The Pursuit Zone

William Shears on left Having never ridden a motorcycle, William Shears traveled to Vietnam to begin a roughly 1,200-mile motorbike adventure from Hanoi to Ho Chi Minh.  He bought a second hand 110cc Honda he called Black Rose and set off on the Ho Chi Minh Highway with a camera to capture the journey. You'll find it on YouTube in a video titled How to Motorbike Vietnam and you can learn more abou...

Out of almost 200 applicants, Hollie Woodhouse along with 3 other young explorers were selected to take on the 2018 Antarctic Heritage Trust Inspiring Explorers' Expedition – a 560-kilometer crossing of the Greenland ice cap on skis in tribute to Fridtjof Nansen , the renowned polar explorer and humanitarian, who completed the first crossing of Greenland 130 years prior.  Their team battled hurric...

The Volvo Ocean Race is an around the world sailing race over nine months and 45,0000 nautical miles.  Within each race team is an embedded multimedia journalist whose job is to give the fans on shore a taste of what the race is really like.  It's one of the toughest jobs in sports media and Jen Edney was one of the ten journalists embedded this year.  Jen is a traveler and adventure storyteller u...

Adam Sultan first appeared in episode 117 where he talked about his project called #LifeYears aimed at making every single year of his life memorable and unique.  Two years ago, Adam began a multi-year cycling adventure called #RideTheWorld and he's here to talk about how the adventure has unfolded so far. You can learn more about Adam at his website adamtsultan.com .  Adam Sultan, welcome back to...

In 2011 Kate Harris and her friend Mel set off from Istanbul to begin a journey on the fabled silk road trading route.  It was an adventure that lasted 10 months and covered nearly 10,000 km as they cycled in 10 different countries as well as the forbidden Tibetan plateau where they skirted checkpoints and did their best to avoid Chinese authorities ultimately completing their journey in the city...

Jeff Commissaris goes on hitchhiking and cycling adventures.  He's cycled from San Francisco to Seattle and from Colorado to Nashville.  He's hitchhiked around America and from Colorado to Argentina and most recently hitchhiked Europe then cycled from Tanzania to South Africa.  You can learn more about his adventures at his Facebook page named hitchhiking the world with a guitar .  Jeff Commissari...

Every year since 2014 George Maurer has gone on an epic bike ride to raise funds for cancer research in memory of his friend Carolyn Held who died from cancer in 2012.  In that time he has raised 45,000 dollars for research at the Mayo Clinic Cancer Center.  George names his cycling adventures using his age and the destination so in 2016 it was 50 across Iceland and in 2017 it was 51 across Sri La...

In the middle of the Karakorum range in Pakistan is a place called Concordia.  It's where the Baltoro glacier meets the Godwin-Austen glacier.  It's a place known as the throne room of the mountain gods because it's surrounded by four 8,000-meter peaks, one of those being K2 the second highest peak in the world.  In 1994 Alison Young found herself in Islamabad visiting her father who was stationed...

Tim Moss has a new book titled With the Sun on Our Right.  It chronicles the 16-month 'round-the-world cycle tour he and his wife Laura began in 2013 cycling over 13,000 miles in 26 countries and 4 continents.  Before this, Tim spent 5 years working in the expedition industry supporting expeditions on all 7 continents. His own expeditions have included scaling unclimbed mountains in Kyrgyzstan, Bo...

The Great Plains Trail is a recently established long distance hiking trail in the US.  It stretches for 2,200 miles from the desert of west Texas to the Montana Canadian border.  It crosses 3 National Parks, 3 National Monuments, 10 National Forests and Grasslands, 5 State High Points, and 15 State Parks.  Luke Jordan spent 85 days on the trail in 2016, becoming the first person to thru-hike it. ...

In October 2016 Faye Shepherd began a 6-month, 5,500-mile cycling adventure through Bolivia, Chile, and Argentina.  Starting in La Paz with her teammate Anna McNuff , the two cycled south to Ushuaia on a mostly off-road route through the Andes.  With over 100,000 meters of elevation gain they cycled the equivalent height of Mt. Everest over 10 times while wild camping most of the journey.  As Faye...

This summer Adam "Chip" Vachon will depart on a thru-hike of the Appalachian trail , one of the 11 US national scenic trails extending 2,200 miles from Georgia to Maine.  He will start at Khatadin on June 1st and head southbound, planning to complete the hike in 70 days.  He will accomplish this by going ultralight and by hiking well after sunset.  This will be his second time on the AT, having co...

In March 2014 Steph Jeavons set off on a solo 'round the world overland journey on her Honda CF250L motorbike.  She completed her adventure 4 years later becoming the first Brit to do so by riding in all 7 continents.  It was an adventure not about the bike or speed, but about living, learning, and enjoying life.  She endured everything from extreme heat to the freezing cold while camping, couch s...

Raised in Oregon and Texas, Stevie Anna lives for travel and adventure.  While living in a van with her dog Darcie, she traveled to 49 states and she's guided backcountry horse trips both in Alaska and Minnesota.  She also works as an expedition project manager.  In 2015 she moved to Argentina and began planning – Patagone - an adventure on horseback through Patagonia from the dry steppe to the hi...

For 3 years Tim Cope traveled by horseback through the Eurasian steppe from the ancient capital city of Karakoram in Mongolia to the Danube River in Hungary.  It was a 6000-mile journey last attempted in the days on Ghengis Khan.  For most of the journey he was alone except for his horses and his dog named Tigon.  The adventure was a tribute to the nomadic way of life.  Along the way he encountere...

In the summer of 2017 Daniel Alvarez finished a very long walk across Europe.  He started at the top of Norway and continued south across Sweden, Denmark, Germany, France, Spain, and Portugal following various trails including Sweden's Kungsleden and the Camino de Santiago.  It was a year-long journey covering over 6,000 miles and he writes about this adventure and others at his website predictabl...

June 2018 will be the second time Ralph Karsten starts the Tour Divide at the Grand Depart in Banff Canada.  The Tour Divide is an annual self-supported mountain bike race that follows the nearly 2,700-mile Great Divide Mountain Bike Route from Canada to the Mexican border.  Ralph also enjoys primitive camping, practicing survival skills, and flying hang-gliders.  Ralph Karsten, welcome to The Pur...

My next guest is Daniel Alvarez.  After completing four long-distance hikes including the 2,000 mile Appalachian trail and the 3,000 mile Continental Divide Trail, he traded his hiking boots for a paddle and traveled 4,000 miles in a sea kayak from Minnesota's Northwest Angle to Key West, Florida.  It was a plan so audacious that Outside magazine awarded him a $10,000 grant.  It was a 9-month adve...

Seamus Crawford and Paddy Montgomery previously appeared in Episode 118 to talk about the first two legs of their journey - The Race Across Europe and the Marathon des Sables .  Now they are back to talk about their successful completion of leg 3 - the Talisker Whiskey Atlantic Challenge , a 3,000-nautical-mile row across the Atlantic Ocean.  They are fundraising for The Prostrate Project and Shoo...

Photo credit: Cat Vinton The Bicentennial National Trail stretches over 5,000 km and crosses some of eastern Australia's most remote and spectacular landscapes.  It took 13 months for Alienor Le Gouvello and her 3 horses - Roxanne, River and Cooper - to complete the trail making her the first person to finish it on wild horses.  Before setting out she had to break and train these wild horses, know...

Ben (left) and James In 2015 Benjamin Sadd and James Trundle decided to have an adventure and make a film.  They wanted to build on their previous journeys and do something on a grander scale so they came up with the idea of building a dugout canoe.  They traveled to the Ecuadorian Amazon, lived in an indigenous community that helped them build the canoe, then launched it into a river and continue...

Larry Mishkar backpacked 400 miles across Iceland over 25 days.  He traveled from the southern shore to the northern coast on the volcano route and today he will share with you why Iceland might be the best place for your first international backpacking trip.  You can learn more about Larry at larrymishkar.com . Larry Mishkar, welcome to The Pursuit Zone. Travel resources: http://www.phlumf.com/tr...

After university in 2014 and with £9,000 in the bank, 22 year old Ben Page flew to the bottom of South America to begin an around the world cycling adventure. As Ben reached Canada he began planning a winter ride on a fat tire bike through the Yukon Territory from Whitehorse to the village of Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic Ocean. This 2,000 km winter journey is documented in an award-winning film title...

In February 2017, Callie Morgigno set off with teammate Charlie Walker on a 5,500 mile adventure along the perceived border between Europe and Asia from the Russian arctic to the Bosporus strait in Turkey. It was a triathlon over 9 months as they skied through the Ural mountains, kayaked the Ural river, and cycled along the Black Sea coast to the finish. They call their expedition Following the Li...

James Didier began mountaineering in 2011 in Colorado. Since then he has climbed several significant Alpine peaks in North America and Europe. His most recent adventure was a summit of Europe's highest peak - Mount Elbrus in Russia at 18,510 feet. James climbed without a guide and on a total budget of less than 1,500 dollars including travel expenses making Mt. Elbrus possibly the most affordable...