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by Velaia

In 2006, Marija Kozin left her home in Slovenia and set out for China by bicycle.

When she reached Beijing, Marija turned around and cycled home again. During her 30 month trip, she covered some of the toughest routes in the world of bike touring, including going across Tibet and tackling the Pamir Highway in Tajikistan.

In this podcast, we talk to Marija about the highlights of her trip and some of the more difficult parts of her journey, including coming home.

 

 Standard Podcast [25:23m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Show Notes:

• Rick Gunn (a cyclist Marija met and we followed online)
• Theme music by Josh Woodward

The Skype connection when we recorded this podcast wasn’t the best. Some parts may be difficult to hear and I’ve had to re-record a couple of my own questions for clarity.

Heinz Stücke is the world’s most experienced bike tourist.

On the road since 1962, he’s covered 600,000km by bicycle, through most of the countries in the world. Now 70 years old, Heinz is still going strong.

I was fortunate to speak to Heinz by phone while he was taking a winter break in Paris.

In this 45-minute interview (the best of a 2 hour phone conversation), Heinz talks about how his approach to bike touring has changed over the years, why he doesn’t wear a helmet but believes it should be illegal to cycle without a mirror, how he really feels about bicycle paths and what he hopes to achieve in future years.

 

 Standard Podcast [49:16m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download

Show Notes:

• Heinz’s Story on the Bike China site
• A nice article on Heinz by Ron Gluckman
• The 2 people who helped put me in touch with Heinz:  Steven Tober and Daisuke
• Theme music by Josh Woodward

*Some people have indicated they find Heinz hard to understand because of his accent. Unfortunately, we don’t have a transcript of the podcast (if anyone wants to volunteer to do one, that would be great!) but you can read a story based on the interview.