From North Atlantic Storms to Cycling The Silk Road | Chris McCaffrey

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In preparation for the Season 5 launch of the Adventure Diaries Podcast, we’re revisiting the most intense and inspiring moments from Chris McCaffery’s global cycling odyssey. From surviving a violent capsize in the North Atlantic to battling life-threatening illness in Vietnam, Chris’s journey is a testament to resilience. This highlights reel also covers the surreal beauty of the Silk Road, unexpected encounters with Eagle Hunters, and a heartwarming display of hospitality in Tajikistan.

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Key Topics

• The North Atlantic Storm: A terrifying account of capsizing and repairing a broken rudder hundreds of miles from land.
• Battling Illness: Chris’s struggle with severe Typhus and Dengue Fever while solo in Vietnam.
• The Silk Road: Crossing the "no-world" emptiness of Western Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.
• Cultural Encounters: Meeting Eagle Hunters in a Range Rover and a surprise birthday party in Tajikistan.
• Call to Adventure: A challenge to listeners to reimagine their local surroundings and find adventure close to home.

Chapters

• [00:00] Introduction
• [00:32] Surviving a North Atlantic Storm
• [03:41] Battling Illness in Vietnam
• [07:49] The Silk Road & Eagle Hunters
• [10:09] Kindness in Tajikistan
• [11:34] A Call to Adventure
• [14:26] Outro & Patreon Launch

Transcript

 Introduction

As we prepare for the launch of the Adventure Diaries Podcast, season five at the end of February, 2026, we're revisiting the highlights and cult adventure from each episode in season four to keep you entertained and remind you of the cult adventures to get you outdoors.

Now, here are some of the short highlights from my episode with Chris McCaffery and his global cycle across 21 countries, including the likes of the Silk Road and the premieres in joy.

Surviving a North Atlantic Storm

chris m: And I had this few seconds where I was like, ah, like he's probably overreacting.

Like it's fine. What could it be? It's been like gnarly for so long. It's not gonna be a big deal. After having that thought, I was just immediately airborne. And what had happened was a wave came on a different angle and the drug is holding us square on to the primary wind and wave direction. But when a wave comes from a different angle, it hit us on the side and like just threw the boat over.[00:01:00]

chris w: Hold up. Yeah. 

chris m: We didn't fully capsize like we rotated back the way we went over. But it was so violent that me being on the port side, which became the high side, the ocean was so strong that it like flung me across, like up into the air and I hit the ceiling of, of the cabin. So I went from being sound asleep to being like on top of Ray on the ceiling of our boat.

And then we ride it back and I was like, oh my God, that was so scary. We're all freaking, you know, I was not freaking out, but I was, uh, it was an engaging experience for sure. And what actually ended up being the scariest was we had a auxiliary battery in the cabin, so we could use the boat's battery system to charge that up so then we could charge phones and things off of that.

That had gotten flung as well at a similar force and had missed Ryan's head. 

chris w: Geez, 

chris m: by like a foot. It hit the wall next to him, like right here. And that was pretty scary actually, because the, you know, weighs like 10 [00:02:00] kilos. 

And I'd be bad to get hit like square in the face a thousand miles from the nearest land by something like that.

The rest of that day was pretty, pretty exciting for sure. We had a, a big wave came and it ripped the whole steering system off the boat, like broke the shackle that the chain was, the drove was chained onto, just snapped it, steel, snapped it straight in half the rudder system, which had been bolted metal onto the back of the boat, just totally gone.

So we switched to a sea anchor, we ride it out for the next, I think it was like 12 to 24 hours, but with no rudder. There's nothing stabilizing the back of the boat. So we're just swinging wildly like a trebuchet or a catapult. This back and forth. Geez. And we made it through, which is quite nice. And um, and then we got about rebuilding and Ryan is just a, a wizard.

He's a carpenter and contractor. It just amazing the way that he can see a problem or something that needs to be built and then also see how to fix it, is just [00:03:00] like totally next level. We had a spare piece of wood that we could use to repair various things. It could replace a broken centerboard, it could replace a broken rudder.

We never considered a wave would be strong enough to actually rip like the entire steering system off the boat. And so Ryan takes like the scraps of this thing and this spare piece of wood and like builds an entire new rudder and steering system, like with Ray. And I like hanging him off the back of the boat, like in the water.

Wow. It was nuts. And he built it and it worked and we kept rowing and we made another, I think it was another like a week and change. Wow. And had another stormy night.

stuff.

Battling Illness in Vietnam

Battling Typhus in Vietnam

chris m: Swollen liver, swollen spleen. Geez. Like weird blood work. And I was diagnosed with dengue fever, go back to the hotel and like three days later I'm just not getting better. I felt really sick. Like I'm, I like, felt like I was dying. Go to the, go back to the hospital. I'm sitting in, it's kind of waiting room and I cough and it's just this [00:04:00] like dark red, like clotted blood type thing.

Mm God. And I just like dribble like. I just like cough blood onto myself. And this like Vietnamese nurse who didn't speak any English, her eyes were just like saucers. 

chris w: Mm-hmm. 

chris m: And then they like actually admitted me, then did a bunch of tests, still thought it was dengue. I recovered a bit, but they gave me like an IV and stuff to like really properly regulate this fever I had.

So I had a fever for a couple weeks, recovered more or less, and then eased my way back onto the bike. Was then just like really sick. And after about a month of on the bike, I think I kind of just like, my body sort of broke. I just, a whole bunch of weird stuff. I started like gaining weight, like crazy, like riding, even like riding the bike was gaining weight and couldn't really eat.

I was nauseous all the time and it was really the worst thing. I was really dizzy and like brain foggy and uh, yeah. So I was in, near in Thailand and staying with this like local family and uh, I had gone to like the seven 11 to get a sandwich and I was walking back and, uh, [00:05:00] walked into my room. And the whole place felt like it was just swimming.

And then I got this like black spots that started like crawling up from the bottom of my vision and I was like, oh, this is really not good. I actually thought I had, it was going into shock from a lack of salt, so I'd had a, a bad sunburn and it was riding long way. It was hot. So through my like rescue insurance, I have access to a doctor.

I talked to a doctor and they kind of noted that I was just devolving as we were talking. And so then they spoke to the family I was with. For me, the mom of this family takes me to what I thought was gonna be like the large regional hospital because I thought I was dying for sure. And uh, it turned out to be this like open air clinic and uh, I have this pretty distinct memory of like getting put on this like rolling bed and like looking at the wall and there's just like lizards and stuff on the wall and I was like, alright, this is it.

That's really unfortunate. And [00:06:00] then I woke up and then I was out and I woke up the next morning and the mom was still like standing beside the bed. She'd been there like the whole night. 

chris w: Wow. 

chris m: Just standing there. Didn't really speak English, like couldn't communicate with me, but had spent the whole night with me in this like hospital.

And apparently they'd done blood work and stuff and given me an IV and coaxed me through it. And at that point I kind of had this decision of do I go home and just end this trip or do I continue? And the family took care of me for another couple days, you know, bringing me breakfast, lunch, and dinner and, and caring for me, which was just fantastic, obviously.

And, and the world over. 

chris w: That was amazing. 

chris m: We're just super generous. And, um, yeah, so I, uh, I stayed with them for a couple days and I improved a lot. A, like a lot, but I was still just really out of it mentally. And, um, I came to this place where I realized that I'd gone through the rural parts. There was no more [00:07:00] extremely rural other than like these two spots.

And I was so close to Singapore and I'd been on this adventure for so long and I'd put so much into it and I'd, I'd had so much risk elsewhere. Like, we could talk about it later if you'd like, but like, I was hit by a car in Uzbekistan. Like I, I'd Wow. It felt like I'd been through so much the possibility of like, not finishing, like for, for better or worse.

I, I mean, to be honest, like totally worse. I remember feeling like really like disappointed in myself, but like having this thoughts, but like the thought of like going home and like not finishing. It felt like worse than like dying. It felt like the worst thing I could possibly imagine. And if there was any chance that I could finish this ride, I was gonna take it.

And that was a pretty, it was a really

and it's uh, it feels otherworldly.

The Silk Road & Eagle Hunters

chris m: And I 

The Silk Road & Eagle Hunters

chris m: took this dirt, this like dirt sand dish road and it had all been like washed away like years ago. So I carried my bike over this wash. And then the dirt road was still there because it used [00:08:00] to access as power line, but like no cars could get down it anymore.

Yeah, I think it was a little bit longer than that, but I was just like by myself on this road that was totally inaccessible to anyone else that wasn't on a bike. It felt so surreal. And, and I go to the ride to the border with Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan go into Uzbekistan and Western Uzbekistan doesn't actually have like a paved road to get through it.

It's just this like dirt track through the sand and uh, and so I just like, just set off on this like, so difficult to describe that feeling. It felt so ethereal. 

chris w: What was that like? Because you must have been going through like, you know, coming from the west, going through places that are quite populous, quite well developed to places that are probably.

Data sector world or other worldly lack of infrastructure and stuff like that. What, what, what was that like mentally? I mean, culturally even what was your interactions like? 

chris m: To be honest, that part of Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan isn't third world. It's, it's no world. 

chris w: Yeah. [00:09:00]

chris m: There's no one there. 

chris w: Yeah. 

chris m: And so I actually, I did have one really cool cultural experience, which was, I was, I had seen, uh, off in the distance a couple times, folks on, on horseback, and, uh, I'd seen one of them traditional cozak garb with eagles and falcons on their hands and shoulders.

And, uh, one of them had like. Raised his hand and like waved to me and he's got this like, I think he was a falcon and I was like, wow, this is, this is cool. And uh, and so at that point I was riding along, it's like this two lane paved road that goes to the Uzbek border on the Cozak side. And this like really nice, I think it was white Range Rover, like new fancy Range Rover pulls over and it was the eagle hunters and uh, and like perfect, like slightly British English.

They were like, yeah, like we live in, we live in Dubai and like sell, I forget what it was like tech software, but. Our grandparent, like our lineage is from here. So we come out once a year to go eagle hunting and that was pretty cool [00:10:00] culturally. 'cause it's, it's cool that both can exist, you know? Yeah. But other than that it's, it's tough to have cultural experiences when, like culture's tied

Kindness in Tajikistan

Kindness in Tajikistan

chris m: so for my birthday, I was, I turned 24 and, uh, my, uh. Oh, a connection through, actually the owner full cycle connected me with uh, a woman who runs that exchange program. She connected me with a kid, with a guy that had come over to Boulder as this big climber, but he lives in Deon Bay. He's from Tajikistan.

chris w: Ah, amazed. 

chris m: And uh, he just tells me he is gonna like pick me up at whatever time from my hostel in Debe. And uh, I get in the car and there's like five people in it. I have no idea where we're going. It was one of those where it's like, alright, we're just gonna, we're just gonna see what happens here. He seems like a nice enough guy.

And, um, we end up at his mom's house and they were throwing me a party. 

chris w: Wow. 

chris m: And Tajikistan like the cultural festivity there is, is plum. It's [00:11:00] like this cultural dish where they cook in this giant, like ceramic dish over a fire, and they make like a ton of food and they bring it to all their neighbors and.

They'd invited like 12 or 15 people to come to like my birthday party in deve. Oh, 

chris w: amazing. 

chris m: And it was so lovely. 

chris w: That's 

chris m: amazing. And, uh, yeah, he, he spoke a bunch of the, a bunch of them spoke fantastic English, but 

chris w: yeah, 

chris m: his mom was like cooking as PLO and 

chris w: Oh 

chris m: wow. Didn't speak any English, but, uh, it was lovely experience.

A Call to Adventure

Call to Adventure

chris w: so secondly, a call to adventure. So your opportunity to raise a call to or suggest a call to adventure to listeners. It could be a people, it could be a place, an activity, or just whatever. Just something to get people thinking to go and actively participate in something maybe this weekend or whatever.

So what would you say is a call to adventure, Chris? 

chris m: Yeah, so my call to [00:12:00] adventure. It would be that adventure doesn't need to be taking 16 months to ride a bicycle around the world. And that I've had similarly fulfilling feelings of completion spending a day out in the mountains. And so my call to adventure would be to do something you do regularly differently if you've got a, a favorite calf near you that you normally drive to maybe ride your bike.

And that could go up, you could take that to any level you, you really want in terms of, of fitness and, and in terms of the human powered side of it. So my following my own advice here is gonna be, I've got this poster on my wall of all the local cycling climbs here in Boulder. 

chris w: Mm-hmm. 

chris m: And I'm so used to start at down in town where I live, you ride up to the top and then you ride, then you descend back down.

chris w: Yeah. 

chris m: And so what I'm gonna do here in a bit is, uh. [00:13:00] I'm gonna inverse it. And so I'm gonna ride up to the top and then camp up at the top and then ride back down in the morning. So you get, uh, the like bike packing experience and riding into town to get a, get a coffee and maybe we'll make that a couple day trip and spend a couple nights up top, but drop into town each day and 

chris w: Oh, 

chris m: that, that's amazing.

That's, I think doing something you do regularly differently is really fun. 

chris w: That's incredible. That's really, that's amazing to tell you why. 'cause I'm planning to do something exactly the same, but it's outside a lot of kayaking, so I'm kind of stealing your thunder a little bit here. But, so there's a route that I do quite regularly.

So the plan is to, to paddle across, climb camp. Climb back down and paddle back across the next day. So just to try and do it a little bit differently. So to combine the, the three activities into one. So I like the idea of doing that bike packing as well, so. Excellent. So do it. Yeah. 

chris m: That's super [00:14:00] cool. 

chris w: Yeah, 

chris m: that'll be really fun for sure.

chris w: Yeah. 

chris m: I wish I kayaked more. 

chris w: Yeah, 

chris m: maybe I should. 

chris w: Yeah, I've, 'cause I've, I've never really done a summit camp a anywhere, so, uh, done quite a bit of camping obviously, but never really camped on a peak anywhere. So, so I'm quite excited about that. So, and it's good to hear you say something similar as well, and we haven't even rehearsed that.

So that is 

chris m: No, that's nice. 

chris w: That, that is excellent. We nailed 

chris m: it.

Outro & Patreon Launch

so I hope you enjoyed these short highlights from my episode with Chris McCaffery, and if you haven't listened to the full conversation yet, then I highly recommend you go and do that. And I'll link to the full episode below in the show notes.

Now, if you're enjoying Adventure Diaries, could I ask that you take the time to leave a quick rating or a review because it really helps you show more than you think, and it's just the simplest way to support the show for free.

Now one important update, uh, you may have heard already is that season five launches at the end of February, 2026. [00:15:00] And along with that comes a new Patreon as well.

And it comes with one simple single tier, which is $5 or three pounds, 70 as at exchanges. And if you join the Patreon, you'll get the quickfire after shows for all the guests in season five. The fun q and a. Sections plus a new monthly extended newsroom episode where we deep dive into. Stories of adventure exploration and the natural world and the occasional, uh, short audio stories will be dropped in there as well,

and alongside that two supporting meetups as well. And to do that or to get on board with Patreon, just simply go to adventure diaries.com/go and click the Patreon button.

Alright, so that's it for this highlights episode. 

So look out for the next set of highlights that come from my episode of Jeff Jenkins, AKA, the Chubby Diaries piece.