Concluding a Successful Bristol2Beijing at Home Programme, Leg 2 of the Expedition Resumes with Caution and Care, Now with New Kit, a Revised Route Plan, and an Established Podcast
(Schongau, Bavaria, Germany) 27th August 2020
Luke Grenfell-Shaw is cycling across the world on a tandem bicycle to redefine what’s possible with a cancer diagnosis. After a five-month pause due to the pandemic sweeping across Europe, Luke is back in the saddle picking up where he left off, in the countryside southwest of Munich.
“Resuming the expedition is not a decision I have taken lightly,” said Luke as he arrived in Bavaria last week to give his tandem named Chris a tune-up. “Others in their mid twenties might feel they have the luxury of waiting for months or years for things to settle down, but, I’m not sure I can afford to wait. Since my diagnosis I have learnt to prioritise the things that matter most. Resuming the Bristol2Beijing expedition with care and caution is better than simply accepting it is not possible, even if it might again be paused at a future impasse. I’d rather try and have to pause again than to not try at all. I don’t believe in being frightened of ‘what ifs’. Further, the restart is an expression of the CanLive spirit that I hope continues to inspire others to do their best to take control and live their life to the full.”
Taking significant care to consider and prepare for the continued uncertainties of the global pandemic, the advancing seasons, and the continually-changing geopolitical landscape, Luke is announcing a revised route plan that is now available on all Bristol2Beijing channels. Cycling out of Germany’s southeastern corner, Luke and Chris will ride east to Vienna and follow the Danube to the Black Sea before turning northeast to conclude the Europe leg of his journey in Chișinău, Moldova. Leg 3 will thus begin in Moldova and continue on to Bukhara, Uzbekistan before the final two legs of the journey carry him on to Beijing.
While Luke and Chris expect to have some alone time given the continued uncertainties around safe physical and social distancing guidelines, Luke and the Bristol2Beijing team remain committed to safely sharing the expedition with people Luke hopes to meet along the route, as well as with CanLivers and friends and family. Luke and the team are taking every precaution to ensure the health and safety of Luke, expedition joiners, and the friends and contacts they make along the way.
To draw more from these interactions along the route and to welcome followers from anywhere to participate, Luke will be launching Season 2 of his Facing Up podcast. Season 1 of Facing Up, first launched in May, 2020, includes fifteen published episodes. “We all must face up to our challenges if we are to live our best life today, and I am learning that challenges are all relative to each individual and their experience. So while some challenges may be big and others small, most are quite simply different,” Luke says of his podcast series. “I am talking to truly exceptional people because I want to understand how we deal with the toughest of times.” Now that Luke and Chris are back on the road, each new Facing Up podcast will begin with a short update from the expedition trail before exploring how his guests have dealt with challenges in their lives.
The restart of the expedition also marks the conclusion of an online community initiated by the Bristol2Beijing team to make the most of the lockdown period and its many challenges. Bristol2Beijing at Home convened a community of more than 100 friends of the expedition in an online environment to set and share goals for how to make the most of Covid-19 confinement and bring a CanLive attitude to every day. First launched in April, Luke had this to say about the global reality of lockdown: “We won't get this time back. It’s not an ideal situation, but it’s up to us to make the most of this time; if we don’t we’re the ones losing out. Ideally we won't just get through it, but we will live it as richly as possible.” Members regularly shared their goals for the week and cheered each other on as each took steps to achieve them. Many participants found the project inspiring and chose to donate to Bristol2Beijing’s fundraising efforts for five amazing partner charities.
The recent and long overdue awakening to many of the deep-seeded injustices in the UK, USA, and the world has motivated a global focus on not only stemming the toxic tide of racism but also on dismantling the systemic forms of racism and inequity embedded in nearly every pocket of our society. Luke and the Bristol2Beijing team have begun a long journey of reflection, discussion, and evaluation to make sure that the expedition and its message is a force for good. Luke has published his first reflection on this topic on the Bristol2Beijing blog.
To date, Bristol2Beijing has raised more than £38,000 for charity. The widespread uncertainty of 2020 has hit charities very hard, resulting in delayed or cancelled fundraising events, furloughs, and layoffs that are undermining the important work they do. Bristol2Beijing is partnered with four UK-based charities for the duration of the expedition: both Teenage Cancer Trust and CLIC Sargent provided unparalleled support for Luke during his treatments, while Trekstock and 5k Your Way--Move Against Cancer harness the power of exercise to help people with cancer. During Leg 2 of the expedition, beginning with the crossing of the English Channel and now expected to terminate upon arrival in Chișinău, Moldova, fundraising also supports an important project in one of the poorest countries on the European continent. World Child Cancer’s program in Kosovo provides training and education of healthcare professionals that are supporting children with cancer.
As the ride restarts, Luke is excited to be sporting new cycling kit, designed by Saddledrunk, that reaffirms Bristol2Beijing’s partnership with its partner charities and its generous sponsors, including Newton and Velocity Black. Luke has identified that Chris needs a new chain and a good cleaning, to which he will attend in short order. Luke and dozens of joiners have pedalled hard to help Chris traverse more than 4,000 kilometres thus far, first touring the UK in Leg 1 of the expedition and then touring through seven European countries thus far on Leg 2 of the expedition. You can follow their daily progress via Chris’s live tracking system, available on the expedition website.