Mark’s on target as a quarter of globe pedalled
Perthshire’s cycling adventurer Mark Beaumont is past the quarter point of his Round The World in 80 Days challenge.
On Thursday last week he ended day 19 of his mammoth bike crossing having clocked up 400km (248 miles) since starting out that morning.
A weather-beaten Mark was pleased to note he would soon be crossing the border out of Russia and had covered one quarter of the distance he has to pedal to make his
Mark Beaumont’s round the world in 80 days cycle mission, while he was crossing Russia new record-breaking journey.
“I’m proving this is possible,” Mark said in a video post. He confirmed that his progress to make it round the world was “bang on target”.
Despite a fall two weeks ago that gave him minor injuries - broken tooth, sore elbow, stiff neck - he’s bearing up remarkably well.
While most people would not think to change their pedals within five years of wear, Mark’s pedals have done more than 4,000 miles in under three weeks.
His support team wished to ease some discomfort felt on his right knee and blamed “significant lateral wear” Adventurer Mark battles with the weather conditions to the right pedals as a possible cause, and a new set was fitted.
The bike was not fitted with a back mud guard and keeping Mark’s rear dry as he pushes through a succession of rain storms has been a priority.
His team solved the splashback problem DIY-style, with a halved plastic bottle taped behind Mr Beaumont’s saddle.
“It’s not pretty, but it does the job,” said his mechanic Alex Glasgow. “We have a part ordered for the New Zealand and Australia leg, but until then he’s going to have to put up with a bit of junk stuck on - a shame as it’s such a beautiful bike.”
A plastic bottle is not pretty but it does the job