In episode 004 of Bike Tour Adventures, I interview Scott Sharick, an American that decided to quit his job and cycle around the world after suffering a stroke. His views on life, love of cycling, and immersion into local cultures will surely keep you entertained.
I first met Scott while on my short tour of Norther Thailand, through Adam and Lucia. It was cool to see someone that is not a young 20-something doing a multi-year tour of the world. At first, I didn’t give it that much thought, as I had no intention of doing a podcast or any other type of thing, but then ended up checking out his facebook, and his blog, and while reading it, I came to see and appreciate Scott, as he has the uncanny ability to capture people with his camera.
There are two types of bike tourers. Those that bike because they love biking and those that use it a means of getting from A to B. Scott is the latter variety, having been a cyclist all his life, and conveniently using it as a means of achieve his goal of going around the world and seeing everything it has to offer. Having previously cycled across the United States when in his 20s, both East-West and North-South, he somehow never took it to the level of doing a world tour.
After working a career in the medical field in various locations throughout the world, Scott suffered a stroke. Fortunately he was able to make a full recovery. This led to him deciding to make a drastic change to his way of life, get back on the bike, and to set out to achieve his long time dream of cycling around the world.
“With seven billion people in the world, it’s kinda hard to get lonely!”
Throughout this episode we talk about his past bike touring experiences, what types of challenges he’s had to overcome while on this tour, how his friends and family feel about his tour, and what some of his best memories are so far. Scott shared some amazing stories of riding in Bangladesh, running out of money in various countries, and how the generosity of strangers always seems to occur at the times of greatest need.
Scott’s passion for photography and capturing people in their everyday lives, has led him off the beaten path while cycling around the various countries of SE Asia. Rather than a more tradition point A to point B bike tour, Scott’s path twists and turns, much like the Mekong River. While many bike tourists circumnavigate the world in 1-2 years, Scott’s plan will take him a minimum of 5 years. sure to check out my website www.biketouradventures.com for blog posts, pictures, videos, cycling tips and more.
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Find Scott at:
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/scottsharick/
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/scott.sharick
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/c/ScottSharick/featured?app=desktop
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WEBSITE: http://www.biketouradventures.com
YOUTUBE: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPQl_pNcMZA-hHckhVrpmaw
FACEBOOK: https://www.facebook.com/biketouradventures/
INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/bike_tour_adventures/
TWITTER: https://twitter.com/BikeTourAdv
ITUNES: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bike-tour-adventures/id1464406852
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Show Notes
~ 30 sec Introduction to the episode
~ 2 min All the statistics about his trip so far
~ 6 min Scott’s previous bike trips in the United States
~ 8m45s How having a stroke changed his life and what he learned in the medical field about how people put things off for later.
~ 11 min What was the original bike tour plan?
~ 15 min How it’s possible to do a tour and not over-plan every aspect of the tour, and getting used to the bike tour during the early days of the tour.
~ 25 min The story of the $10 bill
~ 30 min Running out of money in not just one country…
~ 35m40s How much money should you take out of an ATM and how to avoid getting too many changes each time.
~ 37 min Illegally entering India and the amazing story of having an armed escort all throughout Bangladesh.
~ 51 min Surviving in countries when ATMs don’t accept foreign cards
~ 52m30s How some little kids saved the day in India and what a hotel actually is not in India
~ 54 min Most memorable moment that stands out and what might be his most favourite part of travelling of the beaten path
~ 57 min Dealing with mechanical issues that no mechanic seems to be able to diagnose. How frustrating it can be and how a tiny bike shop in India was able to fix it.
~ 1h9m How all bike tourists seem to go through the same process of shedding excess baggage
~ 1h12m What advice Scott would give to the younger version of himself.