Last December, university student Vedangi Kulkarni, 20, became the youngest woman to cycle the globe
Ihadn’t been in England long when I rode from Bournemouth to John O’Groats on a whim. I was actually training for LondonEdinburgh-London and I just kept on going, even though I’d only packed one spare set of clothes. After that, I began to eye the roundthe-world record. It started in Perth, Australia and rode through New Zealand, Canada, Iceland, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Finland, Russia, India, and then back to Australia.
On just the second day, this guy in Australia started throwing cans of cola at me as I cycled by. I stopped and spoke with him. His wife apologised and said that although he’d been to jail for dealing drugs he was really a good person. In Canada I was charged by a grizzly bear and cycling through Russia was tough
because it was winter and I rode through snow every day. I aimed to cycle 300km for 16 hours each day. I’d start at 4.30am and usually got food and drink at gas stations and rest in my bivouac.
The most difficult part was in Spain where I was mugged and they held a knife at my throat and threw me down a cliffside. It was a very traumatising experience and the concussion I suffered slowed me down hugely. I realised then that I wasn’t going to get the world record I was aiming for (fastest female to cycle around the world then, Paola Gianotti 144 days) and physically and mentally that was the hardest part of the journey.
There were so many random acts of kindness too, from getting a free sports massage to people who followed my social media posts giving me grapes after reading how much I love them!