Ryan Van Duzer
Quick Facts
Biography
Ryan Van Duzer (born 21 January 1979) is a US television presenter, cyclist and travel video journalist and filmmaker. He can be seen surviving in the jungles of Venezuela on Discovery Channel's Out of the Wild.
Host/TV Presenter
As a host, he has also appeared on National Geographic's 13-part web series about trekking through the Himalayas and on NPR. He has produced and hosted over 70 videos for the Travel Channel including the bicycle travel series 'Wine Country by Bike' and a pilot for the History Channel called "Savage World." In March 2011 he became the first host of the international contest, "Paradise Hunter," where he is traveling the world in search of Paradise. The 13-episode show is set to air in Canada in 2012. Ryan is a regular writer for the Camera (newspaper) as well as hosting weekly travel videos for their website. He is also the host of 'Remote and Refined' an outdoor adventure web series on Men's Journal.
Bike Advocate
After serving in the Peace Corps for two years in Honduras, Ryan rode his bike home from Honduras to Colorado. He has also filmed for Race Across America and ridden his own bike across the United States, Maine to Key West, San Diego to D.C. and Vancouver to Cabo San Lucas. In 2009, sponsored by New Belgium Brewing Company, Ryan rode a Cruiser bike from Oceanside, California to Washington, DC promoting bicycle advocacy working with the League of American Cyclists.
Media
As a bike advocate, Ryan has appeared in the viral video "Sh*t Cyclists Say" on YouTube to promote People for Bikes campaign. Ryan is also featured in Driven, a short documentary about him learning how to drive a car for the first time. It is an official selection in the Boulder Adventure Film Festival (2012) and Portland's Filmed By Bike Festival (2012).
Personal life
Ryan's TV career began in 2006 on Channel 54 in Boulder, Colorado where he created an outdoor adventure show called "Out There." It eventually caught the attention of the Daily Camera who then asked him to start producing a weekly adventure series for their web site. Ryan's first short film to air on national TV was about a cock fight in the Dominican Republic which aired on Current TV in June 2007. In late 2007, Ryan submitted a short film to the Travel Channel about his ride from Honduras to Boulder which aired on the Travel Channel show, "What's Your Trip?" hosted Andrew Zimmern. Soon after, he began producing content for the Travel Channel.
Never getting a driver's license and always riding bike, Ryan was awarded 1997 City of Boulder Commuter of the Year Award and 2011 Community Cycles Cyclist of the Year Award.
Charities
On his bike trips Ryan often raises money for Community Cycles In his local Boulder, Ryan is active in his community through local MC'ing at Attention Homes, North Boulder Park Classic and Green Streets Boulder and using his skills as a filmmaker to create videos for local charities including Community Cycles, Bolder Boulder and Intercambio. As a local volunteer, he worked with Columbine Elementary and San Juan Del Centro as an after school mentor. He also worked more internationally with the Peace Corps in Honduras and orphanages in Guadalajara, Mexico, Guatemala and the Dominican Republic through Orphanage Outreach.