London Courier breaks world circumnavigation record

I remember this guy posting on MT ealrier in the year....he did this pretty much self-funded after having saved up his courier wages for a year...

An amazing achievement, plus there's loads of controversy to make it interesting, it's all over the internet..

www.thisisnotforcharity.com

This really is "awesome" in the true sense of the word and worthy of recognition (sorry for pinching from BIKEFIX thread)

That's amazing, thanks for linking. Great website. Inspiring.

Nice read, thanks for the link! sounds like a nice guy

He talks about Mark Beaumont a lot. Stuff about him selling out to the corporate masses and so forth, and how he hasn't and won't, and did it for the love of cycling. But actually he seems to have hijacked his own journey to mount a bit of a vendetta-type attack on previously mentioned Mark Beaumont and corporate masses in the end. Not really a fan.

See here:

*What I want to say concerns Mark Beaumont, and completing that all-but meaningless record was motivated, more than anything, by earning my license, having done exactly as he did, to say exactly what I thought of him. I have no respect for him. I regard him as a lifeform some way inferior to the dead skin that accumulates in the seat of my crotch after three weeks of cycling a desert without washing. We're the same age, we're both politics graduates, and so I feel sufficiently close to a part of his demographic that I feel no desire to make excuses or allowances for him that I would never make for myself.

His style of media reminds me of Where's Wally with a bicycle twist thrown in, his self-aggrandising titles of THE MAN WHO cycled the world, who cycled the Americas, display no honesty or humility to the fact that the likes of 74-year-old Ian Hibell, killed tragically by a Greek hit-and-run driver last year, had already cycled the world a handful of times when THE MAN, Mark Beaumont, was still suckling his mother and shitting in his pants.

But all that bombast is forgivable, it's pretty human stuff really... what I can't get over is the wholesale corporate sellout, and these few days I'm moved more than ever by the notion that it could ever be possible to complete an experience as beautiful as mine was, and as beautiful as I expect Beaumont's was, and that a person could be moved so little by that experience that they would commodify it as an asset to sell to a bank. To a fucking bank. I suppose Beaumont, 'the adventurer' ... had actually sold his adventure to a bank, an investment fund, and a hotel group, before he even left, so it wasn't really anything new to him... He throws around the word 'adventure' an awful lot, but if adventure has a spirit and a meaning over and above going to obscure places on a bicycle, Beaumont has none of it.*

etc. etc. This goes on for a lot longer, same sort of stuff. See the last post in the FOLLOW section.

really interesting blog too...

He does seem obsessed with MB but he does have some points, and I've always found it funny that MB has had all this media storm around him (and has continued to with his new trip) when there are and have been so many more people doing many trips as tough and tougher.

Hats off to both of them. I'm far to boring to attempt anything any where near what they have undertaken.

he supports CAMRA! therefore gets my vote.

I just watched Into the Wild last night and his story/manifesto really reminds me of it except for the dying of starvation at the end.

He's a bit obsessed with MB and overly earnest, but his heart's in the right place and he comes across as somebody who would be very interesting to know. Hat's off to him.

Winston, what kind of godless heathen wouldn't support CAMRA?

I heard a certain RTW'er drinks Fosters.

Whoa, hadn't seen the blog part. Who is Mark Beaumont? I feel like I should have heard of him. Why does he become the target of abuse? So he did something similar a bit differently, and was sponsored in a less than ideal manner, but what business is it of the author? Shame really.

Amazing... nuff said.

Love that he so clearly hasn't sold out, and happy to piss people off for a point, even if you don't agree with him.

Whoa, hadn't seen the blog part. Who is Mark Beaumont? I feel like I should have heard of him. Why does he become the target of abuse? So he did something similar a bit differently, and was sponsored in a less than ideal manner, but what business is it of the author? Shame really.

Previous world record holder

http://www.pedallingaround.com/start/

Who did he do it with? his face is familier... and i remember talking to another chap (courier) who was on about doing this a while back..

Man, this guy has a serious chip on his shoulder with Beaumont. I havent read all his blog, just parts of his last entry. Beaumont's name is littered through it achieving nothing but showing the author in a very poor light. His obsession with Beaumont doing adverts has clouded his vision.

So, the feeling Im getting is, it is a bad thing to have Beaumont celebrated in the media and with that increasing the exposure of cycling and inspiring others. Including Julian Emre Sayarer himself to do the record, be it in spite or otherwise. I 'presume', as Julian does himself, Mark Beaumont does a lot more for promoting cycling than he does for himself through "selling out".

http://edinburghnews.scotsman.com/topstories/Recordbreaker-Mark-Beaumont-inspires-pupils.5826880.jp

Anyway, good on that man, it is a great achievement. I reckon Beaumont would say the same.

I would have thought that being having returned from a trip around the world, having put oneself through an impressive physical challange (by most peoples standards) and no doubt faced a number of chanllanges, both mental, physical and emotional on the way, one would return with an alternate outlook on life.

I would have thought you would get less fussed by small problems, you would be pragmatic, and most of all tollerant.

This fellow seems to be full of bile and anger and intent on ranting about Beaumont, rather than telling the no doubt inspirational anecdotes from his trip. He says he wants to raise the popularity of cycling, I think if anything he makes cyclists sound like a bunch of cnuts.

Well done on having the balls to go for such a challange, and completing it, but perhaps you could chill out a bit!

I heard that Guinness changed the rules of what constitutes the round the world record....I'd be interested to know if Mark Beaumont was the first to attempt the record under the new regs.... it seems odd that two riders have beaten him in quick successsion and by relatively large margins.......and didn't a previous record holder (Nick Sanders? under previous rules) actually cycle much further with a higher miles/day average?

don't have time to google.

This fellow seems to be full of bile and anger and intent on ranting about Beaumont, rather than telling the no doubt inspirational anecdotes from his trip. He says he wants to raise the popularity of cycling, I think if anything he makes cyclists sound like a bunch of cnuts.

Well done on having the balls to go for such a challange, and completing it, but perhaps you could chill out a bit!

+1 He has turned himself into a bit of a ranting knob.

People are inspired by a person's acheivement, not the people who have backed them to try it. Whinging and moaning about the person that you've beaten is a bit pathetic really and doing it under the banner of Not For Charity right from the out is just egotism pure and simple.

Beaumont inspired me, in part, to try for things like the Paris-Brest-Paris. This guy just inspired me to call someone a cunt.

The guy after Marc and before this guy kept missing out bits, he flew out of Iran and missed out Pakistan because he found them too dangerous but made up the distance in America. I was pleased he got beaten pretty quickly as I think thats not a real attempt, its not meant to be easy!

I know Mark and I must say he's a very nice guy. I don't see a problem with him earning money from a book and TV after his round the world cycle. If it serves to inspire one person to do something similar and raise a decent amount of money for charity then it's a good thing. I think the title of the TV programme was a trifle self-indulgent but if it gets people watching then fair enough. Also, you've got to make money somehow, Chris Hoy did it with Bran Flakes, countless other athletes do it by signing up for advertising campaigns. If making money by these routes means that you've got more time to plan interesting shit to do then I say go for it. The other guy's achievement is amazing but I think he belittles himself by slagging someone else down. I think he would be better to talk about the positives that he gained from his experience.

Julian wrote to Brooks by coincidence right before I had a meeting with them. I got to read his letter to Brooks which was a great opportunity to read a letter to a sponsor about how he doesn't want corporate sponsors. I'm really chuffed that brands had the balls to sponsor him even though he says a few things that may push a few buttons.

it's a bit like when famous athletes starting talking about god, or actors about peace. yes, of course, you are indeed in a privileged position and if you can, you should try and use your fame for greater good. thing is, if there's even a slice of arsehole in you, keep your mouth shut.
this is so impressive what he's done, casually circumnavigating the globe and all but he really needs to leave beaumont alone.

http://www.justgiving.com/artemisworldcycle

Reading 'The great bike ride' by Nick Sanders at the moment, really worth checking out.

Funny that he looked for sponsorship not cos he needed it for his ride, but to clear his debts, maybe MB was doing the same and just got swept along by The Man (tm).