Kindness of strangers sustains Kiwi Olympian Rebecca Wardell's 20,000km world bike tour.
Kindness of strangers sustains Kiwi Olympian Rebecca Wardell's 20,000km world bike tour.
Not yet halfway through her 20,000km world cycling tour, draped in a headscarf and long sleeves under the scorching Iranian sun, Rebecca Wardell crashed and split open her knee.
The Kiwi Olympian spent the rest of that day shuffled between four hospitals in the back of a 4WD driven by a local "saint" whose floor she had slept on the night before.
Four stitches and two weeks of rehab later, Wardell was happily back on the rocky road near the Caspian Sea grinding through the Middle East.
She laughs when she thinks of it as one of many happy mishaps along the way.
Around three quarters of Wardell's trip was through countries where Islam was the predominant religion.
"I had quite a big hole in my knee, so I ended up seeing a surgeon. We were incredibly well looked after, the people were amazing, super kind," Wardell said.
"Every professional we saw had to get a selfie, usually before they even touched us. So it was a bit of a novelty factor for them as well.
"We were trying to explain why we'd crashed, and they were like 'why were you on a bike?' and it sort of snowballed from there.
"Our biggest concern was getting out of Iran before our visa expired."
Rebecca Wardell being treated by Iranian medical staff last year after receiving four stitches in her knee after crashing her bike.
Wardell has notched up $1 for every kilometre of her "long way home" world tour.
On April 19 she reached Lake Hawea in Otago with $29,000 raised - the majority for the Forward Foundation charity for young Kiwi sportswomen.
She had been cycling for 354 days after setting off from Lausanne, Switzerland, on April 30 last year.
Rebecca Wardell's journey Wardell has pedalled from Switzerland to New Zealand, a total of more than 18,000km and 19 countries to raise money for Forward Foundation, which aimed to increase the pa
Wardell competed for New Zealand in the Heptathlon at the 2008 Beijing Olympic Games, and has been living in Switzerland for the past four years after retiring in 2012.
She was inspired to start her world cycling tour after she read about someone else who had done a similar epic ride.
All she needed was two "crazy friends" - fellow Olympic rower Emma Twigg and keen athlete Sarah Van Ballekom - who were willing to quit their jobs at the International Olympic Committee to join her.
Rebecca Wardell was joined in part of her 20,000km world cycling tour by fellow Olympic rower Emma Twigg and keen athlete Sarah Van Ballekom.
"We decided this was a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. I never would have done the trip on my own so as soon as Sarah and Emma were like 'let's do it' I thought there'll always be another job, but not necessarily another opportunity like this," Wardell said.
The Kiwi trio started out from Switzerland, to cover the width of the Eurasian landmass, all the way to Singapore. Twigg departed after Istanbul, and Van Ballekom after China.
It wasn't until Wardell reached Asia that she allowed herself to think about the "enormity" of the trip as a whole.
Many of the people Wardell encountered throughout her trip were surprised to see someone cycling for recreation.
Traversing China proved one of the most difficult logistically.
The province of Xinjiang has overwhelming police surveillance, with "CCTV everywhere", and "Westerner approved" hotels.
"There was a big police presence with the fears about local terrorism and the ethnic minority uprising," Wardell said.
Wardell has pedalled from Switzerland to New Zealand, a total of more than 18,000km and 19 countries to raise money for Forward Foundation.
"We ended up staying in highway drains and highway convenience stores, basically because there was nowhere else to sleep.
"Often the police would turn up to hotel reception and check everything for an hour before they'd let us stay. It was pretty intense, but then everything was done with a smile."
The women on the "long way home tour" were forced to sleep in highway drains whilst travelling through Tibet.
The 20,000km tour was also a cultural education, with 75 per cent of the distance covering Muslim countries.
"I think a lot of those countries, to just see women cycling alone is probably quite unusual. It sparked a bit of interest," Wardell said.
"We had people stopping us on the road giving us food and water. And other people randomly would walk up and ask us to come into their homes and have tea, or a meal. We were overwhelmed by kindness from strangers."
Rebecca Wardell competing at the 2008 Beijing Olympics.
This generosity informed the trio's decision to donate any funds above their $20,000 target to the victims of the Christchurch terror attack.
Wardell was in Rotorua, on the home-stretch, when the mosque shootings occurred.
"We were so incredibly looked after and couldn't have felt any more at home in the Muslim communities we travelled through - just such wonderful people.
"We were pretty shocked obviously by what happened in Christchurch and wanted to do something very small just to acknowledge that."
Having moved all her stuff back to New Zealand, Wardell says she's unofficially homeless and "job hunting".
A particularly difficult section of Wardell's trip was the dirt roads through most of the 'Stans' of the Middle East.
"To be honest, it feels a little bit surreal. I don't know, it hasn't really sunk in I think, and I still feel like I'm just having a few days off, and will be getting back on the bike in a few days."
Forward Foundation
The $20,000 raised from "the long way home tour" plus an extra $7000 donation will go towards the Forward Foundation.
The charity matches accomplished Kiwi female sporting ambassadors with girls to develop their leadership qualities, as well as funding sports for girls.
Forward Foundation chair and founder Maddy Surie said the charity was "over the moon" to be chosen as the fundraising recipient of the long way home cyclists.
"Not only has the fundraising been incredible, they've also been so supportive of what we do in the community, and that means so much to us. Our girls just light up when they meet them," Surie said.
