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Radu Paltineanu, the first Romanian who ever crossed the two American continents on a bicycle, from Alaska - USA to Argentina, after pedaling more than 34,500 kilometers in a expedition that took him more than 3 years to complete, on Tuesday received in Munich the "European Adventurer of the Year 2018" award.
"I have just received this prestigious award that I want to dedicate it to all young Romanians who dream to see the world and adventure into the unknown and to all Romanians who already did it. I take this like a responsibility for me to continue to inspire with my travel stories and continue to overcome my own limits in my next expeditions," Radu Paltineanu wrote on his Facebook page on Tuesday.
According to him, the award was bestowed on him at the most important outdoor fair in the world, ISPO, and it was for the first time given to a Romanian.
Radu Paltineanu is the first Romanian who crossed the two American continents ridding a bicycle, after pedaling more than 34,500 kilometers in an expedition that started on August 5 2015 and reached to its finish, in Ushuaia, the "End of the World" in the evening of October 22 2018, after 3 years, 2 months and 17 days.
A software engineer, who studied in Canada, a country where he emigrated as a child with his family who came from Piatra-Neamt, Radu Paltineanu left on August 5 2015 from Deadhorse, the Prudhoe Gulf, Alaska, close to the Arctic Ocean, taking the so-called Panamericana, the longest road route in the world. He reached the Chihuahua desert, he climbed the highest volcano in North America, Orizaba (5,636 meters) and crossed the jungle in southern Mexico and Guatemala, saw the volcanoes in Central America and faced the infernal heat of the Tropics.
"From Colombia, I headed West, riding the entire South American continent. I saw the Great Savannah, the Angel waterfall in Venezuela, the Guyana's rainforest, Amazonia and the further point from middle Terra, the Whimper peak (6,268 meters) in the Chimborazo Massive, in Ecuador. Then, I saw the desert on the Peruvian coast, Altiplano Andin, where I pedaled, sometimes, at more than 4,500 m height, the infernal heat in Northern Argentina and Paraguay and, finally, the endless steppe of Patagonia. I can really say now: wow, what an amazing journey!," Radu Paltineanu said after he ended his expedition.
