Kazan 2013 World Cycling Tour: Bicycle tourists discover China

Two bicycle tourists from Kazan, who had set off on a world cycling tour in November 2012, left the hospitable city of Beijing on Sunday and continued their journey to northeast China. During their trip across the Celestial Empire, the cyclists will make a stop in Harbin and travel through Manchuria's scenic countryside to later cross the Chinese-Russian border and reach Chita. The 47-year-old teacher Pavel Grachev and the 26-year-old IT engineer Alen Khairullin dedicate their epic round-the-world tour to the 2013 Summer Universiade and the 100th anniversary of the circumnavigational journey undertaken by Kazan-born Onisim Pankratov.

The Los Angeles-Beijing flight with the bicycle tourists on board landed in the capital of China on April 4. Before reaching Asia, Pavel and Alen have already conquered two continents: Europe, from Latvia to Portugal, and North America, from the East Coast to the West Coast. 

The cyclists from Kazan keep in touch with the home city, share their travel experiences in social media posts and closely follow the news on how the preparations for the Summer Universiade are going on. They had to spend 12 hours on a plane but after this long flight they were rewarded with a warm welcome given to them by a representative of the Russian Embassy in China and a tour around the ancient capital of the People's Republic of China. Alen and Pavel were especially impressed by Tiananmen Square (Beijing's cental square), the city's narrow streets, Shijingshan Amusement Park, as well as by the Lama Temple, the home of the 26m tall statue of the Maitreya Buddha. 

While on the road, the bicycle tourists take every opportunity to tell the people they meet about the great sporting event which is coming to Kazan this summer and encourage them live a healthier life. And they also enthusiastically share favourite memories of their compatriot Onisim Pankratov, who had travelled by bicycle around the world as early as in 1913. 

The 13,200km long trip Alen and Pavel embarked on has lasted five months so far; it will take them another three months to make it to Kazan in time to attend the grand opening of the World University Games. There are nearly 8,000km ahead of them. Within a month they will cross China and continue their journey across Russia in early May. The cyclists will generally cover approximately 120-130km per day.