Roberto Ortiz is going to be a sophomore in the fall. He’s not going about his college education in a traditional manner. He said he wants to make the world his ?campus.
Starting in August, Ortiz will travel the world on his bicycle while taking online courses as an English major.
Ortiz grew up in Elkhart, Ind., and went to Concord High School.
“It was kind of an awkward childhood,” Ortiz said. “I was half black, half Mexican. I was raised in a primarily white area, so it was really weird growing up. It’s not a sense of identity, or like my culture. It just wasn’t there.”
He said his mom understands him and fully supports his ?decision.
“She’s really worried,” Ortiz said. “My mom just gets me, she gets it. Like, why I’m doing this. She knows I would not be happy if I didn’t do it. She cares more about me than my own safety.”
He said both of his parents are really supportive, but they cannot financially afford to support this endeavor. So, he works at a daycare center to save money for ?his trip.
“Its super cheap, actually,” Ortiz said. “I’ve planned for five dollars a day, which will work in most parts. That’s one of the points to the trip is to challenge myself and see what it’s like, $1,800 a year is my base price.”
He has enough saved for the first year. After that, he said, he could probably get sponsors to finish out the trip.
Ortiz said he will start the trip in San Francisco and end back in Indiana.
“I’m going to head south,” Ortiz said. “Once I hit Ecuador, that’s when I’m going to raft the Amazon. I found out you could do that, so I thought I better try it out.”
His mapped-out trail includes a tour of the Andes Mountains, an unpaved road straight through the Amazon and a large portion of Alaska.
Ortiz will be alone for a portion of the trip but said people have planned to meet up with him along the way in their respective hometowns.
“I’ve had some people sign up,” Ortiz said. “One dude signed on to cycle the rest, like the whole thing with me. But I won’t see him for a couple months because he wants to meet me in his hometown. Like, I’ve never met this guy before.”
Ortiz said Elijah Heath is his closest friend at IU. Heath studies international relations and said he is excited Ortiz will be following his passion.
“Anything is realistic if you are Roberto,” Heath said. “I am extremely anxious to see how the unpredictable journey of Roberto’s biking adventure will pan out. There will be many adversities being in unknown terrain, language barriers and being independent for such a long period of time. It is possible to follow your dreams if you believe in yourself.”
One day in Portland, Ore., last summer, Ortiz asked if he could borrow someone’s bike, he said. He ended up riding it all the way to Mexico. He got into cycling on accident, he said.
“I brought his bike back,” Ortiz said. “Over the year I started researching more into it, then I was like, whoa, you can do this around the world. I had never thought about that.”
He said he doesn’t have any expectations for the trip. He wants to just go and see what comes of it.
“The only goal I have is to be open and to see what the world is going to give me,” Ortiz said. “I want to inspire. The only way to have actual change is to do it yourself.”
On his website, thisisouryouth.org, you can see his mapped-out path as well as donate to his endeavor through Go Fund Me.
