Ryan Rice

Is there a more challenging, charming, or humbling way to travel the World and discover it’s people and treasures? If there is, I haven’t come across it yet, and perhaps I wish not to. I have been a bicycle mechanic for over ten years and it has led me towards new adventures and friendships. Here’s to clean and lubed chains, straight wheels, and a comfy saddle! See you on the next adventure!

Miles MacDonald

Shanny Hill

“I’ve been fortunate to travel all over the world. I learn so much each time I travel and with each new project and new tour we launch.”

I first found a TDA brochure when I was a sales manager at Duke's Cycle in Toronto. I met Henry and convinced him to give me a job in the office. That was over a decade ago now.

My love of all things bicycle started when I was in high school: I lived in the country and my friends were six kilometres away, in town. A bike was the easiest way to meet up with them on weekends. This started my interest in cycle touring and I did my first big trip at age 17 with some friends—a month of biking around Lake Erie, covering 3,400 kilometres from our hometown Kirkland Lake, in Northern Ontario.

Some of my favourite TDA travel memories are from Kyrgyzstan. Also Ethiopia, as well as France. And of course can't forget Namibia, and Ireland, and, well...

I love to travel and I feel very fortunate to have had an eclectic mix of travel experiences. Whether it’s trying fermented mare's milk in a yurt in Kyrgyzstan, eating “spagbol” prepared by our talented tour chefs after a long day of riding, sipping strong espresso in Venice, or sitting street-side for lunch in Paris, my travels always have food at their centre. Food and cycling—the combination can't be beat!

Working with TDA is all about variety—food, cycling, challenge, problem-solving, meeting people from all over the world, getting a glimpse into the way others live elsewhere and gaining knowledge from them, and learning to be humble.

Coby Werlin

Cycling, photographing, video-ing, and traveling -- what could be better?! I cherish the adventures that TDA has taken me on over the last few years, and am so thrilled to tell the stories of these rides. If you've been on a ride with myself or another content creator, you know that we need your help in telling these stories as a means to capture the essence of the ride, and as a memento for you to look back on. You may see me riding passenger in the support vehicle to shoot some cool videos tracking riders down the road, or popping out of the bushes to snap a candid shot, or (at times) riding alongside you. And, as always, I'll periodically ask some of you for short interviews to hear your thoughts on all of the good, bad and amazing aspects of the ride. See you on the road!

Yanez Novoa

Oh to be on the road again. I am still suffering from a bit of cabin fever from the last few years and am excited to join you all in Buenos Aires.

Sheelagh Daly

Hey there! I'm Sheelagh. My two favourite things are bike touring and making videos about bike touring... maybe that's one thing ;) I have absolutely loved bike touring on my own and I am so excited to be a part of others' bike touring adventures as a member of the TDA team. My bike touring videos on YouTube: youtube.com/sheelaghdaly

Mark Brandjord

Hi, I'm Mark. I live near Seattle Washington, and I'm retired. I worked as a software developer for over 30 years, and I've been retired since 2013. I am looking forward to this ride because every day I'll get to ride down a road I've never been on before, and I'll get to experience so many new sights, sounds and tastes. And the frosting on the cake will be getting to share the day with so many other people who enjoy cycling as much as I do.

Pixy Elliott

Completed several solo self supported bike tours in the US and Canada.

Don Holshuh

I participated in the 2018 Tour d’ Afrique as a proud certifiable non-EFI (every fucking inch) rider. I am also the president and founder of the 2018 Tour d’ Afrique Wimp Club where our motto is “ When in doubt, hotel it out” and “ We didn’t come to Africa to do our own laundry”. Looking forward to meeting a new group of riders.

Geoff Clow

John Karwoski

I enjoy bicycling, camping, and hiking. Looking forward to sharing adventures on this tour with new and old friends.

Henry Gold

Founder, TDA Global Cycling

Wayne Grover

Wayne Grover is a retired Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, his professional life encompassed time with the military, with Bell North Research as a Research Engineer, then as founding VP Research for TRLabs, and as a full Professor (ECE) at the University of Alberta. He has over 150 peer-reviewed published articles, one book, and 38 patented inventions. Among other awards and recognitions he is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, a Commonwealth Scholar to the UK, Fellow of the Institute of Electrical Engineers, Life Fellow of the Alberta Association of Professional Engineers, Fellow of the Engineering Institute of Canada, and Professor Emeritus University of Alberta. As a cyclist, he is a past Hawaii Ironman and an Alumni of five other TDA rides before Trans Europa. From July to December last year he rode 14,500 km from Fairbanks, Alaska to the Panama Canal, accompanying fellow TDA Alumnus Bob Fletcher as he set the Guinness World Record for the longest e-bike ride to date. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada with his wife Jutta. Their son, Ted lives and works in Vancouver, B.C.

Katherine Slotnick

I am a retired public health nurse and live in Juneau, Alaska. I’ve done several TDA tours with my husband Neil.

Stephen (Neil) Slotnick

Looking forward to slowly making my way across Korea and Japan (2024) and Morocco (2026) with a fabulous group of people.

Susan Rankin

Love cycling. Totally over pandemic isolation. Let's do this!

Tom Perlmutter

This will be my fourth TDA tour. The first was in 2019, Tour d'Afrique, the last full one before Covid. It was exhilarating and somewhat addictive. After a year and a half of confinement I was happy to jump on a bike and do TDA's inaugural Great American Road Trek. I did North America in 2022 and looking to complete the hemisphere with the South America tour.

Mayumi Stroy

55 year old who enjoys bicycle touring, traveling, hiking, and downhill and xc skiing. Lives in Soda Springs, CA. This will be my forth trip with TDA - 2020 Tour d’Afrique, 2021 Great American Road Trip, and 2022 Bamboo Road. Down time activities includes cooking, eating, listening to music, watching futbol, and reading. This trip is the top of my bucket list and I can’t wait to explore that same areas that Genghis Khan and Marco Polo traveled. What adventures we will have!

Erika Lindquist

Retired biology scientist Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory

Bill Wilson

This will be my 12th trip with TDA, as I've previously ridden all or part of the Trans Europa, the Orient Express, the Hippie Trail, the Bamboo Road, Magical Madagascar, the Tour d'Afrique, the Trans Oceania, the Odyssey, the North American Epic, the South American Epic and the Great American Roadtrip . I retired eight years ago, after more than 35 years prosecuting criminal cases for the Ontario government, and spend the bulk of my time cycling, golfing, reading and travelling. I am looking forward to getting together with some old friends and making some new ones.

Nicholas Beardow

I have completed three TDA tours and loved all of them. Although I travelled extensively in South America, I have never cycled there, so this will be another new adventure. I live and work in Singapore.

Rita Tellerman

Hi! My name is Rita and I am a retired Public Health Nutritionist living in New York City. I can’t wait for the next TDA adventure. Since I started cycling at 49 and doing lots of bike trips to see the world, , I have ALWAYS and continue to be the oldest woman on each and every tour. My message to anyone who might consider it a barrier… don’t … just do it and you’ll have the time of your life.

David Stein

Ex nerd, now older and cantankerous. This is my third TDA trip -- I very much enjoyed the Great American Roadtrip in 2021 and the Golden Buddha in 2023.

Richard Morneau

I am looking forward to this great trip which should provide various beautiful landscapes, and, perhaps, meet again friends I made on previous TDA’ trips.

Fred Stanton

Of interest might be: I bicycled to every place I ever worked, not every day but every place. I live near Chicago so winters can be challenging. My Facebook page has very brief summaries and maps of my prior international bicycle trips.

Peter Millikan

I am 75, a retired emergency physician, married since 1973, three children and five grand children, living north of Seattle on the Tulalip Indian Reservation. Travel highlights: half year backpacking and tent camping in East Africa and South America, four weeks trekking in Nepal, half year living in Andalusia, Camino de Santiago on mountain bike, road bike trips from Seattle to Bath, Maine, Natchez Trace, Seattle to San Francisco via Oregon Coast, TDA Transeuropa, TDA Odyssey, TDA North American Epic (Banff to Yuma), mountain bike trips in Northern Rockies, around Moab, and various rides around California and Washington with friends, bike clubs or solo. I've summited the volcanic peaks in the Cascades as well as Mt Whitney. Besides hiking and biking I like windsurfing and skiing. I can say a few things in Spanish or Russian.

Brian McCloskey

My wife Karen and I reside along the seacoast north of Boston. I've previously enjoyed experiences with TDA riding sections of the GART tour in 2021; a section of the 2023 NA Epic from Banff to Helena last fall; pedaling across Rajasthan Province on the Hippie Trail last February and most recently riding on TDA's Trans Himalaya. As always I am looking forward to reuniting with old friends and exploring new and exciting landscapes and cultures.

Karen McCloskey

I am excited to reconnect with some of our 2021 GART riders and meet a whole new group of cycling adventurers.

Jackie Silverberg

I’m a retired high school teacher . Im very fit and love riding my bike . I have done a few vehicle supported trips . I have ridden in Patagonia , the Atlas Mountains , Rwanda and Uganda , Laos, Thailand ,and Borneo .Road Egypt and Sudan., southern US and Transoceania with TDA

Katie Wittmann

I love riding my bicycle, and commute by bike all year round. I used to compete in triathlons, but these days my cycling adventures are mostly touring trips. Outside of this tour, my regular work is also cycling-related, but on the infrastructure planning side of things.

Emily Currie

“‘Happiness is only real when shared’: I think this counts for a whole spectrum of experiences and emotions—pain, hardship, excitement, joy, for instance—and explains why sharing an adventure or journey with a group makes it so very real!”

Who would have thought that growing up on a farm and a career in rural healthcare would prepare me for a job like my job at TDA? I always had the desire to travel and even though I thought working here would be too good to actually come true when I sent in my job application, here I am, six tours and 28 countries later. I’ve learned more about the world and myself then I ever expected.

With so many incredible memories—and so much food shared, so many friends made along the way—it will take me years to process everything I’ve experienced courtesy of TDA. Highlights of my travels so far include finishing the North American Epic (NAE) in Mexico City on the Day of the Dead, cycling Central Asia’s Pamir Highway, Abdul’s pilaf in the parking lot, Colombia, pan con chicharron, Patagonia, a massive thunder storm in Zambia, Hami melon, Madagascar, Samarkand, walnut and honey spread on fresh bread and topped with whipped yak cream, eaten in a warm yurt… and the list goes on! It’s amazing to realize that everything I experience with TDA will have an impact on my life long after these adventures are over.

One adventure I don’t expect to have again is the one I had in Mexico, when we discovered Hurricane Patricia was heading right straight at us. Monitoring the storm’s progress through the night—from stage 4 to stage 5—seemed so unreal. By 5:00 a.m., CNN was calling Patricia the strongest hurricane ever measured on planet earth. A few hours later, we loaded all bikes, riders, kit and crew onto an extra van and bus … and took off, tails between our legs, because Patricia was shaping up to be a beast! By nightfall we were safe and sound in the heart of tequila country, and, as Patricia lost most of her fury at landfall, the party at our lodgings ramped up.

There are so many wonderful aspects to working with TDA but key amongst them are travelling with purpose, meeting people from all over—and the food!

Judith Gold

I am a casual cyclist, but I have been planning this trip for 20 years, ever since the first TDA ride. Finally, kids grown, retired, post COVID, and after riding half of the Great American Road Trip in 2021, and the full Bamboo Road in 2022, I feel ready to take this on (but not that ready). I am married to Gonzalo Pastor, who is also coming, and even less of a cyclist than me. So together with the sweep, we will be the last coming in, but hopefully always with a smile.

John Hemmen

I have been an avid cyclist all my life and have done many tours on both road and mountain bikes. Cycling is simply the best way to travel through country, for it lends itself to a relaxed and visceral connection to the land and its people. I am a retired Emergency Physician and have done the Trans Europa, Odyssey, Pub Ride, and NAE tours previously with TDA.

Dianna Hand