Dave Cornthwaite is a British ginger adventurer. He’s also likely one of the kindest and humblest people you’re likely to meet. He’ll be the first to emphatically explain to you why he’s no different than anyone else, despite the fact that he’s completed nine (soon to be 10) non-motorized expeditions of over 1000 miles, such as skateboarding across Australia, swimming the Missouri River, and stand-up paddle boarded the length of the Mississippi, which are not things that normal people do.

These expeditions are part Dave’s Expedition1000 Project, which is to complete 25 journeys of 1000 miles or more using non-motorized forms of transportation. The reasons behind these journeys are simple: 1) to raise money for the breast cancer charity CoppaFeel, and 2) to inspire other people to get off their fannys and do more of the things that enrich their own lives through his “Say Yes More” campaign.

On the evening of April 21st, 2014 Dave and his riding partners pulled into Calama, a mining village in northern Chile, as the sun set marking the end of his ninth expedition: crossing the Atacama Desert by whike (a recumbent tricycle with a sail on it). The following morning we hopped on a Google Hangout for our second interview (you can see the first here) to talk about whiking across Chile, how it compared to his other trips, and what he has planned for his next trips.

Below is an abridged Q&A with Dave. For the full interview, check out the video or grab the podcast below.

Matt: Good morning Dave. How are you feeling after finishing your Atacama Desert whike trip? You finished last night, is that right?

Dave: That’s right. I’m in Calama, a little mining town in the heart of the Atacama Desert. We crossed the 1000-mile mark last night just as the sun set around 8pm. We rolled into town in the dark, got to sleep in a proper bed, and feel awesome.

M: So, this was trip number eight, right?

D: This was actually trip number nine. So, only 16 to go now.

M: Just 16? That’s nothing. The whike is a pretty unique mode of transport. How was this trip different from others?

D: The whike has always interested me because it couples two ways to travel. You can pedal because it’s a recumbent tricycle, and it also has a sail so you can be wind-assisted when the conditions are correct. I chose Chile for this journey because the prevailing winds run from south to north. Ironically, most of the winds were prevailing in our face throughout the trip. We actually only ended up getting about four hours of sailing in and the rest was superbly hard pedalling. In 19 days we climbed over eighteen thousand meters—more than twice the height of Mt. Everest.

Some people have said that whikes can’t go up hills. They can go up hills. We proved it.

M: You were with a friend on this trip weren’t you? Who was that?

D: I was traveling with a couple of mates. One was Ned, who was one of the inventors of the whike who is just 21 years old. The other was my buddy Jamie who runs a startup called Only Bloody Human and is an amazing filmmaker and photographer. He came along to capture everything that happened and turn it into a short film.

M: You’re pretty used to doing these long trips. But how did your friends hold up?

D: I’m definitely used to doing these things now. I’m fairly good at plodding along and measuring everything. If I need to eat I eat, but not too much. If I need to sleep I sleep. You get into the mindset of getting through the slow menial process.

Ned and Jamie hadn’t really done anything like this but they fared brilliantly. They’re both superb guys. I haven’t always had the best luck with my expedition teams. It’s difficult when you’re in an intense fatiguing environment, but we’ve all ended up good friends.

M: It sounds like you put this trip together really fast. How was it logistically compared to others?

D: It’s something that gets better over time. It took me nearly two years to organize my first expedition. I think I had the idea for this one in January and by mid-April we were away.

It’s just a case of making a quick list. We want to do an expedition in Chile? OK. We need to get the whikes there. So, work out the shipping. But after that, let’s get some food and just peddle.

It doesn’t really take a great deal. Once you’re out there the costs are really low.

M: You had an accident right at the beginning of your bike-car trip. How was it being back on the highway for the majority of this trip?

D: I try to take control of almost every aspect of my life. When you do a trip on the road you cede some control to the drivers that you’re sharing it with. Getting hit is always my biggest fear.

Getting hit at 80mph four hours into that bike-car trip right outside of Memphis in 2012 was a massive shock. Luckily I walked away with nothing more than a slightly aching shoulder and completed the trip.

South Americans have a reputation for being, let’s put it bluntly, bad drivers. But Chile was the best country to do a road trip. I was blown away by the hospitality, awareness, and support. Every other driver tooted their horn at us. I felt safer on the roads here than any other place in the world.

Dave hasn’t chosen the modes of transport for all of his trips yet, and I’m thinking of joining him on one.

What do you think we should do? Dogsled the arctic? Cross-country ski Siberia?

Tell us in the comments below and maybe we’ll just do it!

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Lev Wood is a co-founder of Secret Compass Expeditions. According to their website they clients on “pioneering and exploratory expeditions to the world’s last undiscovered places”.

From the from what I’ve heard about this company, that’s gross understatement.

They led what they called “the first commercial expedition to have ventured into the Zagros Mountains in Iraq,” under the protection of a mildly-frightening AK-47 toting local guide. They’ve also lead expeditions in South Sudan, Afghanistan, and recently completed the first coast-to-coast crossing of Madagascar on foot.

When I found out about these guys I had to interview them. So, I tracked down co-founder Lev Wood to find out more about how the company got started, the obstacles they’ve run into along the way, and the kind of people that actually pay to join these absurdly difficult expeditions.

Me: How long has Secret Expeditions been operating?

Lev Wood: SC has been operating since October 2010; there was a lot of planning, preparing and getting set up to do for our first expeditions.

MG: What was your first expedition?

LW: We wanted to go back to Afghanistan since both Tom and I served there during our time in the army, so we organized the first group expedition to travel to lake Zorkul in the Wakhan corridor of Afghanistan. It is an incredibly remote and beautiful area.

MG:How did you find your first clients? For that matter, how do you continue finding them? There can’t be that many people willing to spend thousands of dollars to endure conditions that most creatures instinctually avoid.

LW: Our team members tend to be seasoned travellers, often professionals who, because of work, now don’t have the time to organize their own adventures. Our clients come from a range of backgrounds from around the world. Sometimes though we get the occasional complete novice — on the last expedition we took an Egyptian guy who had never been camping before — but he had the right attitude, he wanted to push himself harder than ever before.

MG: What was the most difficult challenge that you faced on an expedition?

LW: Usually, it isn’t the physical challenge, it’s the bureaucracy. Because of the nature of the places we go, many of the local police/ army/ militia/ tribal chiefs have never seen a tourist or even a white face, and they get confused as to why anyone would want to visit their lands. Because of this there are often delays whilst the local authorities try and find out what protocol needs to be adhered to (or how much a ‘permit’ will cost). This can be very frustrating. That said, hacking for 3 weeks through thick jungle isn’t easy either. Neither is surviving off Afghan flat bread for a month.

MG: What kind of training did you receive in the military that has helped you to learn how to deal effectively with extreme situations? What kind of situations did you used to deal with in the military?

LW:My time in the army was useful in a number of ways. It teaches the practicalities of living in austere environments, survival, and so on, but more importantly it gives you a sense of perspective you can’t get taught anywhere else. You learn about leadership under stress and encouraging a team to push themselves beyond what they thought was possible.

MG: Were there any times on expeditions that you got that sinking feeling in your gut, like  “holy shit, we are in serious trouble here.”

LW: A couple of times things got close. A group was once detained in Iraq and we all had to spend a couple of nights in a Kurdish Jail, but the police were actually very nice. In the Zagros mountains our mountain guide fell off a cliff. Luckily he performed a technically perfect ice axe arrest and climbed back up. On the Nile in Sudan one of the team fell into some rapids and broke a couple of ribs. Luckily he didn’t get eaten by crocs. We were arrested there too — at gunpoint by a local militia who thought we were spies. Frostbite in Nepal was quite painful. I was arrested twice in Egypt.

MG: How did you deal with those situations?

LW: A level head and sense of perspective. Smiling when dealing with armed men and looking them in the eye makes them realize you’re a human. Being as prepared as possible minimizes the chance of these things happening.

MG: Are there any trips that you’d like to attempt, but think might be beyond your abilities?

LW: I’m of the opinion that anyone can train to bring goals within their grasp, so no, not really. However, we have to keep SC expeditions within a sensible timeframe — usually 3 weeks max — because that’s how much time most people can take off work. There are loads of exciting expeditions that can’t be done in that time.

MG: Which upcoming trip are you the most excited about?

LW: If I’m not excited about an expedition it doesn’t even get through the planning stages! So all of them. Mt Mabu in Mozambique will be incredible in September — totally virgin forest, completely untouched by man and undiscovered until 2005 — now that is exploration!

MG: Secret Compass has been mentioned by several media outlets and appears to be doing well. What goals do you have for the future?

LW: At the moment we’re concentrating on getting a really exciting portfolio of expeditions lined up for 2013. We want to be able to do as many amazing trips as possible!

MG: Do you have any big ideas in the works that you’d like to mention?

LW: There are some big ones — not necessarily client trips — which I can’t mention right now. We’re working in conjunction with some big name media broadcasters to make some incredible documentaries, so watch this space!

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