About

• Explore the world via the unique medium of cycle travel as a way of connecting directly with people around me and the environment.
• To document and communicate my adventures through the mediums of photography, digital film, writing, audio recording, and the internet.
• Personally my journey is one of spiritual and philosophical development aiming to change myself for the better through experience and to decipher the central core values to how I live my life now and in the future.
• Having studied Environment, Economics and Ecology at the University of York, I am observing and documenting environmental impact and change whilst travelling.
• Tom and I are giving back to society by raising money for the Wilderness Foundation, donating bikes on behalf of Wheels4Life (2 bikes donated so far), and paying visits to schools and social organisations along the way.

Andrew Welch

• Date of birth: 5th October 1982
• Favourite soil: Sandy loam
• Knobbliest kneecap: Right
• Favourite accessory: Twiglet
• Worst direction: Left
• Longest day: St. Swithin’s Day 2002
• Favourite twang: Deep

This is Andrew Welch. He believes that his interest in the environment is genetic, as one of his hands is green. But he also adds that a certain secondary-school economics teacher was adamant that environmental issues would soon be at the forefront of the global agenda, inspiring him to do a degree in Environment, Economics and Ecology at York University on a whim (rather than ‘do an art degree, paint pretty pictures and become a great artist, because he didn’t need a degree to do that’).

Andrew spent some time after university attempting to sell t-shirts with designs that conveyed an empowering message with True Focus T-Shirts. However, after much time spent happily creating designs and artwork in front of a computer, he decided he wasn’t doing enough of his great loves – mountain biking and being in the great outdoors.

“Geography, environmental issues, the organic world, and its clashing and conflicting with the man-made world has always been a very stark and important issue to me. Apathy towards our responsibility to our planet has meant that environmental issues have taken a back seat – possibly because it such as big issue and therefore difficult for the human mind to grasp. It is only recently that such issues have become more in the focus of the media, and people are taking notice, although nowhere near enough. There are more silly gas-guzzling cars on the road, a coal power station built every day in China, and the Amazonian Rainforest will be gone by the year 2050 at the current rate of deforestation. These issues are so startling but it seems out of reach to the normal average Joe to make a difference, which is exactly the reason why the best way for me to contribute is to take action myself and try and inspire others.”

He commented that his family and scouts are mostly to blame for his wanderlust to roam free and explore.

“My family has a farming and rural background. I have lived in the countryside all my life. Family trips to Cornwall to go windsurfing, walking or kayaking, or to Wales to go surfing and walking, or to Dorset to explore the caves and beaches. Attending Scouts was a priceless experience – camping, playing manhunt in the dark complete with full army gear, making campfires, building shelters – these were the greatest of times, building great friendships, and learning skills that sowed the seeds for today.

“I got into mountain biking when I was about 15, developing an obsession for the shiny bikes like a moth drawn to the light – the attitude, the freedom, the tricks, the designs. It wasn’t until University when I got seriously into mountain biking. Innumerable weekends biking in the Dales, Yorkshire Moors, on trips to Scotland, Hamsterly Forest, all over the North of England, and pedalling like a lunatic around the university campus with a group of other lunatics – this was the legendary mountain biking society. Over time I really got into the sport, to me becoming a symbol of health and the ability to escape temporarily from the clutches of linear living. In 2005, my love for bikes took me to work in Croatia as a mountain-bike guide for 4 months on the stunning Island of Korcula. I felt drawn to the local people, trying to be as respectful as possible, and learning about the culture. The experience of living abroad gave me the inspiration to consider further travelling after it came to the end of my season – I didn’t want to go home. The seed was sown and the prospect of so much to discover in the world has brought me to this point.”

The Ride-Earth concept is literally to Ride the earth, leave the roads to the cars and the dinosaurs and hopefully show people that the countryside still exists, that it is the greatest asset we possess as a species, and is more a part of us than we think. We will making our own way, following paths of others who have taken on such similar adventures and pilgrimages before us, while learning and developing ourselves and contributing to an important and worthwhile cause.”