For nearly half a year we are three biketravelers now. We did not mention our new travel companion until today for some reasons: We cannot write about his identity. Neither about name nor about his or her gender we can speak. When we talk of “him” - the biketraveler - in the future, to make it easier for us, it should not indicate if the person is male or female.

Why so many secrets? Our biketraveler does not have a passport, because he doesn’t have a birth certificate yet. The borders of Pakistan, China, Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan and Russia he crossed secretly - hidden under Birgits Pullover. Because he seems to enjoy cycling and we can travel very well (only a little bit slower) with him, we also want to cycle to Turkey and Greece together.

For many it’s maybe hard to imagine to travel and cycle under such special circumstances so we write more about our trip we made together so far:

Like many parents-to-be we did think a lot about when it would be the right time to start a family. While many at home plan their offspring according to their career and their substantial and financial well-being, for us it was important which diseases could be dangerous. Malaria, Polio and other illnesses which do not exist in Europe anymore are very dangerous for pregnant women and babies and in some Asian countries they are still common. We also had to think about the ideal season not to suffer extreme heat or cold.

In the beginning it was quite difficult for us to verify if nature had accepted all our planning because while pregnancy tests certainly do also exist in China even the purchase of it them not easy because in China almost nobody speaks English. Even words like baby, test, check, etc. which sound quite international to us, are unfamiliar for the pharmacists. When we gesture big belly they bring us laxatives, when we imitate to dandle a baby and make the sound of a crying baby they bring us (somehow appropriately) pills against headache .

Finally we manage to get the test strip we wanted. Now it would be easy if the description would not only be in Chinese but also in English. Therefore we have some unanswered questions how to use the test and need a whole test series until we get to a result successfully. But for a price of 10 Eurocent per test our experimental series is at least no financial burden.

After 6 weeks of pregnancy I feel the first evidence of being pregnant thanks to the morning sickness. Punctually woken up at 2 o clock in the morning I ask myself daily if morning is not supposed to begin only with dawn or later and why does nobody mention the afternoon- and evening sickness? Cycling is still possible. With many breaks we simply adjust to the quite regular phases of sickness. If I think back to our travel adventures in the future, especially for Kyrgyzstan, my first thought will be the sickness from which I suffered there, not the great mountain scenery.

The first mother-child-pass checkup* we undertake in Bishkek. Also the second checkup in Russia shows us, that the fact that we are travelers guarantees an even better checkup quality because everybody is particularly anxious to please us by the reason that we are foreigners. Also the people who talk to us on the street to find out more about our journey are even more friendly when they hear that I am pregnant. With the word vitamin they give me fruits, vegetables or fruit juice and the old plump Babushkas who look sceptically at my for their opinion much to small belly do also give me sweetmeat to help my belly growing.

But also without such means my belly grows quite fast now. It still does not disturb me when cycling and with a change of the sitting position on the bike I will - so I hope - sit comfortable on the bike for quite a while still.

Thanks to years of training my body is used to cycling and it is not strenuous for me. I also take a nap during lunch time since I am pregnant. For this reasons I think that such a kind of endurance sports is good for my pregnancy. Also because on days without cycling I feel typical pregnancy problems while I feel very well on days with cycling.

We want to be “on the road” for another few weeks. If our baby sticks to our plans it should see the light of the day for the first time in march in Greece.

* there is a special booklet for all pregnant austrian women to ensure that all necessary checkups are beiing made and all important information about the pregnancy are available immediatley if needed (explanantion in German)