The four cyclists traveled around the world for more than 500 days propagating ideas of world peace. They started in the United States and pedaled through the South American, African, European and Asian continents to Japan. On Jan. 25 they returned by plane from Tokyo to Vilnius. All four were met by a crowd of the Vilnius bicycle club's enthusiasts, family members, relatives, friends and supporters with flowers in Vilnius airport.
People at the airport waved a poster with the message: "Congratulations! We are proud of you!"
The four rode 24,000 kilometers in 44 countries starting in Seattle, on Aug. 6, 1998. They were joined by almost 700 local bicyclists in the United States, Mexico, Peru, Lithuania, Japan and other countries for hours, days, weeks or months. The journey was supposed to finish on New Year's Day in Hiroshima, the place which suffered from a nuclear bombardment in 1945. However, the bicyclists added an extra leg from Hiroshima to Tokyo which took a couple of weeks because of the enthusiasm of the Japanese bicyclists following them.
The initial idea about the "Great Millennium Bicycle Ride for Peace" was developed and supported by many of the world's bicycle clubs from America to Belarus, said Kucas. The idea was to create a bicyclists' group of some 500 people, two or three from each country, and to travel around the world.
However, various firms initially promising financial support changed their minds, and bicyclists from most of the countries couldn't make the trek without sponsors. Only the Lithuanians kept firm. Kucas, physicist with the Theoretical Physics and Astronomy Institute, decided to implement the idea and became an organizer of the millennium march for peace. He was joined by Ciplyte, an English language translator in the Lithuanian government, and Zizys, a professor of economics at Vilnius University. They decided to take a break from their work and to travel on their own savings with a little help of some Lithuanian sponsors.
"When Americans refused to make the trip because of a lack of sponsors, we took the initiative into our own hands. It was an open action and almost 700 bicyclists joined us. Some for an hour, some for a day, some for months. We called people we met on our way to live in peace with other people and with nature. The main thing that I understood is that the most important is to live in peace with yourself," Kucas said.
During the entire journey Lithuanians were accompanied by Platek from Poland. "I liked this international idea of a common journey because it reminded me of the Baltic Way when 2 million people in three countries stood hand-in-hand," Kucas said.
The bicyclists took with them a 40 meter-long roll of paper where state authorities, mayors and ordinary people met on the journey wrote in various languages and alphabets their wishes for peace. The first inscription was written by Lithuanian President Valdas Adamkus.
"Bring the Lithuanian people's greetings around the world," Adamkus wrote.
"Most of people we met said they know about our country, mostly because of Lithuanian basketball players. However, customs officials in El Salvador looked quite puzzled by our passports. Lithuania wasn't mentioned in the world's countries list which they possessed," Kucas said.
Sometimes bicyclists were forced to use trains, planes and buses where it was impossible to travel by bicycle. There were some tragic and dramatic events during the journey. Walter Ramon, 32, a bicyclist from Peru, died in India. He was asleep in the train and fell out of it. Bicyclists brought part of the ashes of his remains to Hiroshima which he had hoped to reach.
Zizys had an eye injury which required surgery in Guatemala. There were joyful and awful experiences during this journey.
Awful experiences: The poor technical condition of the microbus bought in the United States to lead the column of bicyclists. They left it in Argentina. Depression in the desert in Peru. Attacks of hooligans in Morocco, vagabonds in Guatemala. Heat reaching 40 degrees Celsius in Mauritania. Thieves in Senegal. An intimate proposition to Ciplyte in Turkey.
The travelers said they were disgusted by the status of women in Iran and Pakistan and shocked by the poverty in India. The travelers themselves also had financial problems. Their money ran out in the middle of the journey. Then the Lithuanian government sent some money to the bicyclists.
Joyful experiences: Meetings with friendly Lithuanian-Americans. Singing and dancing crowds of people meeting bicyclists in towns and villages of Latin America, Africa and Asia. Ciplyte fell in love with Senegalese Pablo, a musician at an Adventist mission in Dakar. Zizys said he was fascinated by the beauty of the women in Africa and Burma.
Exotic experiences: Red flags with hammer and sickle in Communist-governed Laos.
The cyclists said the most boring part of their journey was in Western Europe. They were especially bored by the cold and apathetic people they found there.
Kucas said that he is ready to repeat the journey right now. Ciplyte said that she has had enough of travel for the moment, and that an ulcer had risen on her cheek because of nostalgia for her homeland.
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