Round the World in 80 days

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
43 days is a large margin, put simply so its very impressive........................

[hondated]

Also incredible was the BBC One news, I think at lunch time, where they said he'd been riding 40 miles a day! They didn't even realise their error, the pre-recorded report though stated the correct mileage.

I'm glad you posted that. I was watching that very BBC report and heard what you heard.....but I thought that I might have misheard.

79 days X 40 miles does NOT get you 'round the world......

+ 1

[landsurfer]

Total respect to MB.
Not just a dreamer but a man that realised the dream.
If anyone would feel the need to diminish his effort and record just post the dates for your challenge of his record .....
Top chap Mr. Beaumont.
Well done ...

[mercalia]

I bet he will have a very long sleep in?

[PH]

Total respect to MB.
Not just a dreamer but a man that realised the dream.
If anyone would feel the need to diminish his effort and record just post the dates for your challenge of his record .....
Top chap Mr. Beaumont.
Well done ...

Absolutely incredible achievement, I look forward to reading the book and I shall no doubt go hear him when he does a speaking tour.
But - he's changed the nature of the record, up till now it's always been an amateur challenge, largely self funded and with limited support. If/when this record is beaten it'll be by another professional sportsman/woman, with many thousand £££ at their disposal and a full support crew.
Maybe there should be two records, though no one but a few enthusiasts would be interested in the lower one. Great though the achievement obviously is, something has also been lost.

[Bonefishblues]

Just occasionally someone does something that takes a record into an entirely different space. It'll be long time before anyone even attempts to beat this one.

[horizon]

I'm not into record breaking or indeed just cycling far and fast every day. But I have to say that I thought the eighty day thing was brilliant - really interesting to compare that with the original. The fact that he actually did it is incredible (almost unbelievable) - after all the book was fiction. Something inside me says that I would have been happy with a fictional account of RTW on a bike in 80 days but there's no need for that now.

[Bonefishblues]

I'm not into record breaking or indeed just cycling far and fast every day. But I have to say that I thought the eighty day thing was brilliant - really interesting to compare that with the original. The fact that he actually did it is incredible (almost unbelievable) - after all the book was fiction. Something inside me says that I would have been happy with a fictional account of RTW on a bike in 80 days but there's no need for that now.

What???

But I saw the documentary about it and everything.

[horizon]

I'm not into record breaking or indeed just cycling far and fast every day. But I have to say that I thought the eighty day thing was brilliant - really interesting to compare that with the original. The fact that he actually did it is incredible (almost unbelievable) - after all the book was fiction. Something inside me says that I would have been happy with a fictional account of RTW on a bike in 80 days but there's no need for that now.

What???

But I saw the documentary about it and everything.

As far as I know, the book was fiction:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_th ... ighty_Days

[Psamathe]

Out of interest (and quite unrelated to this magnificent record), what are the "rules" for a "Round The World" trip. Clearly there must be some flying/airplanes involved. Similarly, go to the North (or South) Pole and you could do a RTW in minutes; but also you can't expect people to exactly follow the Equator. Does time in airports and on aircraft could as part of the attempt ? etc.

Ian

[dgibby]

Out of interest (and quite unrelated to this magnificent record), what are the "rules" for a "Round The World" trip. Clearly there must be some flying/airplanes involved. Similarly, go to the North (or South) Pole and you could do a RTW in minutes; but also you can't expect people to exactly follow the Equator. Does time in airports and on aircraft could as part of the attempt ? etc.

Ian

I've read a few round the world books (Mark Beaumont's original, Sean Conway's etc) and they all state pretty much the following which I got from Wikipedia

Guinness rules
The rules state "the journey should be continuous and in one direction (East to West or West to East), that the minimum distance ridden should be 18,000 miles (29,000 km), and that the route "must be ridden through two approximate antipodal points."

The requirement to pass at least two antipodal points causes some problems in route planning. For example, among popular countries for around the world cyclists, the antipodes of Australia is spread out over the Atlantic Ocean, North America over the Indian Ocean, Africa over mid Pacific Ocean, and Europe and most of Asia over the South Pacific Ocean, without any land mass there. Those land areas would not give any opportunities for an antipodal pair while cycling. Some possible pairs are China / Argentina, Malaysia / Peru, and Spain / New Zealand (Madrid and Wellington fall within the ±5-degree difference permitted by Guinness).

Hence why Mark went to Madrid and Wellington, NZ on his route!

[Postboxer]

Now he just needs to do it in a North-South plane.

[horizon]

Now he just needs to do it in a North-South plane.

Or even on the ground?

[Bonefishblues]

Now he just needs to do it in a North-South plane.

Or even on the ground?

I think there are planes you can pedal - that seems a suitable next challenge to me