The Man Who Cycled the World, BBC1 22:35

It's a 4-part series isn't it?

I've not started watching it yet but sounds interesting.

+1 for Tommy's statement about hissy fitting over little shit when touring. I'd be yelling and screaming at shit and then fix it and after 30 seconds would be wondering what all the fuss was about.

Jim Jones. What is buckshee?

I think he means baksheesh - spare change or a bribe.

I think he means baksheesh - spare change or a bribe.

Same diff innit?

My point was that even if he hadn't heard of it before, he certainly would have 5 minutes into landing on the subcontinent and should have worked it out pretty quicky, ignorant, or maybe a bit of artistic licence? I dunno.

maybe he just failed to read the lonely planet guide for planet earth. im sure learning little trivial things like that is low in his priorities. geez. but give him a chance. he might know the baksheesh equiv in thai or malaysian or native american

Having read an article about this and watched the first two episodes (http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/tol/arts_and_entertainment/tv_and_radio/article4559764.ece) I'm inclined to agree with the article regarding the video diary. Where else was he going to have a moan. It's giving me ideas athough my girlfriend has banned 7 months away from home.

It's interesting.

hardcore task, 100 miles a day, 200 days in a row (sort of). but he didn't make it easy for himself. riding through near east during Ramadan and through india et al during monsoon season. could've planned it better.

blimey... some of you lot are being pretty harsh!

I've found it very interesting so far, enjoying it a lot.

funny, my boss being scottish mentioned him the other day and when i told him that he quit being veg he lost all respect for him.

That's bollocks. He didn't quit being vegetarian. He had to eat some fish, because there was no other food to eat! He was burning over 6000 calories a day - if he didn't eat, his muscles would have wasted and he'd have ended up seriously ill.

I'm vegetarian and could see why he did it. I would have been seriously gutted if I was him, but what other choice did he have?

Did you think he was carrying 1,164,000 calories worth of organic-fair-trade-veg food with him? :P

Did you think he was carrying 1,164,000 calories worth of organic-fair-trade-veg food with him? :P

Obviously not otherwise he would have been fine but he was obviously ill-prepared and not emotionally strong enough to even attempt a challenge like this. If it had been me everything would have been perfect and I'd have used the video diary to tell a few good jokes or maybe just share tips on healthy living, instead of the tirade of whinging that we did get.

We would have found something to flame you Vanuden. Trust us ;)

You can't prepare for everything, you will always over look something.

If anyone thinks that they could take on a task such as this solo and not bitch and moan than they are living in cloud cookoo land.

To me, the fella deserves every positive plaudit. Easy to watch on TV, but there are things that you dont get to see (the sores alone would make me want to stop). The blokes courageous, and must have the strongest of minds. Good on him.

Great program, what an amazing effort. Good on ya Mr. Beaumont.

He's a jock, whinging's in their blood more than the English.

Never been to Liverpool then?

He's done incredibly well; 100 miles a day, day after day, language barriers, strange and changing diet, doing his own repairs, dealing with an - I imagine - very sore arse and having to do a video diary and track mileage for the record attempt. Not easy. Is there a round-the-world fixed record?

I saw it and tbh honest after about 10mins in I thought 'what a fanny!'

Spent £2,500k on his bike and got 3 punctures and a spoke snap in 24hrs! Not only did he not check his bike properly before he left but he failed to find a shard of metal in his tyre hence him getting 3 punctures!?
Plus he was constantly whining about shit foodstops. Mate, you're cycling through Eastern Europe, what did you expect lobster and caviar every stop - which ironically enough wouldn't have helped as he was veggie! Nearly in tears cos he had to eat fish! I'm no long distance cyclist but it's fairly obvious pasta and high carbs food is what's needed, or atleast stuff yourself with Mars bars! Got a cold after a few days too....fanny!

I just watched the last two episodes, I dont know if he matured by then but he seemed to have his head screwed on.

Only 24 when started, turned 25 towards the end an age where many people are messing about having early mid-life crisis via a 'one gear' Moaning about riding their bike in the rain, and worrying about how to keep tyres white.

Wanting to do it as a world record with no stops, sounds a bizzarre choice. But he actually did it, with no support.

Thousands and thousands of miles all alone, I really dont feel the few minutes of footage per continent did justice to what he was doing. Look how much of a deal they made about "long way round" ewan mcgregor got a book release and perfume outta that. The distance was much much less, they had the companionship of each other, a third camera rider and support vehicles. Yet they return to a heroes welcome, with awe & respect and heaps of interviews.

anyone knocking him is thumbsucker....go and 'ave a go yourself and then you can say something

He needs to HTFU . . . this dudes doing it on a penny farthing and hes 2 years into his 3rd attempt . .

http://www.crazyguyonabike.com/doc/?o=QzzM&doc_id=1451&v=yC

8 TDFs, back to back. Impressive.

give him some EPO and a carbon bullet and the fucker can win Le Tour for Team GB!!

Is there a round-the-world fixed record?

That was my first thought!

Though, having seen a bit of the footage, and read this thread, I think I'd rather spend more time exploring the countries I passed through. Perhaps twice round the world then - a sprint for the record, then a tour for the scenery...

Thread dredging!

I just watched this docu and It's pretty impressive, if annoying to watch - constant whining and awful narration ("then the worst happens" - a broken spoke ffs...)

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 :-)

I did find rule 10 interesting. It states that "All traffic laws must be observed. Any offense committed invalidates the attempt." Doesn't the law in Aus and NZ state that cyclists must wear a helmet? There's footage on the doumentary of him riding without his helmet across Aus. Does this mean his record is technically invalid?

There are photos of him in Australia with a helmet on so in the event that someone complained about this rule, he could simply argue that "he was always wearing a helmet except when he stopped cycling to pose for a nice photo". Job done.

He's signing books in Waterstones on London Wall, 12.30-1.30pm on Wednesday, if anyone's interested. (I'll drop in if I'm in the area, but knowing my luck it'll be another W1-W1-W1-W1-W1-W1-W1 day.)

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 :)

he cycled throug Irak too with only civilian guards (by our standards)... i would not do that. No way.

Have you got a website or anything tis sound like two adventures.