IAN Wallis, 65, is getting ready to ride from Canberra to Singapore, to raise money for the indigo foundation, a cause he has become very passionate about.

The money he raises will go towards funding school resources in Afghanistan, helping to confront sexual harassment in public spaces, and funding bursaries to enable girls to attend university.

Departing from Burgmann College at 9am, on May 1, Ian, of O’Connor, plans to arrive in Cowra at the end of day three, before travelling through Forbes, Bourke, Long Reach, Mount Isa, Katherine and Darwin.

Ian has ridden bikes since he was a kid, but his introduction to long rides came soon after he married Cora, in 1995.

He says they then both got offered new jobs.

“I went for a lectureship, I’m retired now but I was a biologist. Cora went for a public health type job. We had an agreement that if, at the interview, we’re offered the job, we’re going to take it only if we can have a few weeks off.

“We both got our jobs, and we cycled across France and Switzerland, and that was the first big trip.

In the years since, Ian’s memorable bike rides have taken place in Scotland and Ireland, across France, across America, through Jordan and Israel, Vietnam, Cambodia, Japan, from England to Singapore, from Canberra to the Margaret River and back, through Pamirs and Kyrgyzstan, and from Uluru to Canberra.

Previously, he has cycled from London to Singapore, and will close the loop with his ride from Canberra to Singapore, while supporting “a very important” cause.

“I chose to raise money for the indigo foundation because every dollar goes towards a program, I wanted no overheads, and the indigo foundation lets locals decide what needs to be done, they’re not being told what they need.

In 2021, indigo foundation partnered with Juventude ba Dezenvolvimentu (JDN) – Youth for National Development.

In Dili, Ian says, there’s a real problem with sexual harassment.

“So JDN has gone over there and they’ve trained quite a few people, aged between 16 to 24 about what’s reasonable and what’s not reasonable when it comes to sexual harassment,” he says.

“They are a small charity that really tries to do global stuff, on a local scale.”

And, Ian says, he will be doing the ride unsupported.

“I choose to ride unaccompanied, that is with no support vehicle, no one setting up camp each night for me, I do it all myself,” he says.

“Riding a bike loaded with all that I need makes me feel more part of the environment; I feel less removed from those I see doing it tough along the way.”

He says a major interest of his on the road is cooking.

“Every trip I add a new bunch of dishes to my home menu,” he says.

“Once, I saw a fungus puffball, and I know you have to be careful with fungi, but it was the size of my head. It’s like tofu, I cut it into cubes and popped it on the billy with garlic, onion, ginger and a tomato paste, and let it marinade for the whole day, and that was dinner over some wild rice.

He and the indigo foundation have left their fundraising goal open, saying they will use the money for whatever is needed, whenever it is needed, rather than locking in specific targets.

“On April 27, I will launch a blog on CycleBlaze for anyone who is keen to follow my journey, just search for indigo foundation. I’ll aim to update it daily with a paragraph or two and some photos,” he says.

“I expect it will take me five weeks to get to Darwin, and then I’m just going to fly to Timor and go from there. So, how much time will it take? I don’t know, but I wouldn’t mind being home by September.”

Donate at great-indigo-bike-ride.raisely.com