(See “Scotsman sets record for around the world solo bike ride”)
A bicyclist from Scotland is out on the road to try and beat the record for an around-the-world bicycle tour of 276 days, 19 hours and 15 minutes.
Mark Beaumont of Fife set off from the Champs-Elysees in Paris on August 5 to set a new world record in under 210 days.
There's no sag wagon to carry Beaumont's stuff or help him over the high passes. Beaumont is lugging more than 66 pounds of gear on the 18,000-mile expedition on his bike, a Koga-Miyata Signature.
Beaumont's journey is being followed by BBC-Scotland, which plans to broadcast a documentary in the spring. The BBC website has audio updates from the cyclist.
Beaumont also has his own website, Artemis World Cycle Challenge, that has a diary, GPS tracker, gallery, and information about his bike and equipment.
The last report in his diary had him in Romania, but I checked his GPS tracker and discovered that he's already crossed the border into Bulgaria. He said the terrain has flattened out and he recently made about 120 in a single day.
Beaumont has split the trip into segments and he's still on his first leg to Istanbul. It will be interesting to track his progress and hear his adventures along the route.
Although he started in Paris, instead of San Francisco, he's wheeling in the tire tracks of the first around-the-world cyclist — Thomas Stevens — who started his tour in 1884.
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