Jamie Bianchini has spent the past 8-1/2 years picking up hitch-hikers.
There's no such thing as a free ride with Bianchini, however. His passengers on six continents have taken the stoker position on his tandem bicycle and helped pedal as he passed through many different cultures.
The Pacific Beach, California man ended his travels this weekend when he returned home after passing through 81 countries on the 25,000-mile around-the-world bike tour dubbed Peace Pedalers.
Charitable projects
Along the way, Bianchini launched more than a dozen projects, such as dispersing medications and schooling orphans and the needy.
He set out with fellow adventurerer Garryck Hampton on separate tandems. At the Peace Pedalers website, they explained their mission:
“We invite total strangers we meet to share a slice of life and enjoy the cycling experience with us as a gesture of peace, trust, acceptance and unconditional love. If they need some financial assistance we usually offer to pay their food, accommodation and bus ticket back to their home town for extended tandem adventures.
“Each day is a mystery–who we will ride with, where we will eat and sleep, and what we will learn about these exciting new cultures. In the end, the results are new friendships and more cycling enthusiasts in the world.”
Stolen
They rode their bicycles this way through Asia until Hampton crashed into a tree in Malaysia, and Bianchini continued solo on his tandem.
On arriving home via a 26-mile ride from South Carlsbad to Ocean Beach, Bianchini explained to the San Diego Union-Tribune how people took care of him:
“The bicycle was stolen in Africa and China and both times the community helped me track it down. That kind of sums up my message .. Our world is far more caring and far more generous than the media has us believe.”
Among the many pedalers who rode with Bianchini was a rider named Cristina. They now have a 3-month-old son named Luca.
Documentary
Bianchini will next set to work organizing hundreds of hours of video into a documentary and television series. That's the type of reality TV I'd like to see more of.
Check his website (PeacePedalers.org) and journals to read more about his travels and get updates about that future documentary.
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