Cycling World Magazine January 2017 | Page 74

74 | Cycling World
the different cooking traditions we will meet along the way and to correctly count carbohydrates of dishes difficult to even describe ! Another challenge will be keeping insulin cool : we will have to plan our trip in order to find a freezer every 73 hours !”
Tackling some of the toughest terrains , often via routes in remote regions in extreme weather conditions , means Chiara has to have her essential diabetes medication and equipment on board her bike throughout the entire epic journey and ensuring it remains at the right temperature is critical . To maintain temperature stability for her vital diabetic drugs , Peli BioThermal , based in the UK , has supplied its Crēdo ProMed™ , a robust , temperaturecontrolled portable medical transport bag designed for emergency first responders and medical couriers to ensure protected pharmaceuticals remain intact .
While the cyclists confessed they would enjoy ‘ one year of pure travelling ’, they knew there would be some tough challenges ahead when embarking on more remote regions in the saddle . Something that became all too apparent when they had to divert from their original planned route due to unrest in Turkey merely months into their year-long adventure .
Riccardo commented : “ A difficult moment was when we discovered the situation in Turkey and had to completely review our plans . We decided to skip Turkey and added Romania , Moldova , Ukraine , Georgia and Armenia to the list of countries to cycle through , but we were not at all informed about them .
“ With suggestions from locals and some quick research , we had a great time in these unplanned regions , but we could have studied better routes to cycle if we had known about the situation in Turkey beforehand .”
Chiara added : “ We studied the diversion to Ukraine in order to still meet the best weather conditions along the road : it was our intention to enter Iran around the first ten days of September because that is a good compromise between its hot summers and cold winters .
“ So we planned to take the ferry from Odessa instead of Constanta and to cycle through Armenia instead of Azerbaijan , to respect our original schedule . Therefore , the expected arrival to Singapore has not changed : we still plan to get there in June 2017 .”
Cyclist Chiara explained her main motivations for taking part in the unique cycling challenge . “ Making such a journey with diabetes on a bicycle is a big opportunity to show how this disease shouldn ’ t stop anybody . On the other side , it is the desire to discover new parts of the world thanks to our own efforts and the belief that the bicycle is a sustainable , self- powered means of transport that makes of us two friendly travelers .”
Needless to say , cycling such distances during different climates doesn ’ t come without its challenges and there have been highs and lows on route . Chiara said : “ The highs have been all those times when we could find secondary roads to cycle , with little traffic and beautiful scenery ; meeting people who have supported and encouraged us on the way . As well as all the satisfaction that we felt reaching the highest point of the day after many hours pushing the bikes up very steep roads .