My childhood friend Alex is cycling with me, while my sister Yara, my college buddy Andrew and our dog Pastushok are driving along in a support vehicle, carrying our gear and equipment. Since Alex, Yara and I will be traveling to our birthplace, we named our journey the Long Way Home.
Over the course of four months, our team will travel across the plains of Western Russia, across the Ural Mountains and ride through the wilderness of Siberia. We’ll visit all major cities and towns along the way and try to immerse ourselves in local communities as much as possible.
As we’re cycling across Russia, we’ll show our country to the whole world from an angle that very few have seen before. We’d like to show everyone that ours is a beautiful, interesting and diverse country with a fascinating culture and friendly people.
For me personally, this trip is my way of testing and understanding of my true abilities and character. By learning about my own country, I hope to find a missing part of my own identity and discover my own soul somewhere along the way.
I’m very fortunate to have lived overseas for a long period of time and traveled in many countries; however, I'm ashamed to admit that don’t really know much about my own country. However, as I’m pedaling along Russian roads, this is quickly changing and I’m falling in love with my homeland and its people all over again.
