Following the “Silk Road” by bicycle

Cycling Silk 2011 Trailer from Kate Harris on Vimeo.

Kate Harris and Melissa Yule are childhood friends whose sense of adventure and curiosity about the world already had put them on the Silk Road through China and Tibet.

Now they've added a sense of advocacy to their travels across 10 countries. They're describing their bicycle trek as a “field research expedition exploring transboundary conservation in the mountains along the Silk Road.”

Along the way, they're talking with scientists and observing the problems of climate change, poverty and loss of wild animals in wild places that transcend political boundaries.

Their 4-minute video shows some scenes from their first 3 months on the road in Turkey, Georgia and Azerbaijan. In addition to some of the lessons learned from scientists in the field, it also shows some of the spectacular places you can visit by bicycle.

They're hosting a website that tells about their journey — Cycling Silk. You'll find links to their route, expedition, sponsors and transboudary conservation there. They also have photo albums for Cycling Silk 2011 posted at Flickr.com and a Cycling Silk page on Facebook.

We wish them well on the rest of their journey.