and friends. Now he is doing it on his own, free and happy to continue this lifestyle.

He's been on the road now for over a year and has cycled across 19 countries between Thailand and The Netherlands. Now he is continuing his trip Patagonia.

Enjoy the conversation. Be bold. Be intrepid.

To support the podcast please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Find the book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle at the following link- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/

Contact me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com and let me know your thoughts and feelings about the podcast or if you have a story you'd like to share. 

In 1999, Trevor Lund set out to fulfil a 10-year dream of cycling the length of the Americas, from southern Argentina to north Alaska. With little planning and no mobile phone and soon finding himself all alone after his companion quit, his journey was far from ordinary.  He enjoyed and endured so much that he felt compelled to write a book on his return home but self-doubt meant the book would take 19 years to complete.

Trevor still cycles and has completed many enjoyable - and not so enjoyable - cycle journeys since.  He is also attempting to write a second book!

You can find his book North to Alaska: The True Story of an Epic 16,000-mile Cycle Journey the Length of the Americas at the following link:  https://www.amazon.com/North-Alaska-000-mile-journey-Americas-ebook/dp/B0833GX9Z9/ref=tmm_kin_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1669725751&sr=8-1

Enjoy the conversation. Be bold. Be intrepid.

To support the podcast please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Find the book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle at the following link- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/

Contact me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com and let me know your thoughts and feelings about the podcast or if you have a story you'd like to share. 

I am happy to introduce you to Tetsuya Mizoguchi, a veteran adventurer and character in my book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle via a podcast conversation.

Tetsuya Mizoguchi has been bicycle touring since high school and has pedaled solo across South America, Europe, Asia, and Africa. We met in Ethiopia while he was on his journey from Cape Town to Cairo and rode together for several days.

About 15 years my junior, he displayed unrivaled poise and confidence when dealing with stone-hurling children and showed me how to deal with tough times on the road.  They say when the student is ready the teacher will appear and I met him at exactly the right time as he gave me invaluable tips on surviving in Ethiopia on a bicycle.

He was mugged in South Africa but still managed to snap a picture of his assailants running away, patched 60 tire punctures in Zimbabwe, got kicked out of a home after refusing to use drugs with his hosts in Egypt, and was mistaken for a dead body while sleeping under a bridge in the winter in his home country of Japan.

Enjoy the conversation. Be bold. Be intrepid.

To support the podcast please leave a review on Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, or your favorite podcast app.

Find the book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle at the following link- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/

Contact me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com and let me know your thoughts and feelings about the podcast or if you have a story you'd like to share. 

M. Scott Ault is a Calgary based artist, author and sporadic adventurer. He grew up in east- central Ontario and knew there was more "out there" than just what had been taught in books and through movies.. adventure and that it was sitting there.. waiting for him. All he had to do was reach out and grab it. Thus, one day he decided to give away nearly all his personal property and, armed with just a backpack and a cardboard sign, he was en route to... nothing short of Life, Immeasurable. In the years since he has meandered by various alternative methods including cycle touring around N. America and worked on his chosen art forms that include 3D soapstone sculpting, photography, and literature. He has, also, had to take on various forms of employment and has always been in "survival" mode. 

If one thing was a "take away" from him.. it would be to slow down and smell the roses. Instead of rushing head long in to a life that is more work than enjoyment he has always sought peace and tranquility. It is his hope that spending 24 months on the oceans of this planet will teach him more about this and reinforce his connection to her and he'd like to share that sense with as many people worldwide as possible.

 "Artist Statement" - M. Scott Ault

i decided, quite without reservation,
to do something wholly different with my life

sometimes the road has been troubled
by disquiet reason
sometimes my path has been waylaid
by visions of envy
and still others with needs aplenty
all washing my vessel off it’s mark
away from it’s compassed, divine.

in this statement mundane
i present a reflection of devotion
a sense unrelenting for sensuality
an emphatic plea for sensitivity
and a predefined need for resolute aspect
unfettered by contemporaneous theories
unrestrained by volumetric tendencies
an essence prevalently unrepresented.

these silver slivers staring you back
somewhat askew..
all inclined towards abstraction
shine on to each new face
an old tremor of the soul
a precursory reflection
of the disguised dream
universal yet universally individual
causing the slowed heart
to beat once again
bringing a new light
to an old day.

*end of statement*

You can follow Scott at- https://oceancyclist.com/

If you have a story to share or would like to connect, write me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com

You can purchase my book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle about my adventure in 2019 across Africa's most mountainous country here- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/

Adventurer and YouTuber Roman Onillon joins us for another conversation. This time we discuss his walking trip across Malaysia- a 500 kilometer journey with his wife during the steamy summer months. They were on a mission to clean up his adopted country and spent several hours per day clearing trash during the trip.

Roman sprained his ankle during the second day of his trip, but continued to limp on, ignoring doctors' advice to cancel his plans. Learn how Roman and his wife became overnight celebrities in Malaysia via TikTok and be sure to go out there and clean up your neighborhood. It is sure to come back to you in the end just like it did to this couple.

You can follow Roman at the links below-

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/c/DiscoverEvolution

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/discoverevolution

instagram: https://www.instagram.com/discover_evolution/

If you find value in the content please subscribe and leave a comment on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts or your favorite podcast app.

Be bold. And get out there!

If you have a story to share or would like to connect, write me at george@intrepidglobalcitizen.com

You can purchase my book Unhinged in Ethiopia: Two Thousand Kilometers of Hell and Heaven on a Bicycle about my adventure in 2019 across Africa's most mountainous country here- https://intrepidglobalcitizen.com/