Tim Millikin

I love travel and more importantly travel by bicycle. It brings the freedom and adventurous spirit that any other way of travelling cannot match. I love that I am able to share this with our guests and show them the world in the best possible way.

I currently live in Oxford, UK but have had a relatively nomadic lifestyle from my mid-twenties. Call it an early mid-life crisis! I am best known for a three-year, mostly solo, 46500km bike ride from Reading, UK to Reading, USA. It was truly transformative and gave me a motivation to pursue a life of travel and adventure. It also saw me leave my career in television for one in cycling, and I haven’t looked back. I have also written a book about this adventure, available in all good book stores!

TDA for me brings the beauty of bike travel with the ease of some support, but that does not mean it is easy. For me, my favourite days are the ones you will remember forever. The Blue Nile Gorge day in Ethiopia is a real stand out. Beautiful scenery and rough roads as you descend 1800m into the Blue Nile Gorge before then climbing 1800 back out of the Gorge on the same rough roads, with children running past you, cars honking, each rider riding their own battle against the gradient. The beer at the campsite on the top never tasted so good! Roads and stories like this happen on each and every TDA tour and that is what is so special. No matter where in the world you are going, you are going to have epic, mementos days.

My best tip for any future TDA rider is bring a positive attitude. It is the most important tool in your kit bag. This will keep the spirit of adventure burning throughout the tour, which can be up to five months for some. It will ensure you are able to see the beauty in the world around you even when you are tired. It will mean that the hard moments pass quickly and the memories will last a lifetime.

Rachael Trowton

I will be returning to TDA as a medic for a second tour, I am a junior doctor in the NHS currently working in the beautiful south of Yorkshire. After a busy couple of years in the hospital, I am looking forward to stretching my legs in the fresh air, seeing more of the world, and helping keep our cyclists on the tour happy and healthy through the ride. I have done a number of cycle tours over the years including through the UK, Europe and Vietnam and I have definitely got the cycling bug from them! I completed the trans-Caucasus with TDA as a medic in 2022 which was an incredible experience, and I hope to keep our riders safe and smiling for our trip in the Himalayas!

Ben Murgatroyd

Having worked for the past 8 winters as a wilderness guide in Finnish Lapland, and traveling for the coinciding summers, covid bought my lifestyle to an abrupt halt. Not one to be deterred, I moved up to stunning Scotland in my van, studying to become a furniture maker in a workshop full of laughter and creativity. But the itch to travel always needs scratching, so I'm very excited to join the tour to see another part of our beautiful planet and all it has to offer, smiling all the way!

Mitchell Kadelbach

Something of a British Canadian mongrel, raised in Toronto and currently awaiting judgement day in the UK's Southwest. I first cut my teeth as a chef in Toronto's fast-paced restaurant scene, specialising in Italian and Mexican cuisine. But really grew in to my own, after I started traveling, seeing drawing connections, conjuring up my own fusions, and getting to grips with real french cuisine in France. In 2018, I completed the Silk Route tour with TDA as the tour chef. and then returned to the region in 2022 on TDA's Trans-Caucuses. Working for TDA is truly a dream come true, as I never stop savouring the opportunity, overland across continent, tasting cuisine, drinking in the sights and sounds, learning languages and laughing with locals. I hope to engaged more openly with my travels by, recording and photographing the outlandish and irregular natural and cultural communities, eventually capitalising on my journalism undergrad.

Douglas Percival

There is a great sense of satisfaction seeing a Rider finishing their day with a smile on their face, and that Day by Day, we have Taken someone safely to a place on this planet that Most People will never see, and all whilst by Bicycle.

I am a South African that has lived a life of itchy travel feet, and found myself Living in Sweden. Being a passionate cyclist in my teenage years, my Bike Mechanic Brother, taught me to fix my own bicycles, a vital bit of knowledge not only for a teenager trying to save money on bike repairs, but how it would shape my working career.

I've worked in all corners of the Bike industry,... shops, import and distribution, race teams, and even now for the Swedish Cycling Federation, as well as personal Guiding for a huge mix of private clients. They have all added up into helping me grow my knowledge of a bicycle, and how I can make one operate even in the worst environments with rider abuse,....which then played into the hand of being a confident TDA mechanic.

Guiding and Leading Tours came organically through my knowledge of Traveling, mixed with my knowledge of fixing bikes, thrown into the pot of being a passionate cyclist, and large desire of being on the Move.... Quite a mix.

TDA tours have the ability to provide one with a gift. It is a gift that keeps on giving...and that is: just when you think you have seen it all, there is always something else to surprise you with! From sleeping inside the Great Wall of China, to swatting flies off your sandwich in 49celcius Australian outback, or watching stars in the Sudanese Sahara, to Sipping Expresso's in an Italian cafe. From the Orderly bike lanes of Denmark to the chaos of Freetown, Sierra Leone.... There is so much that happens daily!

For any future rider that is wondering how to make their experience better. Set your expectations reasonably, ask questions, And come prepared... and Know your equipment!

Know how your bike feels, make sure it has arrived on tour Fully serviced. Know how to put up your tent if you're not confident with it.

And Figure out your bag packing! I have watched too many people lose an hour of their precious day (and some everyday for 4 months).. because they don't have their equipment organized.

Cheers..and happy riding!

Mats Fredrix

I remember the first time I had tears of joy running down my cheeks on a descent, and screaming every syllable of 'Paradise by the Dashboard Lights' to endure the pains of a full day in the headwind. This might just be one of mine, but you'll experience plenty, beautifully weird 'joys of riding' of your own, and when those happen, I'm your man. To tell your story, your adventure. Or you might just want a cool looking picture of you and some mountains. See you out there, Rouleurs. Live Slow, Ride Fast.

Kim Wright

Murray Beare

Rode from Tuk to Fort St John on the NA Epic 2109. Looking forward to travelling farther afield. TDA is the way to do it.

Peter Cox

Retired Paediatric Critical Care MD; Worked with MSF and other NGOs since then. Rode Cairo to Cape Town 2019 Rode Trans Caucasus 2022

Paul Paridaen

I am 65 yrs old. My spouse Bonnie and I did the last half of the TDA in 2008 and my son Matthew and I did the first half of the TDA in 2011. I love exploring our beautiful world from the seat of a bicycle. I was hoping to do the Silk Road this year, and I am very excited about the Trans- Caucasus this August.

Lizz Hale

Avid cyclist from Santa Fe, New Mexico. This will be my third trip with TDA.

Kelley Hale

Cyclist, photographer, goofball from Santa Fe New Mexico. Looking forward to my third trip with TDA.

Jeanine Hartnett

This will be my fourth TDA trip. I retired from a banking career in New York in 2016. I’ve done many other long distance cycling trips, including across the US in 2017.

Elizabeth (Liz) Crago

There are so many interesting places to travel to, and I can't think of any better way to travel through anywhere, than by bike. I enjoy the challenge it brings and I look forward to going to the more out of the way locations. I enjoy travel, and I love cycling so am looking forward to combining them both again on this trip. My first TDA trip was Madagascar in 2019, I did the Trans-Caucasus in 2022, and I can’t wait to do another trip with TDA. The Silk Road has always inspired me, and does daunt me at the same time, but I look forward to experiencing what it has to offer. In the meantime I look forward to a few sections in South America!

Michael Howard

A cyclist on and off for many years. I started when I was 14. I rode a section from Sudan to Ethiopia 2014 and Rute De Maya 2015, plus Tanzania to Namibia, plus Kyrgyzstan,, Uzbekistan and Tajikistan. Now I am looking forward to the great ride Georgia and Turkey in August 2022. I still work, why retire? Keep healthy to live a long life

Benedicte Therien

I have been cycling all around the world solo or duo (Cuba, France, West Africa, Patagonia, Balkans, S-E Asia, etc..). First organized tour ever was North American Epic in 2019 (northern part and central America). Liked it so much, here I am super excited to bike the Trans Caucasus with you

Bob Kieckhefer

Geophysicist, cyclist, swimmer. I currently live in Chiang Mai, Thailand, where there are plenty of hills to climb. I rode Cairo to Babati plus Vic Falls to Cape Town in 2018/19/20 and look forward to completing the Babati-to-Vic-Falls portion.

Fabrizio Brentini

Born in 1957. Fan of every kind of cycling.

Stephen (Neil) Slotnick

Looking forward to slowly making my way across Europe (2023) and Korea and Japan (2024) with a fabulous group of people.

Katherine Slotnick

I am a retired public health nurse and live in Juneau, Alaska. I rode the Orient Express tour in 2019, the Great American Road Trip in 2021 and the Trans-Caucuses tour in 2022 with my husband Neil.

Hanne Renland

Grant Mcintosh

Hi im a 64 yearold Farmer from Christchurch New Zealand. Enjoy cycling NZ cycle trails and have completed to Escape Adventures tours to Madagaser and China.Looking forward to the journey and challenge TDA cycle tour will bring.

Gerry Newton

I've toured in North America, Central America, Europe, and SE Asia

Jonna Koch

I feel alive when I am riding on my bike. At home in Denmark I ride flat so I prefer to ride in the mountains when I am cycling abroad. I did the Trans-Himalaya in 2019 and the Kingdom of the West in Morocco in 2022 and Trans-Caucasus in 2022.