Spend any amount of time on a state highway over a New Zealand summer and you’ll drive past them; cycle tourists, grinding against a headwind and their cartilage, stock trucks mere feet away and bikes hidden beneath expansive pannier bags. Even the most ardent among them struggles to look like they’re enjoying themselves.

Marc Maurer takes a slightly different approach. Traveling light, planning minimally he just starts pedaling, shrugging off wolves, high-explosives and tunnel cows with an endearing enthusiasm on his legitimately epic journey along back-roads from Turkey to Iran, over 5600 miles away.

A photo album of Marc’s adventure can be viewed here