Enjoy a rich, intercultural adventure around the world with this short, 5-minute sneak peak of the new book A Bicycle Built for Two Billion. Check out our events at http://bit.ly/tour-events where Jamie will share mesmerizing stories, photos and videos on the 81-country tour around the world on a tandem biking picking up strangers on the back seat. All events are free and family friendly!
“Bianchini’s A Bicycle Built for Two Billion is not about the bike. It’s a life odyssey of epic proportions. Few of us live from the heart. Jamie reminds us how.” –– Les Stroud (Survivorman)
PRESS RELEASE: Jamie Bianchini rode a tandem bicycle through 81 countries around the world, inviting more than 1,000 total strangers to jump on and join the adventure.
Along this amazing journey, Bianchini hustled up donations to provide 100 bikes to an impoverished township Cape Town, disperse hundreds of doses of life-saving Malaria medication to small African communities, start a school for AIDS orphans in Uganda, and bring fresh water to a community suffering from sickness and death in Bolivia.
Featuring an unforgettable cast of co-pedalers – from inspiring villagers to conniving thieves, romantic paramours to unlikely gurus, excited school kids to seniors who had never set foot on a pedal, Bianchini’s worldwide expedition will soon be shared in his long-anticipated book A Bicycle Built for Two Billion.
Not surprisingly, a journey of this magnitude was sprung from humble beginnings. After a series of spectacular business flops drove him into bankruptcy and the love of his life kissed him goodbye Bianchini hatched a crazy plan that just might make everything right. His life lacked purpose, passion, and connection with his fellow man. So he decided to go for a bicycle ride…around the world…on a tandem…solo…inviting everyone he met to join him.
“I felt inspired to make the journey mean more than simply fulfilling my own personal desires,” explained Bianchini. “By inviting strangers to ride with me I hoped to do my part in creating more peace in the world by reducing unnecessary fears and prejudices between people. I wanted to demonstrate that language, cultural and religious barriers could easily be overcome with a genuine desire to connect, learn and explore”.
The tour got off to a great start in Japan and Korea but it was not long before he ran into his fair share of adversity. “There was a bike theft in China, a near-death bike crash in Malaysia and escaping machine gunfire Mauritania just to name a few,” reports Bianchini. “But what amazed me was how total strangers in every part of the world came out of nowhere to help keep me stay safe, fed, housed, warm and supported me in fulfilling my vision and mission of the expedition.”
It was this constant stream of kindness and compassion demonstrated by total strangers on his journey that began to inspire Bianchini to take the expedition to a new level. Starting by delivering hundreds of rides and gifts to orphanages throughout Asia he continued the adventures of compassion and contribution through Africa, Europe and Latin America.
Bianchini applied his business savvy to procuring donations of more than one hundred bicycles and hundreds of doses Malaria medication for those in need. He brought fresh water to a community in Bolivia, and even started a school for AIDS orphans in Uganda.
Yet, Bianchini’s humble about these astonishing feats. “I realized it was not only easy to connect deeply with people in every corner of the planet but it was also immensely rewarding to be of service in their communities,” he explains. “What I want to do now more than anything is share these stories and images with others to inspire the courage to connect in others.”
Bianchini spent over three years completing his manuscript and worked closely with New York Times bestselling author Franz Wisner (Honeymoon With My Brother, St. Martin's Press) as his structural editor and writing coach. His book will be released on April 28, 2015 just in time for yet another epic adventure—a massive 12,000-mile Family Book Tour with his wife, who just happened to be a former guest rider he picked up on his tandem bike, and their two kids Luca (4) and Candela (2).
Together the family will travel over five months around the nation in a Heartland travel trailer to share these stories via dozens of free multimedia speaking events at bookstores, KOA Campgrounds, bike shops, Rotary Clubs and other venues that request presentations. The photos, videos and music shared at the events are just a sample of the rich content Bianchini captured while out on his global bicycle adventure featured in the print and eBook.
