“Fearful every day”: Couple reports on cycling trip from Alaska to Patagonia

GEO: From Alaska to Tierra del Fuego you covered an incredible 28,743 kilometers and were on the saddle for 812 days in wind and weather. How often did you curse while on the road?

Sophie Planque: Often! Most often about the trucks that overtook us. Because that could be dangerous. For example in Alaska, at the very beginning of our trip. There we could usually see the trucks rolling in on the horizon and from five kilometers away, along the dead straight road that runs alongside a pipeline. But every encounter had the potential for a problem. And in one case it became serious, which you can see in the documentary we made about our adventure.

Jeremy Vaugeois: We drove down a mountain on the highway, 600 kilometers from Fairbanks, in the middle of nowhere. A truck came towards us from the front, the driver stepped on the accelerator to take the incline with momentum, as everyone does there. Sophie shot down the street in front of me, with maybe 50 things. Just before she and the truck were level, the driver pulled over to avoid the gravel and potholes on the side of the road to his right. This kicked up dust, Sophie saw nothing, not even the mega pothole that was lurking in front of her on our side. She fell. Suffered a fractured humerus and head trauma, lost her memory for half a day. She could have died in the accident. And although I immediately made an emergency call, it took hours for rescue to arrive from the air.

What was the result?

Sophie Planque: As incredible as it sounds, this accident gave us both the strength to make the journey from north to south.

Many others would probably have given up even more after such a setback – because it shows how quickly life can end.

Sophie Planque: However, this is exactly the signal we probably needed. On the one hand, the accident gave us hope – if we can get through this, we can do anything. Secondly, many people try to cycle from Alaska to Argentina and some give up because it’s too much. There are too many emotions, too many mountains, too many dangers. This tour is just very difficult, also for the head. But I think that if you take on such a challenge, then a tragic event like my accident can set the course. Then you know exactly why you are doing all this and what you are taking on.

Jeremy Vaugeois: We often said to ourselves that only death could stop us from reaching Patagonia. The fact that we are mortal has been brought home to us in a drastic way. And we encountered death many times afterwards. For example, we were in contact with a German cyclist who was traveling in Mexico around the same time as us. We actually wanted to cycle with him for a while. But he was murdered shortly beforehand. It is an important insight to understand how great the pressure can be when you are out and about every day. But the more fragile you feel, the more alive you feel. And the more you care about surviving.

You’ve also survived storms, a volcanic eruption in Guatemala, riots in Nicaragua, and contact with a rather stubborn cactus.

Sophie Planque: That’s right, I ended up in a cactus in the Andes – it had spines almost as long as a little finger. A good 200 of them drilled into my body. They had to operate on many of them.

That didn’t stop you either. What else do you need to bring with you to get through a trip like this?

Jeremy Vaugeois: The right mentality. You can’t really prepare yourself physically for these hardships, but we certainly can’t. Mental strength was even more important. That was our superpower, based on the acceptance that this trip wasn’t going to be like a tourist trip. That we would face difficulties, many bad moments. Acceptance is important. And with it our will to achieve all of this grew.

Despite all this strength, how often have you been afraid on the road – and your heart was beating in your throat?

Sophie Planque: Every single day! There were always situations that scared us.

Jeremy Vaugeois: But that was a good thing. Fear can be a tool when you want to master such routes on your bike or even circumnavigate the planet. Fear helps you stay safe on the road because it sharpens your attention.

That sounds like crazy tension. Have you never thought of giving up?

Jeremy Vaugeois: The thought never occurred to us. It was incredibly hard, all the mountains on the way, the cold, the heat, the wind. But because of the drastic experience at the beginning, those were just the elements, and we were able to overcome them. We knew we had to stay alert until the end, and then we would live our dream.

And of course that meant reaching Ushuaia in Patagonia?

Sophie Planque: Yes, and in the last few kilometers before our destination the road led past a mountain that is beautiful. His name is Monte Olivia. Then the Beagle Strait opened up before us, the last strait before the famous Cape Horn. And then we looked down on Ushuaia, took the last descent, slowed down. And until that moment we knew we had to remain vigilant. So that nothing goes wrong and we can really live our dream.

That was certainly a crazy, almost incomprehensible feeling of happiness, especially after all the other experiences. How has your time together as a couple changed you?

Jeremy Vaugeois: First of all, two and a half years is a long time, as you are already changing as an individual. And then as a couple: On a journey like this you just have to go through so much together, the good and the bad. And you sit incredibly close to each other. After all, you and your partner live in the same tent for two and a half years. It’s important to find a good balance between what is important to both of you – and what is important to you as an individual. What you think and what you think together. And that is never easy. But all the challenges we have experienced together along the way have changed our relationship; we are no longer just lovers – but also a team. And soulmates, Soulmates. This journey created something so powerful that would never have happened otherwise.

Sophie Planque: The tour was also an accelerator in terms of life experience. We experienced what other couples might experience in 30 years in less than three years. But wanting to experience something like that has always connected us. When we first met, we had a dream of traveling the world. And nurturing dreams is perhaps the most important thing in life.

“Having dreams is perhaps the most important thing in life”

Why did you have this dream of crossing the American double continent by bike?

Jeremy Vaugeois: When I was 19 years old, I wandered around Europe on foot. And after that trip, I had a dream to do the same thing in America and walk all the way from Quebec to Patagonia. When I met Sophie we couldn’t stop talking about our outdoor experiences. And on the first date we said, hey, let’s do something crazy together one day. That was the start of everything.

Sophie Planque: It seemed to us that the American continents would give us the best view of planet Earth. And so it was. On the same road you drive over mountains and through deserts, cycling past rainforests and rugged coastlines. And then there are the people you meet. We encountered this intense feeling of humanity again and again on the tour. And a special connection to nature that filled us.

Would you do that again?

Sophie Planque: Everyone really asks that! We would, yes. But we have just returned from a new trip: Last winter we cycled for five months and 5,000 kilometers around the Baltic Sea, starting from Hamburg, then through the Baltic countries and so on. We made a documentary about it. We’re producing it now, and there’s still a lot to do.