Alastair Humphreys has cycled round the world ‘the hard way’: four years, sixty countries and forty-six thousand miles. In the second of a two part special he tells the story of his epic adventure: from Mexico to Alaska, through Siberia, Japan, China and central Asia.
Thunder and Sunshine, the second volume of his travelogue is out now, published by Eye Books.
Play on links below, other file formats (e.g. Ogg Vorbis) over here.
The Bike Show: Around the world the hard way (part two) [27:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download
12 responses so far ↓
1 marc // Sep 3, 2008 at 8:44 am
That REALLY was a good show. Superb production. Still amazes me how you manage to grind up a hill and not just talk but hold an interview aswell !
Chapeau
2 Timo // Sep 4, 2008 at 11:04 am
I really enjoy your shows and this “around the world-show” was exceptionally good. Keep up the good work.
Timo from Finland
3 -=[ ten yen ]=- // Sep 4, 2008 at 2:10 pm
Heya,
still no link for an ogg file from 28th of July?
Chapeau!
10.
4 Jack // Sep 4, 2008 at 2:55 pm
Dr Tenyen – thanks for the nudge. It’s now up.
Just out of interest, what do you not like about MP3? There are a ton of free MP3 players out there. Are you actually techically unable to play them due to your hardware/software set up or is it more a matter of principle?
5 Dave // Sep 5, 2008 at 1:20 am
Great interview! I am sad it’s over… I can listen to you two talk for another 3 hours, I bet this guy has so many stories you could do another 3 episodes… maybe you can do an extra??
I bicycled across the US in 1996, 4,265 miles, took me 3 months and I had the time of my life. So, I love hearing other bicycle touring stories, especially stories in the caliber of going around the world through counties I wouldn’t think of going in.
Thanks Jack.
Oh, and thanks for putting in the mp3 download button back on the main page
6 Different Dave // Sep 5, 2008 at 4:07 am
Jack,
Great interview, was really looking fwd to the second half.
I live near Nogales, Mexico. My impressions were different having walked across the border several times. You park your car on the US side, walk a couple hundred meters to the border thru a dark, dirty, depressed town. Once you cross into Mexico, there’s festive music, colors, people are smiling, the food is wonderful… But, apparently, that was a few years ago. Apparently now, people are agressively trying to get you to buy things and all the border towns are suffering from a drug fueled shooting battle between the Mexican army and police and the drug cartels. It’s very sad.
7 -=[ ten yen ]=- // Sep 6, 2008 at 1:37 pm
Re: Mp3 vs. Ogg.
Definitely more a matter of principle. I prefer “Ogg” files because they are non-proprietary, patent-free and I’m told they are also technically superior (smaller size for the same quality, compared to mp3). You can find out more here:
http://www.vorbis.com/faq/#artist
8 Jack // Sep 6, 2008 at 1:56 pm
I have no doubt about the superiority of Ogg Vorbis in a technical, and even moral sense. The problem is that it’s not widely supported (I don’t think an iPod can play Ogg natively). I have my doubts about whether it ever will be, so great is the ‘first mover advantage’ of MP3.
However, I should take this opportunity to say a big hats off to http://www.archive.org, the brilliant website that will host open source audio and video for free, for ever. All I have to do is upload an MP3 file of each show to them and they magically convert it into a whole range of other formats, including Ogg Vorbis.
9 steve // Sep 8, 2008 at 7:48 pm
great show jack
having just finished thunder and sunshine
hearing alistair on your show is great
the bike show just gets better and better
10 Mark Farrington // Sep 10, 2008 at 6:19 pm
These 2 interviews, plus the Ian Hibell tribute, are just wonderful, Jack.
I’ve made a donation, invited Alastair to speak at our medical group next year, and I’m almost inspired to do some cycle touring ;-]
11 Kevin // Sep 26, 2008 at 1:11 am
Another damn fine show! Such high quality content and production. It truly sets you apart from any other bicycle related show; head & shoulders! You really produce a great show, Jack. Thanks.
12 Today’s show snowed out | the bike show // Feb 2, 2009 at 9:50 pm
[...] Flickr: Creative Commons licenseListeners to The Bike Show in Canada, Minnesota and Norway will no doubt be amused to hear that half a foot of snow is enough to bring London and the south east of England to a standstill. I’ve been stuck on the Sussex and Kent border, roads icy and impassable for bicycles (at least, my bicycle) and trains cancelled. As a result the interview with Bike Snob NYC that was in store for this week’s show will be broadcast next week. The radio listeners were treated to a replay of the second half of Alastair Humphrey’s epic round-the-world ride, featuring a detailed account of fixing a puncture in the Siberian winter, at temperatures of minus 40 Celsius. Online listeners can refresh their memories over here. [...]
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