Photos courtesy of Amaury Bargioni.
“Stop worrying, stop finding excuses, and just get going” is the advice that Amaury Bargioni would give to someone considering an epic adventure.
Bargioni, 18, is spending his gap year biking around the world. Yes, the world.
The Paris native began his journey in Great Britain, then flew to Montreal. Upon arriving in North America, he made a spur-of-the-moment decision to fly to San Francisco so he could experience National Parks such as Yosemite and Zion in their best season.
He then biked along the Northern Arizona and New Mexico borders to reach Colorado. He planned to only spend one day at Colorado College visiting a friend, but was so “blown away” that he stayed for eight days. Bargioni says that he could see himself at Colorado College in the future.
He recalls that one of the most interesting people he has met so far has been in Colorado Springs. “Abraham is a cyclist and a mountaineer, and he is the head of a bike shop for the homeless and is now building a free, self-serve fruit garden in Manitou Springs,” said Bargioni.
After his stop in Colorado Springs, Bargioni biked east to Chicago, then to Cleveland (to take his SATs). He then biked to New York and did a loop around New England, visiting friends at various colleges and universities. He then headed down the East Coast until he reached the Gulf of Mexico and then went west to El Paso, Texas.
He went the extra miles to Colorado again to spend block break with his Colorado College friends in Vail.
After his departure on Monday evening, Bargioni headed towards San Diego to bike up the coast of California then catch a flight to Hawaii. He will then go to New Zealand, southwest Asia, China, and North Korea. Lastly, he plans to take a train from Beijing to Moscow, where he will bike back to Paris.
Why? “I had rarely travelled before, and since I went to an international school, my friends came from all over the world, so I wanted to go see how it is out there,” said Bargioni. “My trip started out as a joke, then the more I researched it, the more it seemed feasible.”
He says that his biggest challenge is focus. “When you embark on such a long and intense adventure, you have to be careful not to burn yourself out over a short period of time,” said Bargioni. “This means that some days I barely rode because I was sore or I did not feel too well.”
A solo world tour may sound lonely, but Bargioni says that’s not how he feels. He meets interesting people on the way and goes to someplace new almost every day, so his mind is always occupied and active with the task at hand.
Of the places he has visited so far, he says his favorite is the American West. “The people there are so welcoming, easygoing, and active—something that I felt is found in only some rare places in the East [United States],” he says.
He plans on returning to Paris by June 21 for his high school’s 60th anniversary celebration, ascending Europe’s highest peak, Mont Blanc (4808 m), and preparing for college in the fall.
“In the end, you gain a very intricate understanding of yourself,” Bargioni says.