ADVENTURER Nick Sanders is about to attempt to become the first person in the world to circumnavigate the globe on an e-bike.
The 65-year-old sets off on Friday from Rotterdam, after which he will initially head south from the Netherlands with a projected arrival in Athens 18 days later.
Nick will be on the road for the next seven-and-a-half months, the journey seeing him cover 19,000 riding miles through 20 countries.
This record attempt will be aboard a Wabash, the first-ever e-bike manufactured by Yamaha, powered by a single battery while he carries just one spare.
From the Greek capital, he’ll take the ferry to Haifa in Israel from where he’ll plot a course to Dubai via the Empty Quarter, part of the vast Arabian Desert.
Mumbai is his next port of call, where he’ll spend the next 40 days riding across India, including the Himalayas, enroute to southeast Asia.
He’ll then head through Indonesia before riding the length of Australia from Darwin to Adelaide before landing in New Zealand.
From here he will fly from Auckland to Los Angeles before crossing the USA to New York for a flight back home at the end of April.
Nick is one of the world’s most experienced motorcycle adventurers, having already ridden around the world by motorbike and bicycle ten times.
However, this new challenge represents something completely different, with the e-bike restricted to 16 miles per hour.
The father of three plans to record his journey via daily blogs and short video films.
He said, “The e-bike is a revolutionary style of vehicle, the kind anybody can ride.
“Most people are hesitant to ride ordinary bicycles as it is hard work but the e-bike takes a lot of the pain away.
“The bottom line is that every electric bike journey out there is one car journey less and that has to be a good thing for the environment.
“I’ve been thinking about this for the last two or three years and then Yamaha, who I have been with for the past 20 years or so, brought out an electric bicycle for the first time in their history so I suppose it was right time, right place for me.”
Nick was raised in a tough council estate in Ancoats in Manchester, and is now based in Powys, Wales.
Nick has been in training for months and he’ll need to be in peak condition with no support team travelling alongside.
He said, “I’m completely on my own from first thing in the morning when I set off to when I pull in for the day.
“There’s no fear from my side. Yes, I’ve got to be careful about where I’m travelling because on a bicycle you’re a sitting duck.
“I am the slowest thing on the road and everything overtakes me. The biggest challenge might be the traffic in places like India.
“The bike is limited to about 28km/h and will come into its own on long steep hills such as when I’m going through the Himalayas.
“I can’t wait to experience that and show people how easy it is on an e-bike!
“You’re reliant on being a very jolly chap to stay alive. There’s a 10% chance of something going wrong. But there’s a 90% chance that I will come home.
“The majority of people are going to be so nice and kind. The world is a wonderful place and 99.9% of people are lovely but we tend to forget that.
“The bike won’t break down, I have every confidence in what Yamaha have produced. It’s more to do with me and if I start to fail or if I have a crash.
“I don’t think I will fail as I have been training really hard and feel strong and fit. If I have an accident, it would have to be a really bad knock to stop me doing this.”
