Ever since it was announced that the 2014 World Cup would be in Brazil I’ve wanted to go…
Then I thought “Well if I’m going to Brazil then I’d like to go for longer than a 2 week holiday”. Then I thought “I know, I’ll do a cycle tour of South America before the tournament starts”. Then I thought “Actually it’s gonna be pretty tricky to cover an entire massive continent by bike, maybe just one massive country is enough to start with”. Then I thought “Visiting every footy stadium could be a great route”. Then I looked at this website – http://www.sportmapworld.com/venues/2014-fifa-world-cup-stadiums/ – and found out it’s 7,500 miles to drive south to north between all the stadiums from Porto Alegre to Manuas! Then I thought “Yeah that’s plenty far enough for my first ever proper cycle tour, and in a country I’ve never been to and don’t even speak the language”.
So that’s what I’m going to do – cycle stadium to stadium across Brazil in Jan-Jun 2014:
1) Estadio Beira-Rio, Porto Alegre (planned dates in this city: 18-21 Jan)
Cycle distance: 500 miles / 800 km
2) Arena da Baixada, Curitiba (29 Jan-1 Feb)
Cycle distance: 300 miles / 485 km
3) Arena de Sao Paulo, Sao Paulo (7-9 Feb)
Cycle distance: 335 miles / 540 km
4) Estadio do Maracana, Rio de Janeiro (14-17 Feb)
Cycle distance: 330 miles / 530 km
5) Estadio Mineirao, Belo Horizonte (23-26 Feb)
Cycle distance: 500 miles / 810 km
6) Estadio Nacional de Brasilia, Brasilia (9-12 Mar)
Cycle distance: 715 miles / 1,150 km
7) Arena Pantanal, Cuiaba (24-27 Mar)
Cycle distance: 995 miles / 1,600 km
(stage reduced by 500 miles by flying back from Cuiaba to Brasilia as already cycled)
8) Arena Fonte Nova, Salvador (16-19 Apr)
Cycle distance: 485 miles / 780 km
9) Arena Pernambuco, Recife (29 Apr-2 May)
Cycle distance: 205 miles / 330 km
10) Estadio das Dunas, Natal (5-8 May)
Cycle distance: 325 miles / 520 km
11) Estadio Castelao, Fortaleza (14-17 May + Martin arrives 14th)
Cycle distance: 930 miles / 1,495 km
(stage reduced by 1,500 miles by cycling to Belem then getting a boat up the Amazon to Manaus)
12) Arena Amazonia, Manaus (12-16 Jun with England v Italy on 14th!)
So even with my two route modifications that’s still over 5,500 miles of cycling in 5 months! Bring it on.
Route maps – see below, these are from Google so not exact but show each ‘half’ of the cycle route: