Khaberni - A French racer who spent 50 days in detention in Russia said he is aiming to break a new record, after his hopes of achieving the fastest bicycle trip from Portugal to the Pacific Ocean were dashed when he crossed the Chinese-Russian border through a dense forest.
Sofian Soheili, who describes himself as a "super-capable racer and cycling adventurer," was released in the far east of Russia on October 23 after admitting to crossing the border illegally. He returned to Paris on Sunday via Asia.
After covering a distance of 18,000 kilometers (11,200 miles) near Lisbon, he was about to break the world record for crossing Eurasia by bike, only 200 kilometers away from Vladivostok, where his journey was supposed to end.
When he reached the Russian border, Soheili (43 years old) discovered that his electronic visa only allowed him to cross by train, which had already departed. There is only one train per day.
Soheili said: "I was on a mission to break a world record, and if I had decided to wait another 24 hours to take that train, it would have been impossible to break the record."
Soheili decided to cross the border on foot, carrying his bike through a dense forest and under barbed wire, following the direction east using a GPS system until he found a railway line.
He said, "I somewhat gave up on the dream of breaking the world record somewhere inside that forest after crossing the barbed wire."
He added: "There was no path. I was walking in streams and climbing over fallen tree trunks and cutting through tall, sharp grass like blades. My legs were full of wounds."
The German Jonas Deichmann, who made this long journey in 64 days, 2 hours, and 26 minutes, holds the record according to the Guinness World Records.
As darkness fell, Soheili felt exhausted and surrendered himself to Russian customs officials. At first, he told them that he did not cross the border intentionally, but they did not believe him.
Soheili was placed in a pre-trial detention center in the city of Ussuriysk, about 100 kilometers north of Vladivostok. He could have faced up to two years in a Russian prison.
He said: "The building was old, many things were dilapidated and it was in very bad and somewhat damp condition, just as you would imagine a Russian prison. So it was not a nice place, but it was not violent either. It was relatively safe."
Although the other inmates were not violent, he said the food was tasteless, consisting of porridge or rice and overcooked pasta with very small pieces of meat and soup, and it lacked protein and fresh vegetables. Soheili lost some weight and contracted an ear infection and severe cough.
He stayed in four different cells, sometimes with up to eight prisoners in one cell.
He appeared in court photos inside the cage wearing cycling shoes, which had been unlaced. He said, "This was the only pair of shoes I had."
He added, "I will continue to ride my bike, participate in endurance races, and try to break records. Not this record, but definitely other records."
