As 2025 gets underway we received one more tale of adventure from a German rider that was too good not to tell. Jürgen Knupe shared details of his Panamericana bikepacking trip that is sure to inspire you for the year ahead.
Over to Jurgen.
What were your goals for 2024?
This year I wanted to increase my MaxSquare from 118 to at least 130. That wasn’t easy, as I had reached a large NATO military base to the east of my northern edge. I decided to move my MaxSquare 30 tile rows to the west, which meant 30×118=3540 new tiles alone. In the end I even managed to increase it to 140×140.
My big goal, however, was to do a seven-month bikepacking trip from Vancouver/Canada to Ushuaia/Argentina, which I started on August 3rd.
What are you most proud of about your year of activity?
In the first five months of my journey so far I managed to travel 16,800km to Bolivia. One of the most emotional moments was certainly when I arrived at the equator near Quito.
On the way through Colombia, which is my country highlight of this trip, I conquered one of the longest passes in the world, Alto de Letras, which leads over 80km from around 500m to 3677m.
Starting from Lima in Peru, I crossed one of the highest passes, Passo Ticlio at 4818m, which was an extreme experience due to the low oxygen levels. Since then I have been travelling for over three weeks at an altitude of between 3000m and 4000m, and have now become somewhat accustomed to the oxygen conditions.
What challenges did you face in the year?
I am definitely experiencing my greatest challenges during my current journey. Every day is a new adventure. While I knew more or less what to expect in Canada and the USA, the route from Mexico was completely new territory. Both in terms of road conditions and traffic, as well as the infrastructure. How difficult is it to organise food and accommodation? Every country brings new experiences; when you set off in the morning, you don’t know what to expect. This is the greatest adventure of my life.
When did you start your Panamericana bike packing trip, and where you will go next on the journey/when do you hope to finish?
I started on the 3rd of August and cycled the first 4 weeks with my girlfriend Mariagrazia from Vancouver to San Diego. Since then I’m on my own and have now reached Bolivia, country #13, which is about 75% of my journey.
From here I will continue to Argentina and in the south to Chile, my 15th and last country.
I hope to finish in the last week of February in Ushuaia.
What challenges have you set yourself in 2025?
In the summer I want to do a few bikepacking trips in Europe, for example to extend my cluster corridor from Rome to Sicily (the corridor currently stretches from the Baltic Sea to Rome). I also want to include more countries in my cluster. I currently have 11 countries. I have already planned the routes for Luxembourg-Belgium-Netherlands, as well as Slovakia-Hungary, and Poland.
And I will certainly continue to work on my MaxSquare until I reach an insurmountable obstacle, like another Military Base.