Thursday, April 16 2009, 10 PM ← →

VLADIVOSTOK, April 16, vladivostoktimes.com The bike ride “The Idiots” started from Vladivostok to Portugal. Two Americans Ellery Althaus and Lееvvi Bridges will go by bike almost 10 thousand miles through Russia, Europe, Ukraine to Portugal, the correspondent of RIA PrimaMedia reported.

The US Consul General in Vladivostok Tomas ARMBRUSTER also took part in starting the journey. He will go by his bike several dozens kilometers with them.

The cyclists met in Korabelnaya Naberezhnaya of Vladivostok, where they were to start, washed the wheels of their bikes in the Pacific Ocean, hoping that they would wash them in the Atlantic Ocean in the end of their ride.

Travelers arrived in Russia in the beginning of March to achieve their seven-year dream, which appeared when they studied in college and to understand how large the world is. Having graduated from the University, they worked for a year to earn money for fulfilling their project. They have been studying Russian in Vladivostok for a month. Before starting the journey Ellery Althaus said in Russian: “I am looking for adventures.” He thinks that after these words the Russians will invite them for borshch. He emphasized that Russia is very hospitable country.

The journey will last almost a year, and a most part of it lies in Russia. To avoid Russian cold weather, travelers has equipped their bikes with warm clothes and tents. If they are too cold, they will ask local residents to let them stay at their houses at night.

“The wanderers” said that they already had to go on a journey not by bike but on foot. “Two years ago we went on foot over 500 miles from south-western districts of France to Spanish coast Galicia.”

As for the name of the project “The Idiots,” travelers answered that there is some humour in it. “First of all, when we told people about our ideas, we were answered that nobody in senses would do it. Secondly, choosing a name, we made a reference to a novel by Dostoyevskiy “The Wanderer,” as a most part of our way lies in Russia.”