Tyler Wacker’s Epic 8-Month Cycling Journey from California to Iceland

Tyler Wacker embarked on an incredible cycling journey from California to Ísafjörður in the Westfjords. For those of you who don’t follow me on Instagram, I am currently in Ísafjörður taking Icelandic courses. Coincidentally, Tyler is at the same school, even though he is studying something completely different than me.

After working in the transportation engineering industry for six years and feeling unfulfilled with his work, Tyler decided it was time to set off on a bicycle tour around the perimeter of the United States starting and ending in San Francisco, where he was currently living.

The goals he had set for the journey were to assess where his life was and figure out how best to use his hands to address the climate crisis. Having mentally and physically prepared through a variety of endurance sports over the past few years, his new lifestyle came almost naturally until COVID forced him to pause his tour.

After sheltering in place for ten weeks, he set off on his bike again but had revised his plan after he learned he had been accepted into the University Centre of the Westfjords in Isafjordur. He would now bike from Texas to Minneapolis and then to Boston to catch a flight to Keflavik and bike six days through Iceland to his new home.

During the interview, we dive into Tyler’s experience cycling in the U.S. and in Iceland, some of the challenges that he faced, the positive experience he had, and more.

You can find Tyler on Instagram at @tjwack.

Questions I Asked Tyler Wacker During the Interview

• Can you share the events that led to you to do this epic journey?

• Had you been to Iceland before?

• Had you been to the Westfjords before cycling here?

• What was it like pre-COVID traveling in the United States?

• Do you encounter any difficulties when cycling in the US because of COVID?

• What was it like when you arrived in Iceland?

• What has your cycling journey been like here?

• We’ve been encountering a second outbreak here. How has your experience here, regarding COVID, been different than in the U.S.?

• How did it feel when you finally arrived in Ísafjörður?

• What are your studying and how is school so far?

• I read that your planning to due to the Boston Marathon being cancelled that people who registered for it can run it wherever they are. You’re planning to do it in the Westfjords. Have you mapped out where you plan to run?

• What’s your favorite Icelandic word or phrase?

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