My name is Jonathan (or JKB).
I’m half English, half Danish. Born and raised in London.
In January 2015 I left home on my bicycle to see how far east I could cycle. What started as a little adventure to try something new escalated into a 3 year ride around the world. By the time I arrived home in December 2017 I had pedalled through 42 countries and clocked around 50,000km.
During my time ‘on the road’ I maintained this blog and updated it with stories and pictures as I travelled. It was a please to be able to share these journals with so many of you and I hope that the archive continues to be a useful resource for those planning their own two-wheeled expeditions.
For now, I am back in London trying out some ‘normal life’. I still try to squeeze in some longer rides when I can and if they are interesting enough I’ll write about them in here..
JKB's Bike Ride 
Excellent jonathan. I look forward to reading more about your ‘road trip’. Kind Regards,
Jason Kirkby
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Thanks for following!
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Great meeting you today Jonathan helping you climb a fence in Moraga CA to keep you heading west. Try and catch Yosemite if you can. Descent into valley is a ride for the ages. Look forward to following your progress. Kirk
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Great to meet you mate and thanks for the helping getting over that bloody fence!
Sadly didn’t reach Yosemite in the end but Sonora Pass was gorgeous!!
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Jonathan. Great to meet you and Lea today on the KATY trail. You will remember I was with my two grandsons. Reading your goal and direction is incredible. Go for it. If you are in the St. Louis area, don’t miss Cahokia Mounds. Amazing place and great history. Travel safe. Dan Esarey.
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Lovely to meet you too Dan!
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Amazing Jonathan!!!
I follow you..
Love Greets from Germany
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Great to meet you just before you finished and it was a pleasure to have you stay your final night ‘on the road’ with us. Best wishes for the next incredible leg of your life journey and keep in touch. Martin
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Great to meet you too mate and thanks for being my final stop!
Hope you guys had a lovely Xmas!
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An awesome adventure. Well done I’m very envious. Tell me, did you use your British passport to enter Iran or perhaps you had a Dutch one? I’m told there are some possible obstacles to using a UK one.
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Thanks mate.
Used my Danish one I’m afraid! Unless things have changed since I was in Iran it is impossible to enter on a British passport and move around freely…
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Hi Jonathan, great story about the Highland 550. Good to read a ¨real life¨ one instead of a race athelete´s story which is making me look the other way :)…… I´m up to the Highlands end of april and take 14 days to do it. If I´m faster than the 14 days (doubt it, I like to read as well 😉 I will ride somewhere else in Scotland before going back to The Continent. Cheers, Ed (Netherlands)
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Jonathan, what a fabulous story, journey and achievement. Thank you for sharing it and well done on such an amazing thing to have accomplished. Let me share how I found your story. My wife was flying back from Australia on the direct Qantas flight from Perth to London. I read that they were hoping to start a direct Melbourne to London Service and so googled the route they would take. Well, your journey came up as part of the search and so I began to read your monthly blogs and now your final blog. Brilliant, I think that book – A guide to cycling the world – really does need writing. I also note that South America, Canada and Africa remain open for you to explore! Plenty of material for a second book or serialisation. I shall keep an eye open for you on London’s busy streets. Best, David
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A strange way to find it but lovely to hear! Pleasure to share… and great when the writing has been enjoyed!
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Hey Jonathan, amazing story. I am so impressed about your trip. I am planning to go for a big cycle as well. Maybe not as big. I am not the most professional cyclist. So I don’t know too much about Touring bikes yet. At the moment I am looking for the most suitable bike. I want to use the bike also in daily life, but when the time comes, on a big adventure. Maybe I will be driving mostly on paved roads but also want to have the option to cycle on dirt roads. Could you maybe give me some recommendations on the best bikes out there at the moment? I already have a little list of bikes I found pretty suitable. The Kona (Sutra), Surely (Disc Trucker, Long Haul Trucker), Fuji (Touring Disc), Vivente (Anatolia), Salsa (Marrakesh), Bombtrack (Arise Tour), Ridgeback (Panorama), and the Dawes (Ultra Galaxy). Do you know anything about these bikes and which of the ones could stick out most? I would very much appreciate your recommendation.
Best regards and thanks a lot in advance,
Moritz
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Thanks, and sorry for the very slow reply!
I actually think all those you have suggested would be pretty suitable for the job. They’re all quite popular (and fairly similar) models. I’m not familiar with the spec of each though – but my two cents would be to pick one with disk brakes (so not the long haul). All of those should be fairly nippy as town bikes too!
Did you make a pick in the end?
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Hi,
Was looking to do your south downs overnighter, would just like to ask how would the route be anti-clockwise as was looking to do a longer first day and staying in Shoreham, in your opinion would this be doable, we are both long term road cyclists but not bike packers. For the first one we are going to get accommodation.
Thanks
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Absolutely! The only hills are on the SDW, and they are equally unpleasant in either direction. That way you get to enjoy the big decent to the coast, and an easier ride northwards along the Downs Link.
Happy pedalling!
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Dear Jonathan, I found your blog as I was searching some information for a travel of 4 months I intend to do next year with bicycle. Very well done, good written, plenty of useful information. So just a big thank you to took the time to do it and to share all these information with other people. I wish you all the best in your life. Sébastien from Switzerland
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Hi Sebastien, thanks so much for the kind words! That’s honestly lovely to hear. I’m jealous you’ll be setting off for so long but am certain you’ll have the ride of a lifetime!!
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