DAY 121 | Russia | How To Move The Stars | A bicycle ride around the world

How To Move The Stars is the day by day retelling of a bicycle ride around the world. Start from the beginning to get the whole story. My adventure was a modern day epic, a solo, self-supported bicycle ride spanning 38,000 miles across six continents. There were moments I barely survived, and times I cried tears of joy, but mostly, this is a story about the thousands of people I met along the way. I moved through their cultures, and dramatic landscapes. I ate their food and slept on their land. I was constantly arriving to the open arms of strangers who were excited to help me achieve a feat that few could imagine. I did this for years, immersing myself in the world and meeting the people who live here. The story I returned with is a snapshot of humanity, captured in a lived experience. Thank you for joining me on my journey.Purchase Jacob's art inspired by his bicycle tour, including the world's most beautiful Ant Farm. ⁠www.AntLife.space⁠Join Jacob on a bicycle tour! He leads week-long bicycle tours in Colorado during the summer. Sign up here, ⁠www.MountainHighBicycleTours.com⁠.Contact me at [e-mail] me on Buy Me A Coffee www.buymeacoffee.com/HowToMoveTheStars#bicycletouring #travelblogger #bikepacking #adventure #narrated #series #bicycle #bicycleculture

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
June 14th, 2013 Everything is leaking.
Sleeping in my hammock is colderthan lying on the ground.
The ground retains my body heat while the air around my hammock
is constantly replaced. To keep myself warm, I put a
three quarter inch air mattress in my hammock which I inflate as
much as I can to create a flat platform for my back.

(00:21):
The mattress used to work great,but since Ukraine the air
escapes over a six hour period while I sleep.
I have a patch kit but the leak is so slow that I haven't been
able to find a hole. A more concerning leak is coming
from the big toe on my right foot.
The area is swollen and yellow pus has been crusting the inside
of my sock for days. The problem is the same as I had

(00:43):
two weeks ago on my left foot. Loosening my shoelace work then,
so I'm trying that for this foottoo.
My trailer tire is also leaking.I didn't realize until I got to
camp yesterday that the tube hadalmost no pressure.
All day long I had a dragging pace.
Usually I blame my bike when I'mgoing slow, even though my tired

(01:04):
legs are always the culprit. Having learned that lesson, I
assume my legs were tired yesterday too.
But this time the problem actually was my bike.
I patched the tube last night, but the tire was flat again.
This morning I found a second hole, patched the tube a second
time, and proceeded to tear the stem while I was pumping.

(01:24):
The stem couldn't be fixed, so Igot out a spare tube and started
all over. The whole exercise was a
frustrating start to the day. I left my campsite pedaling into
a stiff headwind. The land was flat, but the kid
anywhere I had to pedal as hard as a fire climbing a steep
mountain. I decided to alternate an hour
of biking with an hour of resting with the hope that the

(01:45):
wind would subside before I ran out of energy.
I played guitar on the first break, napped on the 2nd, and
read a book during the third. In some ways, I'm on a very
leisurely adventure. A tick crawling on my neck woke
me up this morning. I tossed the parasite out of my
hammock, wondering if that was the only one.

(02:07):
I hadn't been thinking about ticks, but this evening I
couldn't help but notice I was walking through a lot of tall
grass and brush to get to my camping spot.
I would check for them on my body, but I never take my
clothes off. Instead I've decided to simply
do what's easiest and ignore thepossibility all together.
I'll just find them on me when Ifeel them.

(02:28):
Today stands out as the first day of the journey that it did
not speak to anyone. The road skirted around towns
and I didn't stop at any stores or gas stations.
Perhaps the more interesting perspective is that I've talked
to someone new every day for thepast 120 days.
I'm both out here alone and moresocial than I have ever been.