Around the World in 195 Days ... On a Bike

This from a post on blog.sierratradingpost.com by Allie Comeau:
Circumnavigating the globe is a great challenge, but doing it on a bicycle in 195 days is an incredible feat.

Riding in the Artemis World Cycle Challenge, Mark Beaumont rode through 20 countries, including the U.S., Thailand, Pakistan, Germany, Australia and New Zealand, in only 7 months.

In addition to shattering the previous bike-around-the-world record of 276 days, he also beat his personal goal of 210 days. As soon as Guinness verifies the trip, he’ll have a world record.

Beaumont kept a web diary in order to chronicle all of the hardships and excitement along the way. It’s an extremely interesting read. Beaumont, a vegetarian, talks about how he had to eat meat sometimes to keep his calories up, how hard it was to find healthy food options in the U.S. and Australia, and what it’s like to ride a bike in Istanbul (”terrifying”).

The Artemis World Cycle Challenge raised money for several deserving charities and earned Beaumont a world record, but I think it’s the cultural lessons that are the most important. For example, we need to stop eating so much junk food and be nicer to people on bikes.

Watch the CNN interview with Beaumont.