Road construction. Sand bank spilling across the shoulder. I brake hard, try to swerve and jump the curb. Wheels slip, I hit pavement. Luckily there are no vehicles passing just then or I’d be roadkill. Lucky too I hit my left knee. The right had gotten 6 stitches from my last bad fall and the doctor […]
(As written for Outside Online, Sept. 19, 2017) Early one August morning in 2013, I joined a small group of cyclists gathered on London Bridge. I could feel the nervous energy as we did a final gear check and said goodbye to family and friends. As the second hand on Big Ben ticked out the […]
(As written for Cycling Tips, Sept 13, 2017) I was somewhere in the middle of the Australian desert on that fateful morning of March 30th, racing from coast to coast in the inaugural Indian Pacific Wheel Race. The news came via a Facebook message that seemed too incredible to be true. My friend, fellow racer […]
(As written for Outside Magazine, April 11, 2017) My wheels whistled in the hot crosswinds, and I gulped down a mouthful of water to moisten the dryness in my mouth and throat. I had set off from Ceduna, on the southern coast of Australia, in the freezing, pre-dawn darkness of late March 2017, with the target […]
It was my second puncture halfway through the day and I had used up my spare tube. This came shortly after managing to find water at a creepy abandoned train station with rusty trams and cars scattered halphazardly around a derelict building with a caretaker who could not figure out how I got there. “You […]
You know that downer at the party who turns down a dish because ‘oh sorry, I don’t eat flour’? Yeah, that’s me. I never used to be “that guy”. I was the one polishing off every dish in front of me with the raging appetite of a hungry cyclist. Until a year and a half […]
Something’s wrong, I thought, laying in the semi-darkness of the dysfunctional Winnebago Warrior that served as my “sleeper” base. My heart was racing a mile a minute and it felt like there was a fire raging in my insides. Billy, my crew chief, peered into the camper. ‘Rise and shine sleeping beauty. We got a […]
Here we go again, I thought in that long second when time slowed and the pavement came rushing up to meet me. It had been some time since I last crashed. So long, in fact, that I was beginning to think something was wrong. My first thought after initial impact was, “I hope my bike […]
‘What are you most afraid of?’ the journalist asked me at the starting line of the 2015 Transcontinental Race, the dictaphone in his right hand hovering uncomfortably near my mouth. This was an interesting question, one that I have often asked myself before embarking on any particularly grueling or potentially dangerous challenge. Well, it isn’t […]
‘Irony,’ my brother wrote, ‘brought to your knees by your knees.’ Actually, it was my stubborn head that did that. You know how they say you are your own worst enemy and your greatest strength is also your greatest weakness? It all strikes painfully true right now. I have functioned throughout all my rides and […]
People were turning into trees and trees into people. Objects and animals leapt out at me from nowhere, but when I looked again, there was nothing. The road ahead appeared fluid and immaterial. “Woah! Either I am in the matrix,” I thought, “or the stress of the last 19 days is finally getting to my […]
There’s some good news this year! Scratch that, it is downright earth-shattering fabulous news. I have a sponsor for my races. Those who have followed my rides and races will know that this has been a dearest wish since the day I clipped into a bike for the first time and decided to cycle the […]
On June 7, 2014, Juliana participated in the first unsupported race across the USA. The Trans Am Bike Race is the toughest, longest non-stop race following the Trans America Trail with no outside support, no entry fee, no prize money and “nothing to win or lose but honor”. Starting in Astoria, OR and finishing in Yorktown, […]
Evidently I am the queen of last minute. When I decide to do a race, I will have no money, bike or kit until the last possible moment. Something like a parachute opening seconds before it is too late. I would love to turn up to a race one day well prepared, well trained, with […]
Sorry, this entry is only available in Italian. For the sake of viewer convenience, the content is shown below in the alternative language. You may click the link to switch the active language. Mi ricordo….. Sarò anche di parte ma gli elementi sono abbastanza oggettivi. Juliana Buhring nel luglio 2012, dopo solo 8 mesi di […]
If you’re one of a growing number of lone women pedaling their way across countries and continents, you’ve inevitably gotten the full range of reactions from ‘It’s too dangerous’, and ‘aren’t you afraid?’, to ‘you must be mad’. Grant it, the world is not as dangerous as most people believe it to be, but there […]
The current discussion of supported vs. unsupported world cycle records was brought into the spotlight by a couple more recent round-the-world cyclists who have gone with a support team, as opposed to all previous records, involving a few mad adventurers with a couple changes of clothes, a gas stove and a bedroll. As it started […]
It was about the time the saddle sores started bleeding, the dull ache in my knees got sharper, the sun burned some crazy degrees too many and headwinds slammed into me at 60 kmph, that I began to think participating in the Transcontinental Race had been a really bad idea. When Mike Hall originally told […]
After the high of any great accomplishment, follows the inevitable low. Explorers and adventurers the world over know it. This ‘after low’, or withdrawal, doesn’t really have a name, but it’s depression alright. I often found myself staring out into the horizon, into the sky, and I didn’t know how long I’d stood there. It […]
From the beginning, everybody told me I wasn’t ready. Without a sponsor or money, without a technical and medical support team, with only eight months of training on a bicycle, I was not ready to leave and should delay the entire endeavour for at least another year. I got a lot of laughs in the […]
“Hey Man, stop ” sento da lontano mentre esco dal parcheggio del motel nel quale avevamo passato la notte. “Hey buddy ” finalmente vedo un uomo di circa 50 anni che corre verso la mia auto e mi fa cenno di fermarmi. Juliana è già partita da mezz’ora direzione Nullarbor . Io aspetto l’apertura del […]
The first day in India starts with a literal bang. Trying to get out of Kolkata, weaving through the seething, moving chaos of trucks, motorbikes, buses, rickshaws, bikes laden with pots, animals and merchandise, pedestrians, dogs, cows, goats, garbage, potholes. Everywhere an interminable stench of rotting rubbish, feces and incense. Between a truck coming up […]
Today the little kid in the street nailed it when he pointed at me and shouted ” look, it’s a phalang!” That’s exactly what I feel like. A guava. Pink-faced, rough bruised skin, slimy with sweat. I feel less human these days and more like a feral wild woman. Even after a shower I feel […]
Eventually, perhaps inevitably, comes that moment. I realize that hard as my legs are pedaling, the bicycle is simply not moving. Another 100 kmph gust of wind slams into me accompanied by a sheet of icy rain. My shoes are heavy with water, squishing between my toes as I labour against the pedals. 100 kilometers […]
Da Boston a Seattle , 6000 km , 26 giorni , Route 66 , deserti , Mississippi , cowboy …. Basterebbe aggiungere le numerose avventure causate dal vento contrario e la pioggia , per fare credere a tutti che stiamo citando libri di Mark Twain o Jack Kerouac . È semplicemente l’avventura di Juliana negli […]
By Antonio Zullo Many times I asked Juliana “why cycle the world”? Her first reply, before expounding, is always the same. “”Why not?”. True freedom, that which scares most human beings, those constrained to live under the teachings imposed by society, who fear the opposition between desire and duty, leaving the latter winner. Juliana, with […]
At long last departure day is just around the corner. People keep telling me the hardest part is leaving, and this has certainly proved to be the case. From the beginning, finding sponsorship for this endeavor has proved difficult. Were it not for the generous donations of friends and well-wishers, even getting to this point […]
The last day of 2011 was crisp and clear. I mounted my bike onto the car and headed to Lake Patria for the last cycle of the year. I was leaving to Africa the next day and figured I’d better go for one last training session, since I was fairly certain the next ten days […]
Italiano A few things have changed since my last training update, not least important of which has been the addition of a logistics manager, Antonio Zullo and two professional trainers to the endeavour. It started with a meeting set up by my bike sponsor, Mario Schiano, with professional cyclist trainer, Stefano Minichino. Stefano has long […]
After getting hit by a mammoth truck last Monday, following the ‘did that just happen?’ shock, the anger that the driver didn’t stop and the gratitude that I got off with a few light scrapes, a bruised arm and a really sore neck, brought me to the inevitable moment of inner evaluation. The potential dangers […]
My current training program involves waking up at the crack of dawn and since it’s impossible to drive anywhere within Naples (crazy drivers and roads), I have to put my bike on the back of my car and drive an hour out into the countryside. This is actually proving challenging for me, as I’m usually […]
In mid-March 2012, I will be setting out to make the first women’s world record for fastest circumnavigation by bicycle. This will mean cycling a minimum of 220 km, or roughly 135 miles a day over nearly 5 months. The current Guinness World Record for circumnavigation by bicycle is held by Vin Cox who completed […]
Through my world record cycle I hope to raise awareness about the basic human rights of children and money for Safe Passage Foundation‘s assistance fund to provide education, resources, support, advocacy and a safe transition for those born and/or raised in extremist, isolated or high-demand organizations. The mission of Safe Passage Foundation is to ensure: […]