Still in their early twenties, Levi Bridges and Ellery Althaus recently embarked on a ten thousand kilometre bicycle trip. It begs the question, ‘What have you done lately?’ Their route takes them across Russia and Europe, ending up in Portugal. If that doesn’t sound grueling enough, the young adventurers are using only solar cells mounted on their bikes to supply their energy needs during the eight month trip. According to Levi, ‘We hope that by making solar energy work on our bike trip, people will start reconsidering it for use in their homes.’ The boys’ self fulfilling hero prophecy flickered and shone with the ups and down of road travel.
In his blog, Ellery refers to Levi and himself as ‘the idiots’ and it’s exactly that self-effacing humor that has kept their optimism afloat during the hardest of times. The whole trip began as a beer-soaked fantasy to etch across the map on two skinny, leg powered wheels. After years of deliberation and ‘planning weekends,’ in which the duo would get drunk and aimlessly point at locations across Russia, the dream began to materialize. One intense month of fundraising and planning prefaced the start of the trip. Just to see if he could, Levi decided to remain sober for the duration of the trip, which is no small feat in Russia- the vodka capital of the world.
It started off easily enough. To get their excessively large baggage from one plane to the next, they had to bribe an airport security officer. After a ride on one of the world’s most questionable aircrafts in wooden seats under blinking red lights, the duo landed in Vladivostok.
The plan was to spend a few months at school in Vladivostok learning Russian and developing contacts. They also used the extra time to stock up on gear, including bear spray and gas for their portable stove. Each day they fueled up on 25 cent bowls of beetroot stew called borscht, read for up to five hours, and chit chatted with Russians eager to practice their English. Vladivostok was a completely different world from what they were used to. If you’re an American student, the foreign exchange office gives you a slingshot to hunt ducks with and then mocks your inability to kill anything that doesn’t quack.
Levi and Ellery learned that Vladivostock was a good starting point for two reasons. First, it is close to the eastern shore line, and second, it is an environmental disaster zone. Two-thirds of Vladivostok’s suburbs are so polluted that living there is considered a health hazard. Local factories have unfiltered outfall pipes leading into the surrounding sea. Where better to preach about renewable energy?
Finally, the big day arrived. It was time to dip their back wheels into the sea and head out. The Consulate General himself, Tom Armbruster, rode out of Vladivostok with the boys to help raise publicity. Five television crews, a police escort, and every paper in town were there to see them off for the first 30 km. They became mini-celebrities over night; drivers pulled over to buy dinner for and have conversations with the idiot Americans who they saw on the news the night before.
Russia is a land of conflicting images, brutal cold, beautiful architecture, delicious food, and generous souls. Rickety shacks and wooden cabins sit squarely adjacent to eight story communist housing blocks left over from the Soviet regime. In the town of Lyalichi, the duo was pulled off the highway into town by a welcoming woman. A sort of town-wide craze spread over the news of the famed biker boys coming to town. Grandmothers called their granddaughters in hopes of sparking a romance with these foreign celebrities. After swatting away the local women (don’t ask me why), the boys were treated to a traditional Russian Easter feast by the woman who led them to town. The boys chowed down amidst winter shadows and candlelight, while the town celebrated Easter by filling the sky with shotgun blasts and fireworks.
On one particularly punishing day of biking on cracked roads against a headwind in a hail storm, the shivering bikers headed into a coal town for a needed break. Once in the town, the boys decided to pay the mayor a visit to see what could come of it. Before they could say ‘Hello,’ they were warmly greeted by the suited mayor who treated them to two bottles of cognac, sandwiches, and a hotel for the night. Says Ellery, ‘So that is what it is like if you go to the mayor. No wonder the roads are so shitty.’
More pedaling delivered Levi and Ellery to Lermontovka. On the way, a man named Stas intercepted the boys twice; first to take pictures and again to give them a gift of cured meat. When they arrived at Lermontovka, guess who was there waiting? Together, Stas and the pair went to a café where Stas insisted that Levi looked cold and needed a new jacket. He offered his own. Levi protested, running to his pack to show he already had a coat. Stas inspected it and declared, ‘this is woman’s coat…a prostitute’s coat!!!’
After all this adventure, they still have two weeks of pedaling across Siberia to look forward to. During that trek, they’ll need to don facemasks to keep the gravel road’s dust from flying into their face as they cross swamps where mosquitoes are as big as softballs. After that it will be many more months of travel before they finish in the sea of Portugal. Click below to read their blog and find out more about the boys as they pedal across Russia.
How do I know this?
Ellery’s Blog.
http://www.paneurasianbiketrip.com/ellerys-blog.html Email interview with Levi. April 5th, 2009.
Sam Hopkins’ article “Russia: The "Sleeping Giant" of Renewable Energy” May 1st, 2008.
http://www.greenchipstocks.com/articles/russian-renewable-energy/233
Levi Bridges and Ellery Althaus’ website “Pan Eurasian Bike Trip.”
www.paneurasianbiketrip.com
