America from North to South

 

A national premiere solo expedition

The expedition of 2018 in Europe

34,554 pedalled kilometres and 4,100 sailed kilometres in 3 years and 3 months through all continental territories and countries of Americas.

Ciclotrotter, an adventurer and motivational speaker, Radu Paltineanu was born at Iasi, but he was raised and spent his childhood at Piatra Neamt. At the age of 15, he moved with his parents to Montreal, Canada, where he became a Software Engineering graduate at McGill University, one of the most prestigious universities from Canada. In 2015, the career path of Radu was decided as software engineer, only that he decided to switch sides. Therefore, in August that same year, he went in a national premiere expedition to cross the two Americas on a bike, from Alaska to Tierra del Fuego. What initially should have lasted nine months turned into a trip of three years, two months and 18 days, but Radu Paltineanu succeeded: on 22 October 2018, he became the first Romanian to cross the two Americas by bike. To cut a long story short, there were 34,554 km pedalled through all the countries and continents of Americas (22 countries and 1 territory) from the northern extremity of Alaska to Navarino Island from the southern extremity of the South-American continent. For this expedition, he was awarded the European Adventurer of the Year 2018, and currently, Radu shares his experience and motivates with his speeches employees of companies and also young people from Romania to dare to dream big, to follow their dreams and persevere. In the future, he hopes to organise other expeditions by which to surpass his own limits and to continue to discover the world on his own.

Difficult moments during the expedition

 • Crossing USA during winter time, at below zero temperatures and snow storms. 2 months spent crossing climatically difficult areas.
• Robbed with a knife in Panama. Being stolen a sac in which Radu had all his clothes, being left with only the clothes he was wearing and spending one night at the local police station.
• Crossing Venezuela for two months, from October to December 2016, a country which is dealing with an extreme social and economic crisis.
• Attempt of robbery in a hotel from Calabozo.
• Crossing Amapa State from Brazilian Amazon during interminable heavy rains.
• Attacked with a gun by three kids in French Guiana.
• 450 km off-road through Guyana jungle.
• Caught in a snow storm with lightning on Parinacota Mountain from Bolivia.
• Crossing Route 7 from Chile (also known as Carretera Austral), one of the most isolated roads from South America on winter conditions.
• Breaking of the bike’s form on an isolated road from the north of Argentina.
• Crossing the border between Chile and Argentina through a wild area, which implied crossing a few rivers by foot.
• Facing the extreme winds of Patagonia during the last stage of the track, at the southern antipode of Americas.

Other reached goals

•Successful climbs on Chimborazo (6,268 m) – the farthest point from the centre of the earth, Cayambe (5,798 m), Orizaba (5,636 m) – the highest volcano from North America, Illiniza Norte (5,116 m) and Carihuairazo (5,018 m).
• Sailing with 8 different crafts 4,100 km from Amazon River from Macapa, Brazil to El Coca, Ecuador.
• Trek in Canaima National Park from Venezuela, at Angel Falls (978 m), the highest continuous water fall from the world.
• Iguazu Falls
• Trek in Canyonlands and Arches National Parks from Utah, USA
• Masaya Volcano from Nicaragua, one of only five places on earth where lava can be seen boiling.
• Maya ruins from El Mirador in the heart of Guyana Jungle – 2 day trek
• Inca ruins from Choquequirao, Peru – 2 day trek, crossing Apurimac Canyon, the second deepest canyon in the world.
• Inca ruins from Machu Picchu

Taken over from https://www.radupaltineanu.com/traversarea-americilor-pe-bicicleta/ with the consent of the author