Hi! We are Martin moeller and Susanne from Twisting Spokes we cycled for almost 3 years. Now we are living separate lives as friends.
We want to be inspired, surprised, delighted and we want to learn. At the same time we know this will not go without any ups and downs. That is what makes life life, right? We feel that now is the time to make changes for ourselves and make changes together. More and more we are starting to realize that much in the world is motivated by growth. We also think that growth can not continue forever and there should be other motivators in life.
On this trip we hope to experience everything there is to experience and we will be filled with energy, joy, respect and understanding.
Story behind the journey of the Twisting Spokes
Why Twisting Spokes?
Thinking about our website name we were inspired by a New Zealand green stone which Martin once bought as a souvenir for Susanne. The green stone is formed as a twist and carries a spiritual meaning. The Twist, also called the Infinity Loop, represents the many paths of life and love and as such is regarded as the original eternity symbol. More commonly, it represents friendship and love between two people. Even though they sometimes move away from each other on their own journeys, they will always come together again sharing their lives and blending to become one. The infinity loop, with no beginning or end, signifies the nature of going on for all eternity.
The many paths, practical and spiritual, are symbolic for our journey and we wanted to incorporate this in our website. We will come across many crossroads on our way to Nepal. At the same time we will cross many paths with other people and share our lives and bond with them. We were also looking for a symbolic way to describe our journey and came out by the spokes, because they are keeping it all together. They are one of the essential parts of the trip and very important for the balance within the bike. At the same time the following sentence does suit us: “Twisted folks from Twisting Spokes” which we find quite funny 😉 We hope our wheels will go round and round and are held strong by our spokes and they will twist and turn to level out all the bumps in the road.
Mojo and Isaba is the names of our bike wich we really enjoy riding, read more here .
Who are the Twisting Spokes?
Well who am I, a Danish guy born in 1981, a former scout, a former 9-17 worker, a traveller with a degree in electronics. I am crazy with nature, culture, people, outdoors and adventure. The last 8 years has been in the name of career in the world of ophthalmology, living in Denmark, Sweden and The Netherlands. I now go on another life changing adventure with Susanne which will open my eyes to a different world and not being bound to the consumerism of the western world. As of 2020 living in Denmark with my girlfriend Katja, still have great memories of this trip with Susanne but now as friends.
- Outgoing but at the same time introvert with a need of facts.
- Adventurous and enjoy the silence in the forest.
- Interested in technology and understanding the down sides.
- A capitalist converting to a buddhist with new business models
- Video recording of my Nevis bungy jump failed: “Let’s jump again”.
- Drinking vodka and dancing around an ice rocket at the ice hotel “Jukkasjärvi”.
- Meeting Susanne in a guest house in Pristina and now living together.
- More than 50+ countries visited.
- Cultures melting on long train, bus and other trips.
- Celebrating my birthday at the golden triangle.
- My first long bike ride Eindhoven -> Montpellier 1300 KM.
- The Internet and the way informations is shared.
- My brother Jesper who keeps things relative.
- The world and it’s resources inspires me to live different.
- The power of the human body and mind.
- People I have met and shared many stories with.
- People I will meet and share stories with.
- The road of life twists and turns and no two directions are ever the same. Yet our lessons come from the journey, not the destination.
Friends describe me as a searching owl, always looking for meaning in life. I am a Dutchie born in 1983, graduate in psychology & business, enthusiast in solar racing and independent traveler. I love the outdoors & indoors and enjoy meaningful interactions with others, sharing experiences and insights about this world. My career started 3 years ago, in the field of career & personal development. I am eager to put my skills into better use for the world during this highly impactful journey together with Martin.
- Introvert, highly interested in what makes other people tick and good at asking questions.
- Highly contradictory in different ways, this makes life fun and scary sometimes.
- A safety seeker who has a hard time stepping out of her comfort zone; gets bored when stuck in the comfort zone.
- Interested in people, psychology, thoughts, aspirations and goals in life.
- Likes to knit, create, sew and fumble.
- Gets emotional outbursts when pushed beyond limits.
- Cycling uphill for a whole day to 2408 meters to Andorre.
- Being at a trumpet festival in Guca, Serbia and sleeping in a garden under a plastic sheet while it is raining.
- Having crazy nights with Aussies, a Great Dane, young Englishman, American lady and Spanish journalist.
- Going away with friends to Portugal to visit a friend and being treated to a night with local dance.
- Leaving my photo camera on a bus not once but twice…
- Leading a group of backpackers during a Jackaroo & Jilleroo course.
- Camping in the Australian Outback during the World Solar Challenge with all my teammates.
- Weekend breaks to Malmo and Denmark to visit Martin and fall in love.
- Celebrating graduation and Martin’s birthday on an Island getaway in Brasil.
- Spending New Years in Barcelona and having a crazy night and almost missing our flight.
- Mahatma Gandhi: “Be the change you wish to see in the world”.
- Steve Jobs: “Stay hungry, stay foolish”.
- Human interest and scientific documentaries.
- Peoples experiences, strength and passion for life.
- My own achievements especially physically.
- How life goes on for people in all circumstances.
Hoi Martin en Susanne
Lang niet op jullie site gekeken, maar wat een cool avontuur zeg! Ziet er geweldig uit, het gevoel van vrijheid lijkt me ook heel onwerkelijk in het begin! Have fun!
Bart
Hoi Bart! Cool dat je even een bericht achterlaten. Is ook een leuk avontuur. De vrijheid is eng in de begin en nu kunnen wij niet zonder 🙂 Hoop alles is goed bij jou en je familie. You too!
Hi, Is it possible for you to remember the location of the picture you took in shiraz from the window of Kabab Store? Thank you. If you remember please email me. All the best, Ali
Hi, that`s pretty ambitious. Turkmenistan will be really hot. You should pick your bikes on a truck or bus. What do you want to do for China? Visa is expensive to get it in Bishkek. The border crossing the same. Heard from 400 $ at Torugart. Irkeshtam I`m not sure. But 100 $ definitely. CU on the road.
peter
Hallo Ihr Zwei Radfahrer,ich bin Doris und habe Euch in St.Valentin auf dem Camping mit dem Zelt im Schnee fotografiert.Habe jetzt Eure web Seite und möchte Euch nochmals viel Glück auf Eurer Rad-Tour wünschen.
Hey there. Thanks for your tweet which pointed me to your website. Cool plans! It looks light the route you have planned is quite similar to my planned route (at least until you get to China). I am brimming with questions as a lot of the things you would have done are now ahead of me as I prepare for my departure in September (http://arctic-cycler.com).
Two questions which I have to ask now: have you got a way of charging all your electrical equipment using the dynamo on your bike? You will be going through places where you won’t have access to electricity for quite some time.. I see there are different products on the market, but I haven’t done too much research yet as to which one is the best.
The second question is, do you know if it is possible to cycle across Myanmar like you are planning? When I last looked, it was only possible to enter and leave from the same border post (i.e. it was not possible to cross the country). If you cross, you may be one of the first cyclists to do it (and hopefully I will be one of the first too, a bit after you).
It would be cool to meet up before you leave if you have time. I live in Eindhoven but am often in Den Haag on the weekends..
All the best!! It will be an amazing trip!!
Matthew
P.S. If you are looking at getting more followers on your trip, try posting on local cycling forums in the different countries you will be passing through. (Find the forums in the local language and write to them in english.) This should be quite effective (at least on the European part). I got almost 30000 hits on my cycle blog on my trip from Eindhoven to the North Cape last year.
Hi Matthew
Thanks for stopping by, found you trough someone not sure how, well thats how it works on the line 🙂
We all pick our routes as we like only going east there is not that many different choices, your choice looks great as well!
For the electrical issue we are setting up these systems see our power harvesting on tour this will feed 95% percent of our electrical gear, only laptop will not be powered by this setup.
Myanmar we are not sure yet, we have found information that border crossing Ruili – Muse is being worked on and should become an international border crossing. These are only indications and for crossing in to Bangladesh we are not sure yet what to do. Anyway there is always a way it is just the question if we will find the right way?
Yes lets meet up! will send you an email.
All the best
Martin and Susanne
And the third and (for now) last time….Maybe I’ve got a black spot, but is their a sort of ‘get informed’ link, so I can see in my email when you’ve put up a new blog? Or do you hope people will come back to your site through internal motivation:-):-)
‘Cause hell yeah, I’m gonna follow you…..
Hi Arian,
Thanks for all the comments, we like that!
Yes maybe a newsletter is a good idea will look in too that one, we want you to follow us.
All the best
Twistingspokes
Oh yeah, and btw… Leaving in Februari in this direction is perfect!!!!! Start a bit cool, but after a while everywhere in the right time:-)
Hello you two!
You’ve got a great plan! Hope things will work out for you as you’ve planned. Though I’m very curious how you’ll get to Nepal through that area. I know things change all the time, but getting to Nepal from anywhere north has been a problem for a while (which doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try!!!!)
Saw you comment on Fietsjunks. Kirgizstan has no visa anymore for Dutchies. We paid the last ones:-)
–Taken in too advice–
Enjoy!!!