Is there a better way to see the world than cycling around it, with the only thing separating you and the road being a flimsy spindly tire? Chris Roach, the founder of The Cycle Strongman Expedition certainly doesn’t think so.

Chatting with fresh faced Australian-born Chris Roach on the beach of Surin, it is hard to believe that he has just arrived in Phuket, even harder to believe that he cycled
here... from England. Yet that is exactly what he did, as part of ‘The Cycle Strongman Expedition that is taking him around the world on a bike.

“Personally the expedition is a way to see the world without harming it. Cycling is a way to bring you much closer to the landscapes and cultures you travel through. It is also a way to learn that which no university can teach - the ‘felt’ experience. Experience
is what defines us, teaches us and so this is ultimately what I hope to gain”.

Tinkering with tools, cars, marine engines and bicycles growing up gave Chris a good appreciation for most things mechanical. Upon finishing high school his thirst for adventure took him to Europe, Africa, America and the Middle East, studying, backpacking and ‘feeling.’

In among these adventures Chris graduated with an engineering degree from Newcastle University in 2005 and spent the next 3 years in the corporate world working as a professional engineer.

However, it was a mere year into his new career that Chris was ready to see the world again. So he resigned and booked a flight to London with the intention to travel through Europe on a working holiday. Two weeks before he was due to depart, he had an accident at work which resulted in a knee reconstruction.

This event dramatically changed the course of his life. It took three months and countless
physiotherapy sessions before he could walk properly, and another nine months before he could cycle. Four months after the operation Chris started working again, saving money and contemplating bigger things.

It was a chance meeting with a fellow adventurer while cycling across the European continent in 2004 that a seed was planted which lay dormant for the next four years. Out of this initial idea ‘The Cycle Strongman Expedition’ was born.

The idea seemed ludicrous to some and rash to others but to him it made perfect sense. The more he thought about it, the bolder it became, 2 continents, 5 continents, 4 years, 8 year until it grew organically into a fully fledged and professionally organised expedition that he lives
and breathes to this day.

Having travelled most of his adult life; working and studying in numerous cultures and cycling across continents has given Chris the confidence to be determined to undertake an adventure of such magnitude.

He started out in 2008, in England armed with his trusty mechanical steed, and on 3 December he arrived on our fair island, but as is the nature of his task he only stayed for a few days, “I will go to teach at a school in Surat Thani and then go to Bangkok.”

Although Chris enjoys this form of transportation, he explained that to him it is much more, “The expedition is primarily a vehicle to inspire and challenge others to lead more
sustainable lives. Some of the solutions to sustainability are right under our noses.

Riding bicycles is a great first step and by riding around the world I hope to confront others and show that if I can ride a bike around the world then you can ride it to work.”