Episode 181: Katy and Alan

Spending a year cycling around the world

Katy and Alan spent five years dreaming about a year off work to cycle around the world, then actually did it, covering 20,000 kilometres through Europe, Central Asia, Southeast Asia, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and Patagonia. Our conversation was a pretty solid blueprint for how to take a big leap and handle whatever comes after it. Here’s what I took from it.

You don’t need to wait for retirement

Katy and Alan didn’t want to be the couple who says ‘”‘one day, when we’ve got more time,’ so they made the call early that the gap between now and retirement was too long to put adventure on hold, took the career break, and went. It was five years of planning and saving, but for them it was important to do the thing now, while they were young enough to enjoy the time away, than leave it as a ‘what if’ dream that may not happen.

A plan is a starting point but you don’t need to stick to it

When they originally set off from the UK they had visions of cycling an unbroken line east, right around the world. Then they hit the Kyzylkum Desert in Uzbekistan, and following five days of 3am starts with a horizon that never changed, in ridiculously hot weather, they realised the original plan wasn’t serving them anymore. So they changed it up. Places like Kyrgyzstan, South Korea and Patagonia weren’t on their original route, and they each became the best parts of the whole adventure. An initial plan will get you started but it doesn’t need to be the boss of you once you’re underway.

The less you know about a place, the more it can surprise you

Alan reckoned the places that he enjoyed the most were the ones they’d researched the least over those five years of planning. Put simply, there were no expectations to live up to or fall short of. I’ve heard some other guests mention that ‘no plan, is the best plan’ or to put it another way, no expectations no deceptions. There’s a real case for leaving a little bit of your trip unplanned, on purpose.

People will help you, almost everywhere, almost every time

A farmer in Kyrgyzstan happened to have a trailer free at exactly the moment Katy and Alan needed a lift up an impossible pass. Two men out fishing in Kazakhstan pulled over in a storm, strapped two loaded bikes to the roof of their car, and drove them to safety. A stranger in Turkey handed over a litre of ice cream and drove off without saying a word. The road provides, people are kind everywhere and it seems that this is just what happens, again and again, when you’re out there long enough to let it.

Asking for help is a strength, not a weakness

When Katy needed a sequence of rabies jabs across three countries, leaning on cycling WhatsApp groups and local hostel owners to find hospitals and confirm appointments was something they decided to do. It turned out to be a very smart move. Alan admitted he’d initially been more hard-over on the idea of doing everything unassisted earlier in the trip, but the whole year pushed both of them toward being more comfortable putting their hand up for assistance when they needed it.

Fear of the unknown is usually worse than the unknown itself

Before the rabies jab saga, they’d assumed Central Asian medical facilities might be patchy at best. They weren’t. The hospitals were clean, the staff were patient, and the whole process went more smoothly than anything they’d braced for. The story they’d built in their heads about that part of the world turned out to be nothing like the reality once they were standing in it and it goes to show that often we can build up a level of fear of what is unknown to us, where the situation on the ground can be quite reassuring.

Shared goals matter more than shared stats

When speaking with both Katy and Alan I could quickly see the difference in their approaches. Katy is the planner but isn’t at all fussed with track distances or times. Alan is goal-oriented and remembers every number from the trip. Despite what may seem like a real mismapth, in practice, the couple made nearly every decision together, talking through the pros and cons until they landed somewhere they both wanted to be. An adventure like this can understandably put a strain on a couple’s relationship but Katy and Alan managed to navigate this quite well, and seem stronger for it.

Hard days don’t last

Katy stated during our interview how you never have a fully bad day on a bike. It could be the case that you might have a brutal afternoon, but by evening, with hot food and somewhere to sleep, you can easily put it into the distant memory. It’s a genuinely useful way to get through any difficult stretch, on a bike or off one.

Struggle and beauty often coincide together

The Asses Plateau in Kazakhstan was described to them as “hard but beautiful.”Indeed, it was both, at the same time. On reflection they both agreed that most of the hardest hours produced the views and the memories which they talk about most fondly now. Often the struggle brings the reward which we are most proud of, or the view which we savour the most. Although that isn’t to say they’d recommend taking on that particular route ever again!

You don’t need a year to have an adventure

After just finishing a year-long trip, both of them sounded just as enthusiastic about an overnighter, or a long weekend as they were about the full lap of the world. Adventures don’t need to be big affairs to matter. They are both keen to explore more of the UK now, and take many micro adventures with their dog Womble, once they replace their tent which broke during the strong winds of Patagonia!

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