Look: FatTracks has travelled halfway around the world!
Here’s how to help support our flood repair plan
Back in 2017, Pascal Bärtschi, a Swiss cyclist, rolled into Gqeberha, or Port Elizabeth as it was known then, partway through an extraordinary round the world bicycle journey.
Having set off from his village of Lucens, Switzerland in November 2012, by the time our club crossed paths with him he’d already covered more than 80,000km. From Gqeberha, his route continued down to Cape Agulhas before heading north through Africa, via Cairo, and on home to Switzerland.
Before he set off from Summerstrand, we kitted him out in a FatTracks jersey, and wished him all the best for his trip.
Pascal originally planned to stop at 99,999km. He didn’t…
By the end of his six year journey, he’d clocked up around 118,000km across 6 continents and 59 countries, all on the same bicycle, through countless tyres, chains, spokes and saddles, using nothing fancier than a 3×7 gear setup (his reasoning: simplicity is what gets you through remote places when modern parts aren’t an option).
He’s since written a book about the adventure, “One World, One Bike, One Dream” (currently only available in French, but the achievement translates in any language).
Almost a decade on, Pascal is still riding in his FatTracks kit, this time through the Swiss Alps. Proof that once you’re part of the FatTracks family, you carry it with you, wherever the road (or the world) takes you.
