Kazan 2013 world cycling tour: Bicycle tourists reach Alabama

Two bicycle tourists from Kazan - Alen Khairullin and Pavel Grachev - who less than four months ago embarked on a world cycling tour commemorating the upcoming 2013 Summer Universiade and the 100th anniversary of Onisim Pankratov's journey around the world, are continuing their trip across the United States of America. Not long ago they have left Atlanta, GA and have already reached the state of Alabama.

After leaving Georgia's capital city far behind them, the cyclists crossed the border of the state of Alabama. They visited Heflin and Tuscaloosa, two small towns located more than 300 km from Atlanta. The time difference between Alabama and Moscow is now 10 hours, the bicycle tourists from Kazan informed their social media followers. They have made a short stop now but any time soon they will continue their journey to the West Coast of the United States. "Tuscaloosa, which is 107km away from Birmingham, is the city known only for the University of Alabama. Today the weather was warm but gloomy, which together with monotonous and boring land and cityscapes didn't inspire us to take pictures," the cyclists wrote in their blog posts.  

As we earlier reported, the US leg of the cyclists' journey around the world began in New York City. After that Alen and Pavel visited Washington, DC and soon reached Atlanta, GA. Throughout their entire journey - from Kazan to Atlanta - the Russian bicycle tourists have travelled a distance of over 9,000km. 

The world cycling tour dedicated to the 100th anniversary of the circumnavigational journey undertaken by Kazan-born Onisim Pankratov and the 27th Summer Universiade kicked off in Kazan on November 3, 2012. The cyclists Pavel Grachev and Alen Khairullin are expected to end their journey by July 6, the opening day of the World University Games.