Helmut Pucher started his journey on his STEVENS Prestige cyclocross bike along the Panamericana from the southern tip of Argentina to Alaska. His goal for this tour is not only to conquer the 26,000km (16,000mls) but also to raise awareness for the „NPH – Nuestros Pequenos Hermanos“ organization in Guatemala, which takes care of underprivileged children.

Pucher himself will document his journey in his Blog Panam Rouleur and a movie trailer is telling about his preparations. You can also follow his path on Strava. The extreme biker started his trip from Buenos Aires to the actual starting point of the Panamericana in Ushuaia/Argentina. Of the first 5,000km of the journey documented on Strava, 3,000 is only the distance from Argentina’s capital to the southernmost city in the world, Ushuaia.

”I hope to again meet many extraordinary people and to be surprised by the countries I travel,” Helmut Pucher said in one of the many interviews that preceded his trip. The first extraordinary people – also bike travelers – Pucher already met: Marco on a STEVENS Camino R14 and Lucie from Netherlands on her STEVENS 6X Lite.

Everything he will need on his trip, Pucher carries on his bike, there won’t be any escort vehicles or any staff to support him. He will sleep in a tent and do all the cooking by himself.

In 2013 and 2014 the 31-year old had already travelled the world from his home in Corinthia across the Balkans, Turkey and India to China and Mongolia. He used last year mostly for recovery and for a lecturing tour.

He even already knows a part of the Panamericana to the Lake Titicaca in Peru from one of his previous trips. ”To ride your bike across endless vastness into the sunset is absolutely beyond words.”

Like all his previous trips, Pucher will start his journey on a cyclocross bike. Why, he answered in an interview with STEVENS in July 2014: ”I was always excited by ’cross tires and wheels. For such ever changing road conditions they are the optimal solution. Though I always travel with luggage, I always like to keep a certain ”race feeling” with the bike itself.”

He will carry his luggage in a backpack all the time: ”Until today I don’t see the need to attach pannier bags to my bike, because why change anything that already has proven to work? My backpack has already accompanied me through South America, Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Asia. I never experienced any of the predicted back pains.”

Pucher will deliver up-to-date reports from his trip in his Blog. Also the web pages Cyclingtips.com, Rawcyclingmagazin and bikeboard.at will report from his journey. On kofferpacken.at there is also another interview.