My friend Brian Perich (and here) is busy cycling through the Himalayas.  I think Facebook pictures are publicly accessible.  To me, it is a great adventure to read about.

The purpose of my expedition is twofold. First, to raise awareness and support a non-profit charity called IDEAS (Intestinal Disease Education & Awareness Society, Canada) with their work helping people with incurable diseases of the gastrointestinal system, known collectively as IBD (inflammatory bowel disease). Secondly, I am partnering with a non-profit school outreach program in the United Kingdom known as ETE (Education Through Expeditions) which takes the explorer into the classrooms so that students can learn by firsthand reports of what the world (ecological, environmental, physical, geographical, topographical, science and social science) is all about.

From his facebook photos page:

Tibetan-Chinese Yak herders came to my aid, 6 liters of Yak butter milk, grains and straight butter dissolved to drink, another 4 liters for the road, 4000 meters up to 4340 meters, Ji Chou Shan Mountain, China …1232km to go! HimalayasX2011 going strong Northwest Xinjiang (Uighur Autonomous Region) completed 2000km, currently in mountains of Sichuan and Yunnan, China (:

Another interesting bike trip, and one that will wrap up in Busan is a charity ride through Korea for Love North Korean Children.

Less intrepid cyclists may have turned back when faced with rivers of mud in place of cycle tracks at their revised starting-point on the Han River at 6 a.m. Saturday.

But the pair, joined by some other friends for the challenge, carried their bikes for three hours through the knee-high sludge until they came to passable ground. 

The next five days saw them endure adverse weather, steep ascents and broken bikes but they were determined to reach Busan by Thursday. 

I’ve casually brought up my own bike rides in conversation and they are significant, but both of these trips make me realize how much of a fair-weather cyclist I really am.  Unless the schedule is really tight, if it rains on the first day, I’ll wait for a sunny day to start.

All the best to these adventurers.  Perhaps I’ll make it out to Haeundae to see Yim and Foster finish their trip.