College Student Pedals Over 2,000 Miles Through The Pandemic To Get Home
A college student at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland was stranded at school when the COVID-19 pandemic canceled all of the flights to his home in Greece. However, Kleon Papadimitriou was determined to get back to his family so he bought a bicycle and started pedaling his way across Europe.
The 20-year-old told CNN that he had competed in a bike race the year before, but he wasn’t sure if he was up for the over two thousand miles this journey would take. He decided to go for it anyway. Kleon bought the bike, some canned sardines, peanut butter, bread, and a tent and began the transcontinental trek on May 10th. He spent seven weeks riding 35 to 75 miles per day, stopping in fields and forests to sleep.
You can imagine that his family must have been just a bit concerned for his safety. After all, Kleon was traveling alone. His father agreed to go along with his son’s plan under one condition: they would use an app which would allow the family to track Kleon’s location.
By June 27th, Papadimitriou had ridden approximately 2,175 miles over 48 days when he arrived in Athens. He says he’s a better person for having done it, adding, “I’m more confident in myself.” He’s probably also in the best shape of his life.
