Cyclist endures epic 22,500-mile journey around the world in 430 days... has bike stolen outside London pub

During Geordie Stewart's 430-day, 22,500-mile around-the-world cycle, he was held at knifepoint in Italy, had his bike confiscated by police in China, and was threatened in the Australian outback, his bicycle making it through every setback until it was stolen... outside a pub in London last week.

"I went for a drink with a couple of friends who I was in the army with just catching up... I came out and the bike was not there," he told The Times. 

Having bought the Dawes bicycle — named Dorothy due to him being on his own adventure towards Oz at the time — on eBay for a few hundred pounds before his around-the-world ride in 2018, and given the considerable mileage put on it since, the thief is unlikely to get much for Stewart's bike, the 34-year-old appealing for its return due to its sentimental value.

Five years ago Stewart set out from the UK, riding through Europe, central Asia, south east Asia, Australia, New Zealand and the United States, before returning to Europe and London in 2019, 430 days later.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Geordie Stewart (@geordie_stewart)

However, on Tuesday evening it was stolen outside the Anglesea Arms pub in Hammersmith, the thief cutting through the lock and making off with the bike seconds later.

"My desire to get it back is not based on monetary gain," Stewart explained. "It's on affection, really, and sentimental value. I've put the bike through every condition you can imagine, from minus 45 in Kazakhstan to 45°C in California. It almost got stolen by a guy with a knife in Italy, it was taken by the Chinese police and confiscated for a while. I was threatened by people in the middle of the outback in Australia.

"You also get these slight flashbacks when you're riding sometimes — whether that be the way you look at the tyre or the way the rear rack is held together with cable ties and gaffer tape. I look at that and I remember when that broke, when I was in the middle of the outback... It's not a normal bike."

Stewart, who also became the youngest Brit to climb the highest mountain in every continent at 22 during his early adult life, now works for an electric motor racing company and would ride his around-the-world bike as a commuter before it was stolen, but has not reported the crime to the police.

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Geordie Stewart (@geordie_stewart)

"I thought the police have bigger things to worry about. I thought it would just get lost in the system," he said, instead hoping to spot it being sold online.

Last November, we reported that another around-the-world cyclist, from Israel, who was visiting the UK at the time, had his bike stolen in Cambridge. Meanwhile in 2019, Josh Quigley didn't even make it across the Channel before his bike was stolen outside a hostel in London.

Perhaps most famously however was the news last summer that a British adventure cyclist who spent 835 days cycling around the world "through countries people repeatedly warned were too dangerous to visit" had his latest adventure brought to an abrupt end... outside a Reading branch of Wetherspoons, where his girlfriend's bike was stolen.

Skeats was part way through cycling the new King Alfred's Way route with his girlfriend, when the theft happened five metres away from where they were sitting outside the Hope Tap in Friar Street. The 29-year-old and his partner were inside the branch of Wetherspoons drinking coffee with their bikes outside propped against the window, when the thief pounced. Skeats said at the time that he gave chase for half a mile before giving up.