Outer Space: Around the World with Boru McCullagh
It wasn’t supposed to go this far.
When Boru McCullagh left England in 2023, he expected to be gone for seven months. It’s been nearly two years, and he’s not yet close to being home.
“I had this idea bugging me to go and cycle around the world. From the comfort of your living room, you can plan something like that down to a tee and genuinely believe that your planning is worthwhile. I came up with a route, a timeline, a distance – but once I started, that timeline got a bit longer and a bit longer, as my motivations to ride and understanding of how to properly care for the opportunity that I have to do this changed.”
When we speak, Boru is in San Francisco, California, ready to head south along the Pacific coast, before turning east and crossing North America. His arrival in New York won’t quite bring the adventure to a close – he still has some riding to do from Morocco to Spain and back to the United Kingdom via Ireland – but, as he puts it, this trans-American stint represents “the start of a very beautiful sunset”.
“I’ve been away for such a long time now,” he says. “In that time, I have always been moving ‘away’ from home. Getting to the US, though, it’s undeniable that I am headed in the direction of home.”
Boru grew up racing track at Herne Hill Velodrome in south London, a venue originally built in 1891 and which played host to the cycling events of the 1948 Olympic Games.
He became head coach for the velodrome, a fixture of the place. He says he didn’t have any big ambitions to take on a challenge like his round-the-world odyssey.
“I had a rough few years, during which I pretty much stopped cycling. Then when I was getting back into it, I started getting into the long-distance side. Instead of faster and faster, which was what track was always about, suddenly I was trying to go further and further.”
This change in the way he rode his bike was a reflection of how he thought about his place in the world.
“I used to think that my life wouldn’t be that long, and that my cycling reflected that. Then, when I started to think that maybe my life could go the full distance, my cycling followed.”
For the 23-year-old Boru, the impetus to set out came – at least partly – from a desire not to leave things undone at a time in his life when he still had the space to do them.
“I had this thought, like what if I am 50 or 60 looking back and thinking ‘Wow, remember that plan I had to ride around the world, I wish I’d done that now.’ And that became quite a scary thought, one that lodged in my mind. And so I decided to do it.”
Which isn’t to say that he puts his achievements on a pedestal.
“I don’t think that there’s anything more outgoing or heroic about doing something like this, than those people who have committed themselves to what they are doing in other ways. Everybody goes on their own journey, this is just how I’ve chosen to do mine. This was the first really big dream that I had for myself.”
“For years and years I was really depressed, and just really trying to remove myself from the world. So when I had the smallest glimmer of hope that this journey might be even a little bit possible, I really attached myself to that.”
The route Boru took from home saw him ride through Europe, over the Alps and across the Balkans. Turkey was his gateway into Asia, and from there he flew on to India. There were adventures in south-east Asia, including Vietnam and Cambodia, and it was at this point you see any semblance of a continuous line eastward fade away. Replaced instead by a freeform, adventure-chasing itinerary going up and down countries, seeing the sights and living entirely on and for the bike.
When it came to planning the US leg, Boru found himself torn between the need to cover miles and a desire to continue opening himself up to the journey.
“What I learned over the last two years is that as you ride, you have so many people suggesting places to go that having a plan you rigidly adhere to begins to hold you back. Actually now, I see the plan as the backup.”
Time is tight, for the first time since he left, with just three months to cross the USA due to the country’s strict ESTA rules. He has a few spots he wants to hit along the way, however.
“Bentonville, Arkansas and Boulder, Colorado were two cities I’ve known about as big cycling communities in the US. Colorado generally, I really wanna go to those high mountains. People think you might want to seek out flat roads for cycle touring, but the mountains motivate me completely differently.”
“And then Death Valley was another essential. I love those desert environments. I loved riding across Australia for the same reason.”
There have been plenty of expected and unexpected milestones along the way already.
“Because I’ve been doing this so long, it’s easy to forget how weird this thing is that I’m doing. There have been some moments of realisation where I’ve said to myself, ‘Wow, I cycled here’. Reaching the Alps, seeing the Himalayas for the first time, cycling into Singapore, crossing the Nullarbor. And West Virginia will be another one of those moments, I’m going to sing Country Roads as I cross the state line.”
Although he recently paused his progress in order to recuperate from an injury he picked up in an Indonesian bikepacking race, it has been a long time since he had any concerns about his fitness levels. Riding is more like a state of being now, than a sporting pursuit.
“My motivations to ride are to be outside and feel the wind in my hair. I’m not concerned with power or heart rate. That’s where I grew up in the sport, but it’s not where my passion lies.”
It seems natural to ask, given the huge impact his journey has had on his way of seeing things, whether he is afraid to finish his ride. He pauses a long time before answering.
“No. And the reason why is that I think doing this has given me confidence that I’ll be able to do whatever it is I put my mind to. I have shown myself that I can be so resourceful, I can pretty much adapt to anything.”
“I’m not necessarily nervous to finish. I don’t see the end as an exact finish line,” he adds. “Really, it’s the beautiful sunset of a day that has lasted over two years already.”
Boru McCullagh set off from Los Angeles on 2 October, and will be stopping in the following cities along his route through the USA.
Las Vegas, Nevada
Boulder, Colorado
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Bentonville, Arkansas
Nashville, Tennessee
New York, New York
Donate to his fundraiser for Mind, the mental health charity.
If you or someone you know is struggling with your mental health or themes brought up in this article, please reach out to someone, consider contacting your doctor or a mental health charity like Mind, in the UK, Beyond Blue in Australia or the National Alliance on Mental Illness in the USA.
For his ride, Boru is using the following Alt_Road products:
Alt_Road™ 2.0 Bibs
Alt_Road™ Overshorts
Alt_Road™ Tech Tee
Alt_Road™ Wind Vest
Alt_Road™ Lightweight Anorak
UV Arm Screens
Thermal Base Layer
