HANOVER, N.H. (WCAX) – A junior at Dartmouth College is not only getting a world-class education, he’s also breaking world records while he is at it.
The smile says it all– cycling is where Bond Almand, 21, feels most at home.
“I’ve grown up racing and doing endurance sports and just naturally progressed to longer distances until the Pan-American was my next challenge,” Almand said.
The Pan-American is a bike route from the top of Alaska, through all of North America, into South America and all the way down to Argentina. It’s nearly 14,000 miles with a short plane ride between continents.
“Once I left Prudhoe Bay, the clock started and it didn’t stop until I got to Ushuaia. It took me 75 days, 17 hours and 55 minutes,” Almand said.
That time is now the fastest in the world. But Almand had plenty of time to take in all the different scenery along the way. He says physically there were no issues, but the ride did take a toll on him mentally.
“Once I got into the deserts of Peru, the landscapes were incredibly monotonous. But also challenging because I had a lot of headwinds every single day,” he said.
Almand was riding with a purpose. He was raising money– more than $10,000 to date– for the Honnold Foundation which helps install solar panels in Indigenous communities.
“I have so much love for the outdoors it is impossible to ignore all the bad things that are happening to the environment,” he said.
His dad was there to congratulate him at the end of his journey, a trek that will have a lasting impact on him and the world.
“Throughout the trip, it was hard to find a place that was untouched by the scars of human hands,” he said. “So, I wanted to try to make my cycling trip about something bigger than just me.”
Almand says his immediate goal is to refocus on academics but he says an around-the-world challenge is on the radar.
The Dartmouth Outing Club helped finance the trip.
