A Minnesota man with a dream of cycling across all seven continents was forced to come up with alternative plans after Israel launched a barrage of air strikes on Iran’s military leaders and nuclear facilities, close to where he was riding.

The Associated Press said 32-year-old Ian Anderson of Minnetonka, Minnesota did not plan to get stuck in a real war zone, so he rode to neighboring Azerbaijan on Monday.

“The bombs started falling,” Andersen told the wire service on Wednesday, while speaking on Zoom from a hotel in Baku. “It was extremely scary.”

Andersen was touring through Iran as part of a yearslong mission to ride his bike across all seven continents. While in Iran, Andersen had a local guide, and he had shared videos of his adventure with tens of thousands of followers on social media, since the beginning of June.

A massive plume of smoke and fire rise from an oil refinery in southern Tehran following reports that an overnight Israeli strike targeted the site on June 15, 2025. (ATTA KENARE/AFP)

Biking, Andersen said, was his dream and escape, and in the past, he had struggled with addiction and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder.

And while his dream of cycling the seven continents may have hit a speed bump, he has no regrets from going on the journey.

The bombs in Iran were not his only brush with death. In fact, he said he was in northern Kenya in 2023 when a tribesman threatened to chuck a spear at him while biking through a rural area.

“There’s always going to be risk, and you have to accept it,” he said.

Now that he is out of Iran, Andersen said he is planning to ferry across the Caspian Sea to Kazakhstan, then head east into Uzbekistan. But from there, Andersen said he does not know where to go.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.