Having ridden nearly 8000km across Canada, James Tobin and Carolyn Sharples are now taking their monster tandem trike to Beijing and riding back again.

Their main point seems to be that they’ve calculated the journey will consume the energy equivalent of 15.5 litres of petrol, rather than the 1,454 litres a car would use*. Carolyn Sharples said: “The Beijing to London trip is part of an on-going campaign to raise awareness of human-powered transport and encourage people to use pedal power to reduce the amount of CO² being released into the atmosphere and, therefore, slow the rate of climate change.”

Given that their monster £5,000, 72 speed Greenspeed tandem trike and BOB trailer rig probably takes up more room than a car, they won’t be doing much for global congestion though!

After stressful days trying to stay alive on notoriously lethal Asian main roads on a low profile, low visibility tandem with three separate wheel tracks to get round every obstacle, they’ll undoubtedly be glad of their equipment sponsorship from Terra Nova.
The UK company will be providing a Terra Nova Solar 2 ultra-lightweight two-person tent and sleeping bags from its new range, which is still being developed. They are also providing Terra Nova equipment clothing designed for both hot and cold climates, including Atacamic wicking tops and Extremities hats, gloves and socks.

The trip is expected to take the intrepid eco duo 8 – 10 months and you can follow their petrol-free adventures on Trikeit.co.uk.

*Of course if they didn’t go on this trip (dare we say holiday?) in the first place, getting there by that well known clean transport system, central Asian public transport, they wouldn’t expend any fuel energy at all.

Then there’s the energy needed to cook all their food, power the computers (that they’ll have to find to update their website), ship a 60lb recumbent from Australia (where they’re made) to England and then back out to Beijing again, plus emissions from exhaust gasses after Mongolian breakfasts. Those don’t appear to have been listed either ;-).