Singapore a 'great place to finish despite questionable air quality', says student who rode his bike from Europe to Asia

SINGAPORE: Clement Lazzerini, a medical student from Australia, took a gap year to take a 15,150-kilometre bike ride from Lyon, France, and ended it in Singapore this week after about eight months.

Mr Lazzerini, who documented his epic ride on Instagram and TikTok, seemed elated and thankful that his journey, which had started in February, had come to an end at Singapore’s Merlion statue.

“Well, we made it,” he said in a Sept 14 video, panning his camera to show the iconic Marina Bay Sands. He then made his way to a hawker centre for some affordable food, but quickly discovered that he could get a S$5 meal at McDonald’s. All that was left was to pack up his bike and head home.

On his trip through Europe and Asia, he cycled through a total of 19 countries and climbed 97,500 meters of elevation.

He also spent A$12,000 (around S$10,896).

However, the trip was by no means a vanity project, or even just an ordinary adventure. Mr Lazzerini launched a fundraiser for Starlight Children’s Foundation Australia, a leading charity for children and teenagers with serious illnesses.

He pledged to give 1 cent for every follower and has so far raised A$1,425, surpassing his goal of A$1,000, and many others have made donations as well.

Explaining why he chose to fundraise for Starlight, he wrote, “I feel incredibly lucky to be in a position where I can do something this wild. I’m young, free, and nothing is tying me down, so if there was ever a perfect time to attempt something this crazy with minimal real-world consequences, it’s now.

But sitting with that thought also makes me reflect on those who don’t have these opportunities through no fault of their own. My position in the medical field has already shown me just how tough it is to not only watch others, especially children, suffer from conditions that stop them from truly enjoying life, but also the immense strain it puts on their parents and families.”

An epic journey

Mr Lazzerini spent two months each cycling through Europe, Central Asia, China, and Southeast Asia. It seems like some of the best parts of his trip were the people, many of whom showed him generosity and hospitality all along the way. The Balkans got a special shoutout in this respect, as did the peak “Muslim hospitality” in Turkey.

He wrote that he was surprised at how varied China’s landscapes were, but again, the people he encountered were kind.

He described Southeast Asia as “as humid as everyone says,” adding that Malaysia had “some of the best food and people of the whole trip.”

As for Singapore, he wrote that “despite the questionable air quality, it turned out to be a pretty great place to finish.”

Interestingly, for him, he had a difficult time cycling, largely due to the number of construction sites that ate into bike lanes, which made it confusing as there was no real shoulder. However, he expressed appreciation for Singapore’s green spaces.

As he wrote in the caption of his finish-line post: “Day 147 Location: Singapore. And that’s a wrap, what a journey!!” /TISG

Read also: Singapore woman cycles alone across Southeast Asia, sharing lessons from the road