HUMAN POWERED CIRCUMNAVIGATION OF THE GLOBE

Dimitri Kieffer is a lot of things. Born in France, he now holds dual citizenship in that country and the U.S. He is an international businessman, member of the Explorers Club, an ultrarunner and adventure racer, amongst other things. He also happens to be making a human powered circumnavigation of the globe, a journey he is making in stages as he explorers the cultures and histories of the places that he visits along the way.

Dimitri’s adventure began in Alaska back in 2005 when he set out on foot from Anchorage. Walking west he eventually reached the Bering Strait, which he trekked, skied and swam across in order to reach Russia at Uelen, Chukotka Okrug in April 2006. From there he continued on foot through the remote eastern regions of that country before reaching Omsukchan where he decided to take a break from the expedition to pursue other goals. He returned to that city in 2011 and began the next phase of the journey on a bike.

He, and his then girlfriend and now wife Gulnara, rode 1962 km (1219 miles) along the infamous “road of bones” to reach the town of Yakutsk. Last year, Dimitri returned to that city and rode another 4049 km (2515 miles) to Khakhorin, Mongolia. He is currently in Ulaanbaatar preparing to resume his journey aboard his bike once again. He now has his sights set on China and Kazakhstan.

So far, over the course of his travels, Kieffer has covered 11,391 km (7078 miles) with a total of 409 days of riding, walking and skiing. Of those, 5230 km (3250 miles) were covered over six winters stretching from 2005-2008 and again in 2010. The past two summers he has covered an additional 6161 km (3828 miles), primarily on his bike. Of course, he has a long way to go before he is completely done, but you have to admire Dimitri’s focus and dedication to seeing this project through to completion.

You can follow his updates on both his website and Facebook page. Since he will be departing on the next leg of the journey very soon, you should start to see regular dispatches on his progress in the near future. It should be interesting to read about the expedition as it continues to unfold.

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Kraig Becker

Kraig is an outdoor and adventure travel writer based in Nashville, TN. Over the course of his career, he has contributed to numerous online and print outlets, including Popular Mechanics, Gear Junkie, Outside Online, National Geographic, Digital Trends, Business Insider, TripSavvy, about.com, and of course The Adventure Blog.