The fastest woman to pedal round the world
How Scot smashed record... riding through the night, dodging giant trucks and keeping an eye out for bears
ONLY days into her attempt to become the fastest woman to cycle round the world Jenny Graham was muttering to herself that she had already blown it. She had navigated only four countries and now it seemed the fifth – Russia – might prove the Scot’s undoing.
The Trans-Siberian Highway was too busy, the juggernauts thundered past too quickly and there was too little room at the side of the road for cyclists who valued their lives.
The 38-year-old’s journey had been many months in planning, the route meticulously plotted. Now desperate measures were required if she was to keep her world record attempt on track. And so she turned night into day, cycling when she should have been sleeping to put in the miles when the highway was quiet – and sleeping when she should have been cycling.
She says: ‘I remember thinking, “You’ve blown this Jenny, you’re riding through the night, you shouldn’t be doing this, it’s so bad for your body”, but I couldn’t think of any other way around it. I just knew it wasn’t responsible to be there when there was no room for you on the road.
‘The vans would beep and you’d jump out of the way then they would come flying past. If you didn’t hear that beep then, I assume you’d be killed because they were going so fast.’
Ahead lay Mongolia, China, and Australia and New Zealand in mid-winter. That was before the North American leg, starting with Alaska: bear country. A phone call away through all this was fellow Scot Mark Beaumont, who had two record breaking round the world cycle trips under his belt. But it is worth remembering his first circumnavigation in 2008 took him 195 days and that he allowed himself a day’s break every fortnight.
TEN years on, Miss Graham needed to complete her journey in fewer than 144 days to break the record – and she aimed to do it in 110 days. There would be no days off for her, only hard slog and even harder beds. On several occasions she curled up in drainage pipes under roads.
But last week the Inverness mother of one rode up to Berlin’s Brandenburg Gate to complete a mission which had begun at the same landmark 18,000 miles earlier on June 16.
She had smashed the world record of 144 days set in 2014 by Italy’s Paola Gianotti, taking 20 days off that time and, in the process, earning an extraordinary distinction for her country.
Scotland is now home to both the fastest man and the fastest woman to cycle round the world.
But while Mark Beaumont was an endurance cyclist from the age of 11, Miss Graham took up the sport seriously only five years ago and had no pedigree as a professional athlete. Before her circumnavigation the longest journey she had undertaken was Land’s End to John o’Groats.
But all the while during that fourday, 1,000-mile journey, one question nagged at her: ‘How far could I go?’ The answer turned out to be an average of 156 miles a day for four months with no days off and 15-hour shifts in the saddle. Her only respite was the four flights and boat trip she had to make to cross water.
Where on earth did she find the energy?
‘I think this is the prime age for women,’ she says. ‘I’m not sure about men but for women, endurance at my age is good. I wouldn’t be able to sprint against an 18-year-old but endurance seems to develop a bit as you get older.’
It was not until her son Lachlan, now 20, started school that Miss Graham really discovered outdoor pursuits and the natural playground for cyclists and hillwalkers that the Highlands offers.
She trained to be a sports instructor and went on to become a mountain bike and hill guide, inspiring young people to make the most of the great outdoors.
‘I remember reading Mark Beaumont’s first book, actually, and I had this feeling that I wanted to ride around the world, even before I was a good cyclist.’
Not until she became one did it occur to her she could have a crack at the world record. But she decided she had no interest in a ‘supported’ ride – where she would be followed every step of the way by mechanical and medical fixers.
If she were to take on the challenge she would do everything – from repairing punctures to finding her own food and accommodation.
‘I always liked the idea of looking after yourself out there. When the clock starts it starts and all your sleeping and eating is included in the time. Something just struck a chord with me about that way of racing. That living fast and being on your own and living on the road really appealed to me.’
The novelty could soon wear off, however.
By the time she reached Russia it was almost impossible to know what she was ordering at the roadside cafes – and every time she thought she had asked for pancakes a horrific concoction of black, microwaved pastry filled with unidentifiable meat arrived.
‘When I was waiting for the order to come out I was thinking “please, please be pancakes” and then it
would be this horrible meat pastry thing and I knew I had to eat it. It was hard even to get a breakfast there without meat in it. You end up with a craving for fresh food. It was a joy when you got into the cities and there was a choice.’
More than half of her nights on the road would find her in her sleeping bag covered with a waterproof bivi bag. ‘Often I’d just lie down at the side of the road or even in a ditch.’ A tent, she says, would have been too bulky.
‘And besides, you never want to get out of a tent if it’s raining. If it’s raining on the bivi bag you’re up quickly and smartly.’
As many as seven nights in a row could pass without overnight accommodation, which made the luxury of checking into a hotel with real beds, radiators, hot running water and, crucially, power points to charge her phone and equipment, all the more delightful.
‘If I was going for a week without accommodation my ride times were shorter and I was staying for longer at my stops. You gained so much by having accommodation, getting to wash your clothes, dry them, recharge your stuff.’
By the time she reached Mongolia and vegetables started to reappear on cafe menus she realised the record was still very much on. Sure, the Trans-Siberian Highway had slowed her down but she had weathered her first serious setback and was still feeling positive.
‘I never, ever thought “I’ve had enough”. And it never crossed my mind I wouldn’t complete it. But of course there were low points. Like in Australia, where the weather was so bad, so cold and I was camping out night after night and things were not drying out. Your body is worn down by it.’
By the time she reached North Island in New Zealand the record attempt again looked in jeopardy.
‘I was riding great for about eight hours and then, boom, I just started being sick at the side of the road. I was dizzy, sore bones, real flu-like symptoms and it just came on within an hour. I couldn’t ride my bike I was so weak. I had to walk with it.’
Checking into a motel, she slept until midday the following day, then willed herself to get up.
‘I knew I had to move or it would be days and days I’d lose.’ Getting back on the saddle, she squeezed out a few dozen more miles before resting, this time in a log-cabin hotel where she recovered further.
When she set off the next day, she did so with the audiobook The Worst Journey in the World, a memoir of the 1910-1913 Antarctic Expedition led by Robert Falcon Scott, playing in her earphones.
‘It was mindblowing,’ says Miss Graham. ‘The suffering they went through, it was like minus 70 and all the daylight was hidden from them. They were getting into frozen sleeping bags and going all day and covering just two miles.
‘I thought to myself, “You’re moaning about having a bad day at 180 kilometres”. That was quite good perspective for me.’
In Alaska she soon learned it was bear season. One of the first questions she was asked was whether or not she had brought a gun to protect herself from the wildlife.
Within days, she had seen her first – a black cub, halfway up a tree at the side of the road, staring straight at her. She kept pedalling, passing moose and bison too. In fact, as she camped out under the stars, it was the snakes which worried her most. She had already seen several dead ones.
‘I wasn’t so scared of getting killed by them. I was more scared of getting cuddled by them in my sleeping bag,’ she laughs.
But, no matter which country she was travelling through, it was the people rather than the wildlife which presented the biggest challenge to a cyclist whose entire journey was against the clock.
There were 16 countries in all – Germany, Poland, Latvia, Lithuania, Russia, Mongolia, China, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, the US, Portugal, Spain, France, Belgium and the Netherlands – and everywhere she went people wanted to know what she was doing and hear about her experiences. Could she afford to chat to them all?
It did not help that Miss Graham is a natural chatterbox. ‘I am such a yap. I can talk and talk and talk, so I needed no encouragement to not get on my bike and just stand and chat to people.
‘The chattiest people were definitely the Canadians. It was unbelievable. I reckon I got stopped each day by about 20 to 25 people wondering what I was up to. It was so welcoming and so lovely. They all started following me on Facebook and sending me lovely messages. Sometimes they left food on my bike for me and phone numbers to call if I got in any trouble.’
It became increasingly clear to Miss Graham that her journey was not simply about beating the clock. It was about the people she met along the way – and the lifeaffirming kindness she encountered in all four of the continents she crossed.
So there would be no regrets about spending an extra ten minutes having a chat rather than pounding on the pedals. Indeed, she says, those chats, that human contact, inspired her on every stage of her remarkable journey.
It ended with an incredible 32hour cycling shift – her longest – in which she covered 293 miles to reach the Brandenburg Gate where her son, extended family and friends were waiting for her.
‘I was straight on the champers,’ she says. ‘Then we all went out and stayed up until I was literally falling asleep while I was speaking to people.’
IN 124 days on the road, only once did she need to call her fellow circumnavigator Mr Beaumont, who competed the same route in 78 days on a ‘supported’ cycle last year.
‘I needed to clarify some of the rules. He’s ridden it twice, so he should know.’
In a video-message for Miss Graham, Edinburgh-based Mr Beaumont said: ‘You’ve absolutely smashed it, just phenomenal riding and all the way with a smile with a cheer with a sense of humility and excitement for the unknown round the corner.’
He added: ‘The friendship of strangers has definitely seen you through on this global cycle and I just love the way you’ve shared that with an audience back here in Scotland and on social media around the world.’
Miss Graham is a member of the Adventure Syndicate, a collective of female endurance cyclists which aims to encourage women and girls to get on their bikes and see the world. Now she has taken that to its logical conclusion.
But what if someone should smash her record? Would she be driven to regain it?
‘I want to say no. I’d rather help somebody with the knowledge I gained to get that record down even further. The more knowledge people can gain about this route in particular, the faster we can do it. It would be nice to hold on to it for a while but if someone was serious about beating it I’d want to help them with what I know.’
What she knows beyond doubt is you do not need to be a professional athlete to go far in cycling. Self-belief can take a 38-year-old mum all the way round the world.