Liam Garner, a 17-year-old teenager from Long Beach, California, set out on a 527-day cycling adventure beginning on August 1st, 2021, from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska to Ushuaia, Argentina, riding through 14 countries along the Pan American Highway, a network of roads that stretches across the Americas. He made the trip with a KHS Zaca mountain bike carrying a tent, a sleeping bag, about a day’s worth of food and water, some portable batteries, a first aid kit and spare parts for his bike.
After reading a book by adventurer Jedidiah Jenkins, who biked from Oregon to Argentina, Garner decided to bike from Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, the northernmost point in the United States accessible by road, to Ushuaia, Argentina, the southernmost point in South America. And while many of his school friends were preparing for college, Garner began preparing for the adventure of a lifetime.
“The goal of this trip was to prove to myself that even if I chose something ridiculous and impossible to try, I would do it with enough determination,” Garner said. Knowing he didn’t want to attend college immediately after graduating high school, Garner set out to ride a bike a few weeks before graduation.
I wanted to discover myself and the world.
Liam Garner
Feeling confined in California, Garner knew this journey was a way to find himself. Friends and family expressed concern for his safety as the trial traversed treacherous terrain and cities. “My parents told me no. They were terrified of the idea.” Garner’s family strongly opposed his attempt to complete the trial. However, after Garner’s persuasion, his parents allowed him to at least try.
Garner faced some difficulties along his journey, most of which took him along the Pan-American Highway. There were the everyday aches and pains that all long-distance cyclists are familiar with but Garner also had his passport stolen, was robbed twice, suffered strep throat and a double ear infection. In Colombia, he suffered a severe handlebar collision that left him with 40 stitches, a detached ear and a month of recovery time.
It’s the most intimate way to travel. You have to physically work to get to places.
Liam Garner
He has also commented on the fact that some people believe he’s only able to travel this way “because he’s a straight white, rich guy.” He believes, however, this description is not accurate .“I am a first generation Mexican immigrant,” he told CNN. “And I’m not rich. This was self-supported. I’ve seen people of all ethnicities, solo and with partners, in every country that I’ve been in. It’s really available to everyone.”
Garner spent four and half months cycling across Mexico. The experience, he says, was one of the most significant of his life. “My whole family is from Mexico,” he told CNN. “I grew up going to Mexico but I never learned the language. It’s one thing to visit every year, and it’s one thing to live there.”
According to his Instagram account, Garner is currently backpacking north, hoping to walk all the way back home to Los Angeles. He is also doing so in the company of his partner Chloe, a woman he struck up a relationship with while biking from Alaska to Argentina.
When he returns home, Garner plans to write a book about his journey in hopes of inspiring other young people to undertake such a journey. He says he regularly receives messages from people who saw his story on Instagram or TikTok and have felt compelled to do something similar.
