French cyclist says he will seek to break more records after Russian jail

By Guy Faulconbridge

MOSCOW (Reuters) -A French cyclist who spent 50 days in custody in Russia said he would seek to break another record after his hopes of doing the fastest cycle ride from Portugal to the Pacific were dashed when he crossed the Chinese-Russian border through a dense forest. 

Sofiane Sehili, who describes himself as an "ultra-endurance racer and adventure cyclist", was freed in Russia's Far East on October 23 after he admitted illegally crossing the border. He flew back to Paris on Sunday via Asia.

After cycling 18,000 km (11,200 miles) from near Lisbon, he was on course to break the world record for cycling across the whole of Eurasia - and just 200 km from Vladivostok where his journey should have ended.

When he reached the Russian border, he found that his electronic visa would only allow him to cross by train - and that the train had already left. There was just one train a day.

"I was on a mission to break a world record and if I had decided to wait another 24 hours to be on that train then breaking the record would have been impossible," Sehili, 43, told Reuters in an interview from Paris.

BARBED-WIRE FENCES AND RAZOR-SHARP GRASS

So he decided to cross the border on foot, and carried his bike through a dense forest, over streams, under barbed-wire fences, navigating east by GPS until he found a railway track. 

"I kind of gave up on that dream of breaking the world record somewhere in that forest after crossing the barbed wire," he said. "There was no path. I was walking in streams, climbing over fallen tree trunks and walking through high razor-sharp grass and my legs were full of cuts."

The record is held by Jonas Deichmann from Germany, who did the vast journey in 64 days, two hours and 26 minutes, according to the Guinness World Records.

As the light drained out of the day, Sehili was exhausted and gave himself up to Russian customs officials. He initially told them he had not crossed the border intentionally but they saw through that.

"They kind of guessed that I did it on purpose," he said.

RUSSIAN CELLS 

Sehili was placed in a pre-trial detention centre in Ussuriysk, about 100 km (60 miles) north of Vladivostok. He could have faced up to two years in a Russian jail. 

"It was an old building, lots of things were falling apart, it was in pretty bad shape, kind of humid - kind of what you would imagine a Russian jail looks like. So not a nice place but not a violent place," he said. "It was a pretty safe place."

Although the other inmates were not violent, he said the food was bland - porridge, overcooked rice and pasta with tiny bits of meat, clear broths - and lacked protein and fresh vegetables. He lost weight and developed an ear infection and a racking cough. 

Sehili stayed in four different cells, sometimes with as many as eight inmates per cell. 

Photographs from the court showed him standing in a cage still wearing his cycling shoes, laces removed. "These were my only shoes."

"I am just going to keep riding my bike, and racing ultras and trying to break records," he said. "Not this record but other ones for sure."

So what advice would he have for anybody else who might consider illegally crossing Russia's borders?

"I would strongly advise against breaking any law in Russia - any law," he said. "Whether you are a Russian citizen or a foreign citizen - they are not kidding."

(Reporting by Guy FaulconbridgeEditing by Gareth Jones)