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SA’s Pedal Powered Eco-Warrior is on the road again

Global Wheeling Kayden Kleinhans

After a year of preparations such as dealing with knee injuries, planting 2000 trees, being nominated as a finalist in both the Eco-Logic Awards and Mail & Guardians Top 200 Young  South Africans; promoting bicycle culture in South Africa; and of course riding his bicycle, Kayden Kleinhans is back on the road for phase two of his Global Wheeling campaign.

In phase one of his solo bicycle journey, he cycled over 15 000 carbon free km through 20 countries in Europe and Africa, which included crossing the Sahara and  cycling through war torn Ivory Coast  to name but a few of the challenges he faced. Phase two will see Kayden clock up 20 000 carbon free kilometers solo on his bicycle across the Americas. Starting in Buenos Aires and ending in the Nevada Desert, he will cycle through 17 countries over 12 months on his trusty bicycle Little Miss Sunshine.

Touchdown the Americas came off to a rather tumultuous start, when our eco-warrior landed in Beunos Aires but his bicycle did not. It took five days before Kayden and Little Miss Sunshine were reunited, both somewhat battered and bruised. The first two weeks saw the pair head into some very cold and rainy weather through Argentina and Uruguay, but the worst seems to be over (for now anyway)  as temperatures are warming up slightly in the South of Brazil. After three weeks on the road and an impressive 1460 carbon free kilometers, the CO2 reading sits at 217,9 kilograms: that being the amount of CO2 that would have been emitted if the same journey was being done in an average sized American Sedan.

As part of the campaign to raise awareness about our global fossil fuel dependency and promote the bicycle as a powerful tool in the battle against climate change, Global Wheeling will also donate a bicycle to the Big Issue SA’s vendor of the month for the duration of the trip.

Follow Kayden’s adventures on the Global Wheeling blog  and facebook page and stay tuned for his blog posts on The Big Issue.

Watch the Global Wheeling trailer here.