The Man Who Cycled the World, BBC1 22:35

Thread dredging!

I was also surpised at the lack of research and forethought that had gone into the route planning - why would you go through the centre of large, busy cities when you're trying for a speed record? Why hadn't he anticipated wind directions?

But it's easy to be an armchair critic - it's a hefty acheivment to make.

In my idle daydreaming about beating his record (cos i got mad skillz), I found the Guinness rules for the record here: http://www.pedallingaround.com/route/?page_id=3. Pretty handy to know if anyone wants a stab at this, or fancies doing it fixed :-)

Fixed touring is hard. I managed 18,000km on a normal tourer, decided I needed a stiffer challenge and went and did a tour fixed. Even on a tiny gear it was nails! Hills are not so much a problem as wind, it really gets you. Fixed there is no escape. It wears you down. You have to keep the cadence at a reasonable speed and its exhausting. The abuse I screamed at the wind made Gordon Ramsay sound like a girl guide! 6,000km fixed was more than enough for me, good on anyone who wants to give it a go. That said I'll probably warm to the idea in the not too distant future though.

As for anticipating the wind, I followed the prevailing winds according to research and still had about 75% headwind instead of the other way around - just bad luck. I learned the hard way that prevailing doesn't mean always :)