Pedalling Beyond Borders — Dr Kate Leeming’s Global Journey for Change
Across deserts, mountains and icefields, Dr Kate Leeming has cycled more than 100,000 kilometres — not to plant flags, but to plant ideas. From the Skeleton Coast of Namibia to the taiga of Siberia and the red heart of Australia, each expedition advances a single mission: use adventure to educate, connect and create change. This feature, drawn from Kate’s conversation with Sam Penny on Why’d You Think You Could Do That?, charts how a bike became a bridge between classrooms and some of the most remote places on Earth.
It’s not about the distance. It’s about direction.
Watch the Interview
A Bike, a Map, a Mission — Beginnings
Kate Leeming grew up in the Wheatbelt of Western Australia. Big skies, bigger paddocks and a habit of solving problems with your own two hands. She trained as a teacher in geography and physical education and excelled in real tennis, eventually becoming a multiple-time Australian Open champion and a world top-two player. Somewhere between classrooms and courts, a different idea took hold: travel the world under human power and learn from it directly.
Her first long continental ride — around 15,000 kilometres through Europe and up to the Arctic — wasn’t planned as a brand or a career move. It was curiosity. It proved a simple hypothesis: the closer you move to the ground, the more deeply you see.
Breaking the Cycle — The Idea That Became a Movement
After 13,400 kilometres across post-Soviet Russia, Kate returned to Australia with a question: what if an expedition could be more than a trip? Her answer became Breaking the Cycle — an ongoing project that uses world-first journeys to highlight practical solutions to poverty, gender inequality and environmental stress. Over time, the initiative grew a second pillar: Breaking the Cycle Education, a global classroom that connects students to live expeditions through map tracking, field notes, Q&A sessions and curriculum resources aligned to the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Africa Coast to Coast — Riding into the Story
Ten months, twenty countries, 22,000 kilometres: from Senegal’s Atlantic edge to Cape Hafun on the Horn of Africa. The ride that many know Kate for wasn’t a stunt. It was an investigation. She met farmers building water solutions from scrap, teachers running classes under trees and women launching micro-enterprises that transformed whole villages. She also threaded dangerous sections under escort, navigated bureaucracy at borders and negotiated the mental battle of day 180 when the body asks for home.
Her film and book Njinga — named for the Angolan queen who resisted colonial rule — document the journey. But the more important output lives on in classrooms that study the ride as a case study in resilience and local problem-solving.
Skeleton Coast — Sand, Wind and Perspective
In Namibia, Kate became the first person to cycle the Skeleton Coast end to end — 1,600-plus kilometres of shifting sand, fog and wind. Oversized tyres skimmed the dune faces; hyena tracks crossed the morning beach. What seems like a physical feat reads, in her telling, as an environmental essay: a fragile desert system, a coastline littered with shipwrecks, communities balancing conservation with livelihood. The TV series Diamonds in the Sand grew from this ride and has brought the landscape into living rooms worldwide.
Across Australia — East to West on Fat Tyres
Starting at Cape Byron and finishing at Steep Point, Kate pieced together an 8,617-kilometre traverse of Australia over two seasons, interrupted by injury and floods, then completed with the same steadiness that marks all her work. The route stitched bitumen to bull-dust, coastal humidity to desert clarity, and included time with Indigenous elders who shared stories of Country and stewardship.
Lights of Ladakh — Adventure Meets Access
High in India’s Trans-Himalaya, Kate rode remote passes and delivered solar lighting to the village of Ralakung — a place that had lived for more than a thousand years without reliable electricity. The symbolism is neat, but the impact is practical: safer study for kids after dark, more time for work and community, and a story that shows students abroad how technology and respect can travel together.
Engineering the Impossible
Many of Kate’s routes demanded innovation. Working with engineer Steve Christini, she helped develop an all-wheel-drive fat bike for deep sand and snow. Tyres up to five inches wide float over soft surfaces; a clever drive system powers the front wheel to keep momentum when the back tyre digs in. Years of prototype testing in Svalbard, Greenland, Canada and Iceland turned an idea into a tool. The lesson scales beyond bikes: build the thing you need and test it where it breaks.
From Expedition to Classroom
Breakthroughs don’t stick unless they’re shared. That’s why Kate’s expeditions now run in parallel with a structured education program. Teachers access lesson plans, GIS maps, short films and live briefings; students submit questions that get answered from the field. The program partners with organisations including the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award, Scouts Australia and Exploring By The Seat Of Your Pants. The result: young people who learn to see complex problems through a lens of curiosity, systems thinking and agency.
- Geography comes alive: climate, landforms, water cycles and human adaptation have faces, names and coordinates.
- Ethics is grounded: students wrestle with trade-offs, not slogans.
- Leadership is demystified: they watch someone plan, pivot and persist in real time.
The North Star — What She’s Really Chasing
Ask Kate what she’s after and you won’t hear a list of records. You’ll hear about alignment. Each trip is designed to serve a bigger purpose — to show that courage yoked to contribution can move communities. Awards like the Medal of the Order of Australia and an Honorary Doctorate recognise that work; the more meaningful feedback arrives as a message from a student who tried something hard because her story made the idea feel possible.
Playbook: 12 Lessons You Can Use
- Make the big small. Break audacious goals into checkpoints you can see from the saddle.
- Lead with questions. Curiosity earns trust faster than credentials.
- Travel light, carry respect. Culture is not a backdrop; it’s the setting.
- Build the tool you need. Innovate where the terrain demands it.
- Document as you go. Stories are the force multiplier of impact.
- Train both engines. Cardio and conviction — you’ll need both.
- Risk is to be managed, not worshipped. Courage is preparation in motion.
- Map the stakeholders. Every expedition has partners, beneficiaries and critics. Plan for all three.
- Teach what you learn. If the lesson doesn’t leave with you, take it back to a classroom.
- Optimise for longevity. Pace beats spikes. Purpose beats hype.
- Measure what matters. Count people reached, not only kilometres ridden.
- Keep your North Star visible. Purpose is the only fuel that doesn’t run out.
The Brave Five: Quickfire
Most unexpected lesson? The places that look the harshest often host the warmest hospitality.
Most peaceful moment? Early light on a desert beach with only tyre tracks and hyena footprints for company.
One thing she’d tell a younger self? Don’t wait for perfect conditions. Start where you are.
Habit that changes everything? Daily planning that survives contact with reality.
When did she need bravery most? Day after a setback, when nobody’s watching.
Links & Resources
- Website: breakingthecycle.education
- YouTube: @BreakingtheCycle.education
- Instagram: @leeming_kate
- X (Twitter): @leeming_kate
- LinkedIn: Dr Kate Leeming OAM
- Facebook: kate.m.leeming
Listen, Subscribe & Explore
Watch the full conversation above, listen on your favourite platform, and explore more quotes, resources and links on Kate’s Guest Hub.