The cyclists with Chumak Way want people to know what鈥檚 happening in Ukraine. They are travelling 10,000kms in 100 days because they want people to see them, ask them why they鈥檙e biking, and become curious why these men are taking this difficult journey around a continent far from home.
They鈥檙e doing this so people know there鈥檚 a war going on in Ukraine right now, a war caused by Russian aggression in the country. They also want people to know they鈥檙e just fighting to protect what鈥檚 theirs. They want people to meet veterans of the war who are cycling with them. Most of all, they want international support to pressure Russia to leave Ukraine alone, in order to return the nation to peace.
The ride was the brainchild of Konstantin Samchuk, one of the veterans of the war, who spoke to attendees at the St. Mary鈥檚 Cultural Centre about his experiences on the front lines through an interpreter. He also told the crowd that the conflict is still ongoing, with thousands killed either in fighting or due to landmines.
聽Maksym Semak is one of the riders on the tour, who got involved after meeting Samchuk.
鈥淚 would like to make the bicycle something more.鈥�
The journey itself is a difficult one, Semak said, with very little sleep in order to maintain their schedule.
鈥淚t鈥檚 not only travel, it鈥檚 a social project. We have a strong schedule of 100 days... It鈥檚 really difficult because we cycle every day for 150 kms, in every weather condition, shower, raining, cold, strong wind, we do it, we鈥檙e cycling.鈥�
Each day also involves sending updates back home on their progress. Semak says their home country has been supportive of the trip.
鈥淭hey place many likes on our posts and videos... They couldn鈥檛 believe to the end that we could make it on this trip, and they elbow us on.鈥�
Dmytro Trokin, another cyclist and the team mechanic, said their primary goal, telling people outside of the country what is going on in Ukraine, has been a success.
鈥淔rom here people maybe cannot see everything because it鈥檚 far, and we have a lot of fake news. People ask a lot of questions about how and why, and we try to tell them what we know, because we have two veterans and they saw with their own eyes what was really going on.鈥�
Ihor Ambroziak is the tour鈥檚 support driver. He explains that the bike tour was something very visible that could hit many towns and cities across the continent.
鈥淲e felt it was going to create more awareness than just showing up in Toronto or showing up in Vancouver, getting on TV.鈥�
This is the second bike tour for Chumak way. They travelled 11,000 kms through Europe in 2016. On that first tour, they discovered that, outside of Ukraine, not much was known about what was happening in the country. While people knew about corruption or the Russian annexation of Crimea, they didn鈥檛 know much else.
鈥淭hey didn鈥檛 know the Ukrainian people. People all across North America can meet these people face to face, ask questions, get the truth,鈥� Ambroziak said.
The goal of the tour has been a success, as people see them biking in their bright yellow and blue cycling uniforms and ask what they鈥檙e doing. Ambroziak said that even in communities that aren鈥檛 鈥淯krainian鈥� they have many people asking them about their project and how they can help.
The goal is to end at the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington, D.C.
