Losligato

BBC September 19, 2009
Cyclist claims world tour record

A Londoner has claimed to have set a new record after he cycled around the world in 175 days.

James Bowthorpe, 32, of Balham, finished his 18,000-mile (29,000km) tour at Hyde Park - breaking Scottish Mark Beaumont's record of 195 days.

Mr Bowthorpe, who rode 100 miles a day, had a kebab thrown at him in Australia and faced attempted robbery in Iran.

He said he was happy "not to be cycling tomorrow". He will approach Guinness World Records to register the ride.

The previous cycling record was held by Mr Beaumont, from Fife, who in February 2008 finished his round-the-world tour in 195 days.

'Incredibly proud'

Mr Bowthorpe, who set off from Hyde Park in March, finished his race just after 1800 BST.

He hopes to raise £1.8m for research into Parkinson's disease and the cycle ride is the first step.

On his way to Hyde Park he said: "It feels great. I'm just excited. Its a real release not to be cycling tomorrow."

Earlier his girlfriend Nadja Coyne, who met him at the finish line, said: "I'm incredibly proud of him. I hope he gets a chance to rest now."

He passed through France, Belgium, The Netherlands, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Turkey, Iran, India, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, USA, Canada, Portugal and Spain during the tour.

During the journey he reported in his blog that he was ambushed by a group of men in Iran and had a kebab thrown at him by someone in a car as he cycled through Western Australia.

Mr Bowthorpe logged the attempt with Guinness World Records officials before beginning the ride.

Read the Article at BBC>>

His Blog

Nice Map of the Route

antokelly

what a man i remember him starting out dident think he would beat mark beaumont's reckord.wonder if theres a tv documentry comming out love to see that.

wheel

How does one determine they rode around the globe?

I think he missed Iceland and greenland?

Joe Gardner

Wow!

BigAura

Not to take away from his extraordinary feat, but he was racing not touring. At least that's how i see it.

antokelly

no no he was touring okay just a bit quicker than the normal.

Losligato

Was wondering the same thing myself. I pulled this from another site:

____________________________________________________________

A basic definition of a world circumnavigation is an around the world journey on a route which:

* begins and ends at the same location,
* travels in one general direction, and
* reaches a pair of antipodes.

The implications from the above descriptions are that a true circumnavigation route:

* must cross the Equator at a minimum of two points,
* must touch at least one pair of antipodes, and
* must travel a distance that is equal to or more than the length of the Equator.

____________________________________________________________

The equator measures 24,000 miles more or less. On Mark Beaumont's Guinness certificate it say he traveled 18,000 miles by bicycle and more than 24,000 miles including transfers. James also cycled more than 18,000 and presumably went 24,000 miles with transfers.

Not sure if he reached antipodes.

I remember there was considerable controversy regarding the human powered circumnavigation record.

iluvfreebeer

I don't think he rode past my house.

MilitantPotato

I've been following him for awhile now, he's posted loads of videos on YouTube, quite a character. Glad he made it.

Here's his YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/globecycleguy

The Smokester

He passed me by while I was touring on the Pacific Coast Highway in July. People that talked to him said that apparently he missed traveling though Afghanistan (and some other places I forget) because it was too dangerous and had to make up extra distance by traveling the full length of the PCH.

twodeadpoets

I watched Mark Beaumont's documentary and loved it! I hope there will be one about about Mr. Bowthorpe's ride. Thanks for posting about it!