Amid all the jubilee pomp it could be an easy occasion to miss: at some point on Monday afternoon a dusty and extremely exhausted-looking cyclist will pedal his bike across the meridian line at Greenwich, south-east London. If you do spot Mike Hall, give him due reverence. He will have just ridden round the world in a little over three months.
Hall, a 31-year-old from Harrogate, Yorkshire, is about to become the prime exponent of the increasingly popular pursuit of competitive global circumnavigation by bike. If all goes well and his weary limbs return him to Greenwich, he will have set a new world record by a significant margin.
Hall set off on 18 February as one of nine riders taking part in the grandly titled World Cycle Racing event, and is several thousand miles ahead of the handful of competitors who remain. Under the rules of the record, days spent in airports or planes are not counted, meaning Hall will have ridden the requisite 18,000 miles in 92 days, an average of almost 200 miles a day.
This shatters the existing 106-day mark, set in 2010. If that is not enough, the previous record holder had support vehicles carrying his supplies, while Hall carried everything with him on his bike as he rode through Europe, Turkey, India, Australia and to New Zealand before heading back via the US.
The round-the-world record has only become prominent in recent years. A key figure was Mark Beaumont, the Scottish rider who in 2008 completed the trip in 195 days, taking 81 days off the then-record. His next ride, down the Americas, became a BBC documentary.
Speaking to the Guardian on the west coast of France shortly before his return, Hall said part of his secret was travelling very, very light: even when packed with its oversized saddlebag his bike weighs little more than 16kg (35lbs). This, he explained, has its drawbacks: “I’ve got one set of kit, which I wash, well, a bit infrequently. The problem with washing the kit is that I’m up and away by five or six in the morning and a lot of the time it’s just too cold to put wet kit on. I’m only sleeping for four or five hours so it’s not enough time for it to dry.”
His last few months have been particularly gruelling, Hall explained: “Typically I try and get on the road for six or just after. I normally set myself a target of 3pm for the first 100 miles, which usually means I do the rest by about 10pm or midnight, with food stops.
“The hardest was the States. It’s so long. Two weeks into this four-week stint and you can’t see the beginning or the end. It’s the motivation which is the problem, and it becomes hard to push yourself.”
Even the food stops are rushed, meaning one particular outlet has proved useful: “McDonald’s is quite good as it’s quite a lot of calories and it’s really easy to eat quickly. Getting food anywhere else takes an age.”
Asked how much he was looking forward to the finish, Hall paused and gave a sigh: “These last few days have been very hard. Mind and body are falling to bits now.”
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