The Rickshaw Run is a 3,000km Indian adventure in a 7 horsepower glorified lawnmower.
No set route, no back-up, no way of knowing if we're going to make it. The only certainty is that we will get lost, we will get stuck and we will break down, multiple times.
It will be just ourselves (and another 85 teams of unprepared adventurers), in a wholly unsuitable vehicle, traversing the whole subcontinent, enduring whatever shit the road throws at us.
We will be facing the bone-shaking Jaisalmer - Kochi route, in the April 2017 run. Test drive starts on March 31st and the adventure launches on April 2nd.
A worthy finish-line party awaits us in Fort Kochi on April 15th, assuming we can actually get there!
With us luck!
What happened to the art of map reading, asking for directions and driving two days in the wrong direction?
Once you crossed the start line, you're on your own. Don't even think about crying for help.
No chance of getting there, at least not in the same way you left. This is an adventure and it will change lifes forever.
Martin Spier
Currently living in California, lived in 4 different countries in the past 15 years. He traveled to hundreds of places in over 30 countries, and still feels this is just a blip on all there is to see in this world.
Igor Gaelzer
Lives in Nova Petrópolis, a small town in the south Brazil. Is the founder of Nordweg, a brand of genuine leather backpacks, loves traveling, languages and technology.
Robison Kunz
Robison, lives a small town in the south of Brazil, is a photographer, educator, and travels the country after happy stories and moments that deserve being photographed!
Ramon Lied
Live in Nova Petrópolis, it's a businessman and real estate entepreneur. Loves to travel, exchange experiences with others, and being around nature!
The un-route is a simple yet devastatingly effective concept. There's a start line and a finish line. Everything in between is up to us.
To attain this nirvana-like state of ignorant adventuring bliss we must ignore it all. Bollocks to travel guides and research. The less we know the better!
Trying to tame the beast that is the Rickshaw Run is just not going to work. Crafting a daily route is pointless. Trying to work out where we’ll stay every night is idiotic. Detailed planning of any kind is highly likely to go completely to shit by the second day on the road. India will see to that.
Having a set route and being told where to go is tremendously boring, hence, the marvelous un-route. There’s a starting point and a finishing point, and in between it’s all up to us and our sense of adventure.
Between mystical Jaisalmer and tropical Kochi there's a whole world of adventure to be had and it will be up to us to get up from our asses and find it!
Luckily for your, our dear follower, you wiil be able to laugh uncontrollably from the safety of your comfy chair, while following our misadventures in our real-time tracking map (coming soon) and social networks!
If God had made machines he probably wouldn't have bothered with a Rickshaw. But as with so many other things he would have been wrong.
Essentially, it's not a very good idea. It's not very fast, it smells, it falls over when you go round corners, it breaks downs more often than an emo teenager and a days driving feels like you've been kicked up the ass by an elephant. But somehow all this makes them better.
These wonders of the motorised world were invented by a chap called Corradine D'Ascanio who also invented some quite resplendent flying machines (one we note has three wheels) and designed the Vespa scooter before his career topping moment of bringing the Piaggio Ape to humanity in 1947.
Later this trusty marvel was licensed to a little known Indian company by the name of Bajaj.
And so they are, unquestionably, the greatest vehicle on the planet. They are the only way to try and cross the subcontinent in this adventure!
Here are some some quick facts of this mighty machine:
Not only is the Rickshaw Run an incredible adventure, it’s also about saving the world. Every team must raise a minimum of £1000 for charity. What better way to save the world than showing our followers a small and amazing part of it, and raising awareness for our cause!
There are so many charities we would love to help, but we haven’t yet chosen one yet, so stay tuned for updates!
Yakin' Around
