5 QUICK CHECKS...

BEFORE A RECORD RIDE

Endurance athlete Sean Conway has set a new world record for the fastest, unsupported crossing of Europe by bike, here’s how

FIND A RECORD TO BEAT

You’ve got to be hungry to break records. I’ve been building up to this one over six years. With three failed attempts and 60,000 miles, I finally achieved a cycling world record crossing of Europe through nine countries from Portugal to Russia over 3980 miles in 24 days 18 hours and 39 minutes.

GET YOUR STATS RIGHT

You need 50 per cent fitness and 50 per cent everything else. You need to think: food, water, sleep, muscle management and mindset. I had all five perfect on maybe two days.

LEARN FROM EXPERIENCE

I’d like to say to start slow - the usual advice – but I didn’t. In the first 24 hours I’d done 220 miles which I didn’t need to do. I learned to pace myself and not make big decisions while tired.

RECORD YOUR ATTEMPT

Guinness are the only people who adjudicate these things and require you to have GPS tracking, photos and videos, receipts from places you bought food and details for people you meet on the ride.

FIT SOME MIRRORS

It’s legal to cycle on motorways in Russia, but there’s no hard shoulder so you have to stop to let lorries pass. It would be suicide to cycle those roads without mirrors on your bike.