Picked up the bike!

I picked up the finished bike yesterday from Stuart at Bikefix...

he fitted the mudguards

then had some pizza

then I was ready to set off on my first ride... back home... in the rain

Countdown to the big day...

RTW Bike is on order, deposit paid :-)

Click here to see the beast!

Mike Hall wins World Bike Race in 92 days

Mike Hall has won the world bike race and broken the Guinness World Record in an awesome ride of just under 92 days

Click here for more

Getting closer to buying the RTW bike

It's looking like my RTW bike could be a Bacchetta recumbent with Rohloff 14-speed hub, supplied by Bikefix in London.  More here

Will I have to wear a helmet?

There are a few, very few fortunately, misguided countries in this world which no doubt think they are making cycling safer by forcing their citizens to wear plastic hats of no proven safety benefit when they ride their bikes.  This helpful entry on wikipedia shows that I am planning to ride through five such countries: Australia, NZ, Canada, USA and Spain.  I guess I will have to buy one as I arrive in Darwin, and bin it as I cross the Pyrenees back into France.

I found the wikipedia link in this useful Sydney Herald article which does a good job to explain the futility of compulsory helmet laws.

Evidence for views expressed here

and they're off! world bike race

World bike racers set off in all directions from Greenwich on 18th February, a diverse range of bikes and blokes, first to ride 18,000 miles and get back to Greenwich is the winner... and possibly the new record holder... new page here

Route plan updated today, main change is to avoid a flight (probably from Shanghai to Bangkok) which would have been necessary to avoid cycling south-westerly between Changde (China) and Bangkok (Thailand) - which is against the Guinness rules - now I have abandoned the record attempt I can cycle wherever I like, yahey!

So congratulations to Alan Bate whose ride has just been ratified by Guinness World Records:

The fastest circumnavigation by bicycle is 106 days, 10 hours and 33 minutes, and was achieved by Alan Bate (UK) who cycled a distance of 29,467.91 km (18,310.47 mi) and travelled over 42,608.76 km (26,475.8 mi) in total (including transfers). The journey started and finished at the Grand Palace in Bankok, Thailand, from 31 March to 4 August 2010. 

That's 273km (170 miles) per day.  Amazing.  There is no way I can do that without a support team (which he had).  My plans are based around riding solo and unsupported @200km per day.  Arguably there should be two categories, for supported and unsupported - though that would be a difficult can of worms for Guinness to manage - what would constitute support, where would the line be drawn, and how would it be policed? 


Anyway it almost certainly means the end of my dreams to chase this record.  But not to do the ride - I will simply go for fun :-)

Bingo!  I have at last discovered how to add pages to this blog :-)

Good news
I got a Garmin 800 GPS device for my birthday on October and an e-werk charging device for xmas, both will be useful on the world tour.

Bad news
I don't think I will be riding in 2013... probably 2014 now for family reasons... hope I will still feel young enough when the time comes...