Trans-Siberian Cycle Expedition - Breaking the Cycle

The 1993 Trans-Siberian Cycle Expedition was a five month, 13,400 kilometre bicycle journey from St Petersburg to Vladivostok to aid the 800,000 children of Chernobyl.

Accompanied by Brit Greg Yeoman and five different Russian cyclists who covered various sections of the trip, the 153 day expedition was completed one day ahead of schedule, before the onset of the severe Russian winter and despite tackling the 1,500km swamp in eastern Siberia, where no vehicles could pass.

This was an opportunity to learn more about the new Russia emerging after 70 years of communism.

The Patron of the expedition was polar explorer, Robert Swan, OBE and UN Ambassador for Youth and the Environment.

In completing the expedition in a continuous line, I became the first Australian and first woman in history to cycle the breadth of the ‘New Russia’ unsupported.

After the expedition I visited Belarus, the country that suffered the highest human cost from Chernobyl, to learn more about the effects of the world’s worst nuclear accident and to see where the money raised went.

Stories about the Trans-Siberian Cycle Expedition and several images are included in the Prologue and Chapter 1 of Out There and Back.

Greg Yeoman

Greg Yeoman’s first long-distance cycling journey, from Nottingham to Athens, was cut short when he fell off his bike in Germany and broke his arm – although it did take him five days to realise how serious the injury was, during which he carried on cycling through the Alps and into Austria. He was heading for Greece to join the crew for the first sea trials of a reconstructed 2,500-year old trireme, and a broken arm would be more than just an inconvenience, so he headed home with a sore elbow but with his taste for adventure now keenly developed. After a more successful trip heading south over the Pyrenees, he teamed up with Kate for the ride across Russia from St Petersburg to Vladivostok. 10 years later he returned to ride from Murmansk above the Arctic Circle south through Karelia to St Petersburg.

Between these two expeditions, Greg developed a career in adventure travel with one of the UK’s foremost tour operators, organising and leading cycling holidays in various exotic locations around the world. After a decade of providing other people with exciting journeys, he decided it was time to take part in another big expedition himself and accepted Kate’s offer to join the Great Australian Cycle Expedition.

In 2003 Greg headed to Antarctica and was able to complete a ride there witnessed by some Gentoo penguins. This only amounted to a few hundred yards and doesn’t begin compare in any way with Kate’s hugely impressive plans, but it did mean that Greg had achieved his ambition of cycling on all seven continents. In 2011 he organised a solo ride from John O’Groats to Land’s End in the UK, raising money for the MS Society.

Greg has also written a book about the trans-Siberian journey, called ‘Riding into the Sunrise’.

Details of all of these trips and others can be found on his website www.red-line.moonfruit.com. Follow Greg on Twitter @redlineExped.

Kate Leeming

As an explorer/adventurer, Kate has cycled the equivalent of twice around the world at the Equator (85,000km). Kate first began travelling by bicycle in the early ’90s when she rode a total of 15,000km as her way of experiencing Europe. During these journeys, from Ireland and Spain, through the Mediterranean region to Turkey, central Europe and to the Nord Kapp Norway, Kate developed her passion for travelling by bicycle.

Kate loves to explore by bike because of the close connection she makes with the people and land; she loves bringing a line on a map to life, and travelling by bike she finds gives a great sense of place, a realistic perspective of how the world fits together.

Since then, Kate has stepped it up, performing three major expeditions; the 13,400km Trans-Siberian Cycle Expedition from St Petersburg to Vladivostok (with Greg Yeoman), the 25,000km Great Australian Cycle Expedition (7000km off road on remote tracks) and the 22,000km Breaking the Cycle in Africa expedition from Senegal to Somalia.

For several years now, Kate has been working towards her next venture, Breaking the Cycle South Pole, which will be the first bicycle crossing the Antarctic continent via the South Pole. From 2018-2020, she plans to complete a preparatory expedition (polar, sand, altitude) on six continents before she crosses Antarctica starting from mid-November 2020.