{"id":611750,"date":"2026-05-30T08:39:18","date_gmt":"2026-05-30T08:39:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611750\/"},"modified":"2026-05-30T08:39:18","modified_gmt":"2026-05-30T08:39:18","slug":"i-wrapped-my-legs-in-toilet-paper-to-keep-warm-his-around-the-world-effort-got-off-to-a-bad-start-but-andrew-ryan-is-still-riding","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/611750\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018I wrapped my legs in toilet paper to keep warm\u2019: His around-the-world effort got off to a bad start, but Andrew Ryan is still riding"},"content":{"rendered":"

A creative approach to overcoming adversity is one of the hallmarks of a successful ultra-endurance<\/a> athlete, and 25-year-old Andrew Ryan might just have it in spades.<\/p>\n

In April this year, Ryan set off on his bicycle to circumnavigate the planet. When we speak, he\u2019s reached Turkey\u2019s Black Sea coast, having covered 2,300-odd miles after six weeks on the road.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Ryan – brand new to cycling but with a background in endurance running – had chosen the well-trodden path of gaining a university degree before embarking on a desk-bound career in the city. But one morning in March this year, as he swivelled on his chair in an office in Atlanta, Georgia, he had an epiphany. There was more to life than this. The very same day, he handed in his notice. He had a month to prepare. The world awaited his wheels.<\/p>\n

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But first he had to buy those wheels. \u201cI found a Ritchey steel frame on Facebook for $500. It’s maybe 10 years old. I figured steel<\/a> would be the most fixable material if something went wrong on the road,\u201d Ryan told me of buying his steed.<\/p>\n

Four weeks of planning ensued, and on April 6, Ryan found himself on a plane heading to Poland.<\/p>\n

The trip, so far, is looking good – but it didn\u2019t get off to the best start. A catastrophically timed mechanical failure – and the resulting stopover – on the opening day from Krak\u00f3w (Poland) almost saw Ryan call time on the whole affair.<\/p>\n

\n

\"Andrew\n<\/p>\n

Ryan picked the bike up for $500<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Andrew Ryan)<\/p>\n

\u201cThe terrain I was riding was relentlessly steep,\u201d remembers Ryan, \u201cmy front brake cable snapped, and so did the cable for the rear derailleur. One of the only spare parts I neglected to bring were cables,\u201d he recalls.<\/p>\n

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Ryan had begun his journey on the Easter weekend \u2013 a period during which he discovered the \u201cdevoutly Christian\u201d Poland essentially shuts itself down \u201cfrom Good Friday right through until the following Tuesday.\u201d<\/p>\n

A long walk with a broken bike landed the adventurer at the Slovakian border. Whilst there was no bike shop, Ryan did chance upon a small homestay hotel.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe hotel was shut down for the holiday, but I happened to run into the owner. She let me pay, checked me in, and then left. She told me she wouldn\u2019t be back until Tuesday. I was the only person in the hotel,\u201d recalls Ryan.<\/p>\n

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The building itself had no central heating. Most of it sat cold and dormant, in shutdown mode during the long weekend, save for Ryan\u2019s room. \u201cSo I went upstairs, let myself into the room with the electric key card, and went to take a shower. When I came back from the shower, the key card no longer worked.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n

\"Images\n<\/p>\n

A view from Ryan’s first day in Poland<\/p>\n

(Image credit: Andrew Ryan)<\/p>\n

Now standing alone in a \u201cfive or six degree hallway\u201d wearing nothing but underwear and socks, with a dwindling phone battery and no neighbours, Ryan slowly began to realise the magnitude of the situation.<\/p>\n

Then came a small glimmer of hope \u2013 the downstairs bathroom.<\/p>\n

\u201cI found a housekeeping drawer with four bath towels and some toilet paper in it. I realised I was probably going to get hypothermia if I stayed in the lobby, so I wrapped towels and toilet paper around my arms and legs and lay on the bathroom floor because it was slightly warmer in there. Every so often, I\u2019d turn the shower on to fill the room with hot steam before the water ran cold again.\u201d<\/p>\n

By this stage, Ryan had been awake for over 40 hours, but the hotel hadn\u2019t finished with him yet. \u201cThere was this incredibly sensitive motion-detecting light. If you moved your pinky toe it would blast on and stay on for five minutes.\u201d<\/p>\n

For fifteen hours, Ryan drifted in and out of consciousness on the bathroom floor. When he finally heard movement downstairs, he assessed himself in the mirror: \u201cMy eyes were bloodshot, my lips were blue, and I had massive bags under my eyes,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n

Finally, the owner had returned. \u201cYou\u2019re late for checkout,\u201d she told him.<\/p>\n

When the full experience had been relayed, Ryan received an extra night\u2019s stay on the house, sleeping for 24-hours straight before continuing his journey.<\/p>\n

Months later, he\u2019s still pedalling. Now in Georgia, Ryan hopes to be able to continue through the Far East, across Australia and up through South America.<\/p>\n

Adversity still visits regularly, of course. That\u2019s the nature of riding a bicycle around the world. But now he\u2019s prepared for it. Andrew Ryan rolls with the punches. And perhaps that\u2019s what ultra cycling is about.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A creative approach to overcoming adversity is one of the hallmarks of a successful ultra-endurance athlete, and 25-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":611751,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[37],"tags":[4985,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-611750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-cycling","tag-cycling","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=611750"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/611750\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/611751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=611750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=611750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=611750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}