Lars Bengtsson from Sweden has just left Angola - his 100:th country by bicycle. He cycled around 105 000 kilometres between 2004 and 2017. He now plans to leave his bicycle behind for a while and instead walk across islands in Indonesia. This is his story in twelve pictures and 16 anecdotes:
Longest day in the saddle: 255 kilometres, Australia;
Highest altitude: 5090m, Peru;
Highest altitude without bicycle: 6759m, Bonete Chico, Argentina;
Longest time without seeing villages: 39 days, Altun Shan/Chang Tang, China;
Most food transported on the bicycle: 34 kilo, China;
Most water on the bicycle: 16 litres, Argentina;
Hottest place: The border between Iran and Pakistan: +50c;
Coldest place: Eastern Turkey in the middle of the winter: -25c;
Hardest country: Ethiopia;
Longest stretch without punctures: 11050 kilometres (Latvia to Senegal);
Most flat tyres in a day: 5, Gran Chaco, Paraguay;
Worst river crossing: Bartang Valley, Tajikistan;
Worst insects: Tsetse flies, Tanzania;
Most beautiful country: Hard, but maybe Namibia;
Mountains climbed: Nine (three of them were first ascents);
Worst drivers: Country of Georgia.
Cheers!
More info: Instagram
Lars is celebrating his 100th country by bicycle - Angola! July 2017
On the top of a roadless pass in the Altun Shan Mountains, China, 2010.
He carried food for 50 days on his bicycle, including 72 packets of noodles and three kilo of oats.
Bartang Valley, Tajikistan, 2016
The Sahara crossing in Sudan, 2006
Pircas Negras Pass in Argentina, 2013
A bush camp in Guinea-Bissau, 2009
The crossing of Aramapoeira River in the Brazilian Amazon, 2017
Old roads in central Angola, 2017
Kalmykia, Russia, 2016
Van Zyl's Pass, Namibia, 2017
Georgia, 2016
The Kingdom in the Sky, Lesotho, 2014
