Kazan 2013 world cycling tour: Two months on two wheels

Two cyclists from Kazan - Pavel Grachev and Alen Khairullin - continue their world cycling tour dedicated to the 27th Summer Universiade and undertaken to pay tribute to Onisim Pankratov, the first bicycle tourist in the world. It's already their second month on the road and the travellers have passed the 4,000km mark as they cycled through Russia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Czech Republic, Austria.

Every day the bicyle tourists meet with a great many people and give interviews to local and Russian media. They had a meeting with deputies of the Latvian Saeima (Parliament), explained them their mission and even managed to transfuse their enthusiasm and passion for cycling to the Russian Consul in Latvia.They also met with college children at Lomza, Poland and hosted a geography lesson dedicated to the World Cycling Tour. 

Within 7 months the cyclists will cover 21,000 kilometres and visit 13 countries, including Latvia, Lithuania, Czech Republic, Poland, Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Portugal, USA, China, Kazakhstan. The route will pass through the cities that already hosted the World University Games, including Moscow (1973), Warsaw (1924), Turin (1959, 1970), Beijing (2001), Harbin (2009). The cyclists are expected to end their journey just ahead of the start of the Games in Kazan.