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Oscar Lang, 27, of France, is biking from the shores of the Arctic Ocean in Alaska to the tip of South America.

Lang is undertaking the epic journey in support of Amazon Watch, which is 鈥減rotecting the rainforest and our climate by supporting Indigenous peoples.鈥� He is collecting donations that will go toward protecting 80 per cent of the Amazon rainforest. 20 per cent of the rainforest has already disappeared due to mining, fossil fuel extraction, hydroelectric dams and agricultural and other activities.

Lang is from Ambilly, right on the Swiss border near Geneva in the foothills of the Alps.

He explains why he decided to undertake this epic journey.

鈥淚t鈥檚 sort of been in the back of my mind for quite some years now. I think I鈥檝e always had a need or want to do a big adventure. Even as a kid, I was always looking at maps and thinking 鈥榳hat would it be like to go from one point to the other鈥�, not really thinking about the destination but everything in-between.

鈥淭hen a few years ago, on the Internet, I stumbled on some people doing sort of the same route. That definitely inspired me a lot. Eventually I did meet someone who did that route and got to be more inspired by them.

鈥淚 was supposed to do it in 2020 and that didn鈥檛 work out but I鈥檓 sort of glad, cause initially I was just going to do it as a fun trip for myself and I got to spend two years in Canada and it made more sense to me to try to do this as a fundraiser so that it could serve two purposes. One being this dream that I have and the other trying to do something good for something I believe in.鈥�

He explains why he decided to support his cause.

鈥淚鈥檝e always been very passionate about the environment and so I was looking for an organization that was doing some sort of work in that field somewhere in the Americas. I didn鈥檛 want to pick just any environmental organization. I was hoping to do something that was related to the Amazon for a lot of reasons. I wanted, especially, the organization to work with Indigenous people in the environment. That was a very important point for me 鈥� to have this acknowledgement of these communities.鈥�

Lang is not Indigenous, but their cause is near to his heart.

鈥淟iving in Canada, it opened my eyes to this issue a lot more and seeing those communities have really put in the work already to try and defend their homelands, so I wanted to do this fundraiser for an organization that supports that work and that鈥檚 what Amazon Watch does. They support Indigenous communities in the Amazon basin and they work with them and other partners to try and protect their land.鈥�

While in Canada, Lang spent a season tree-planting and also spent time fighting fires last summer in the Okanagan.

He is planning on traveling about 25,000 km.

鈥淚t鈥檚 gonna depend on how many detours I take. But that鈥檚 probably roughly what it鈥檚 going to end up being. Maybe a little more. It shouldn鈥檛 go beyond 30,000.鈥�

Lang is expecting the journey to take about 18 months.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a nice pace where you don鈥檛 have to bike every single day, so you can spend a few days in cities like Whitehorse.

鈥淵ou gotta put in the kilometres. I think most people try to do it in two years but I鈥檝e done some good trips before and I can put in the distance when I feel like it.鈥�

Lang is expecting to average about 100 kilometres per day.

鈥淪tretches that are remote, I usually do much more, so from Dawson City to here, I was doing 160 per day, more or less.鈥�

Lang started in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, which he believes is the northernmost point you can reach by road in North America, on June 26.

He鈥檚 riding a Surly Ogre bike.

鈥淚t鈥檚 a steel bike. It鈥檚 a rigid mountain bike. It鈥檚 nine years old. I got it second-hand in Anchorage. It鈥檚 been working pretty well so far. It鈥檚 got me here.鈥�

When asked if he鈥檚 good at maintaining a bike, Lang responded 鈥淚 am decent. I can definitely fix a flat if I need to. I can fix my chain if I need to. A steel bike is pretty robust, so that鈥檚 kind of the idea behind that 鈥� it鈥檚 a little heavier but shouldn鈥檛 have any problem frame-wise. If a wheel breaks down, then I鈥檓 in trouble but hopefully that doesn鈥檛 happen.鈥�

Lang has no support staff.

鈥淚t鈥檚 all on my own. I enjoy my independence. My other bike trips were like that as well. You still meet a lot of people along the way. You meet other cyclists doing the same thing or shorter trips and it鈥檚 kind of fun too, just bump into each other and criss-cross paths. I鈥檝e always been OK being by myself.鈥�

Lang said his journey鈥檚 been good so far.

鈥淚t鈥檚 been a lot of beautiful scenery, beautiful wildlife, a lot of heat in Alaska, a lot of smoke and haze due to the fires there. That wasn鈥檛 too great, obviously. But I got to see lots of wildlife 鈥� animals I鈥檇 never seen before, mountain ranges I was really eager to see.

鈥淣o huge setbacks except for maybe a lot of mosquitos. That鈥檚 probably my biggest challenge so far. You do get used to it though. You make do but they鈥檝e been pretty bad everywhere.鈥�

鈥淩ight now I feel very rested,鈥� said Lang. 鈥淚鈥檝e had a few days in Whitehorse. When I got to Whitehorse I was definitely feeling a little bit drained. It鈥檚 a long ways from Dawson and I had done a small detour to Tombstone. That was one of the reasons I wanted to go through Dawson and see that park.

鈥淥verall, my body鈥檚 doing pretty good. I should stretch a little more, but it鈥檚 holding up,鈥� he added.

As for how he鈥檚 financing his epic ride, 鈥淚t鈥檚 all my savings from previous jobs,鈥� he said. 鈥淪o I鈥檝e been able to put some money aside for the last few years and I鈥檓 pretty sure I have enough to get me through. I definitely have to be conservative with my spending but travelling by bike is a very affordable way of seeing the world; there鈥檚 no gas spending. I really just have to worry about food if I鈥檓 just pitching my tent every night.

鈥淎nd it will get significantly cheaper once I get into Mexico and the rest of Latin America,鈥� he added.

Lang has been to Mexico a couple of times, as well as Peru.

鈥淲hen I was 18, I did some volunteering at a foster home there ... I鈥檓 very much looking forward to seeing those places.鈥�

Lang isn鈥檛 really anticipating any problems down south.

鈥淲ith authorities, not so much. I can enter as a tourist every time. I won鈥檛 be there long enough to extend that stay. There are definitely areas in Central America that I want to be a bit more careful and probably link up with other people travelling by bike just to be on the safe side and keep my parents peace of mind intact. Probably going through Honduras is going to take a little bit more research, just to make sure I stay on the safe side.鈥�

As far as his fundraising goal, Lang said 鈥淎s much as we can get. It was a tricky question to begin with. I was in contact with Amazon Watch and we discussed if we should set a goal or not. With the platform I鈥檓 using, there鈥檚 an option to set a goal or just have incremental goals, so I just went with that instead of setting myself a figure.鈥�

The link to Lang鈥檚 fundraiser is