Photo Credit: Mike Hall @ NormallyApsiratedHuman.com
Mike Hall, a 31-year-old Englishman, set the record for cycling around the world when he pedaled into Greenwich royal observatory last week.
The trip, which was about 24,900 miles, 18,000 of them biked, and took him through 20 countries and four continents, was completed by Hall in 92 days, while he was competing in World Cycle Racing’s Grand Tour.
According to VPR News, he rode about 200 miles a day, a speed at which he shattered the previous record, set by Alan Bate in 2010, by a full 14 days.
It is impossible, of course, to bike the entire planet. Instead, the Guinness Book of World Records has set forth standards to which all riders who aspire to say they’ve circumnavigated the world by bike can ascribe. The full set of rules are available here. But as for the minimum distances, Guinness says this:
“The minimum distance ridden should be 18,000 miles and the total distance traveled by the bicycle and rider should exceed the Equator’s length, i.e. more than 24,900 miles.”
That in mind, here is Hall’s route, as it was clocked in its entirety at Trackleaders.com:
He started in England, ported across the English Channel, rode across the entire continent of Europe, through to Turkey, where he caught a plane in Ankara, skipping the middle East, and landing in Southern India. From there he road up the Eastern Indian coast all the way to West Bengal, where he caught another plane to Perth Australia, touched down and rode East along the coast till he reached Brisbane. From Brisbane, he flew to Invercargil, New Zealand and continued a North-eastward journey across that entire country; flew from Auckland to Vancouver, Canada, rode along the West Coast, through Washington, Oregon and half of California, where he cut East to pursue a zig-zagging journey through Nevada, Utah, New Mexico, Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, South and North Carolina, all the way up the coast till he flew out of Farmington, due East. He landed in Lisbon, Portugal, rode down through the South of Spain and then cut back upward, through the rest of Spain and back up the West Coast of France, back across the English Channel, and terminating back in Greenwich Park, where he started.
To see a video of Hall crossing the finish line, click here.
Photo via Hall’s website: Normally Aspirated Human.
