![]() Naturally there was a high level of physical fitness required, and although the coverage of Beaumont's training is minimal, the results are still impressive: his resting heart rate dropped to 40bpm, his power-to-weight ratio increased to 4.6W/kg, he had 9% body fat, and he became 'a fat-burning machine'. > Buyer's Guide: 28 books every cyclist should have on their shelves They also managed to negotiate away thousands of pounds of excess baggage charges, which was handy because they were the 'only omission I know of in our budget'.Īrtemis were another important sponsor, who increased their initial support and agreed to 'step in and cover any increases in spend' so that Beaumont could 'stop fundraising and completely focus on the ride'. A recent change to the rules 'stated, quite simply, that the clock never stops', so their practical support saved 'at least half a day' by allowing him to speed through airports. Not everyone made the cut, so a very competent mechanic was fired because he had 'an attitude that demonstrated he was more of a burden than a boon to the team'.Īnother priority was to find the right sponsors, and Menzies Aviation turned out to be one of the most valuable because they had 'ground handlers in almost every airport I passed through'. The objective was to allow Beaumont to concentrate solely on cycling during the record attempt, with the team being capable of taking every other decision on his behalf. It is clear that lessons were learnt from last time, and the increase in time spent planning before the record was in inverse proportion to the time spent actually cycling during the record.īeaumont made assembling an extensive support team a top priority, and then proved that they could work together in stressful situations during several trial runs at 'lesser events'. The first 100 pages of the book cover the preparation and planning for the trip, which is what makes this book different to most other similar accounts. The difference this time is that the stakes were higher – and the achievement greater – than ever before. ![]() Beaumont received considerable flak first time around for his professional approach, yet his preparations this time put him on another level.Īnyone who has read one of Beaumont's previous books ( The man who cycled the world, The man who cycled the Americas, and African solo) will already know that he has always produced a fascinating account of his exploits – and he has managed to do the same again here. The key difference between Beaumont's two trips is that this one is purely about performance, whereas the previous one allowed for some spirit of adventure – as have most other record attempts to some extent. That still makes for a serious undertaking: although there are benefits in being a supported rider, to quote Greg LeMond, 'it never gets any easier, you just go faster'. If no distinction will be made, and your job is to break the record, then naturally you are going to give yourself every advantage – which means full support. The rules for setting a Guinness World Record have changed occasionally, but right now there are 'distinct world records for team and solo, males and female, but not for supported and unsupported'. The plan was to spend 16 hours cycling an average of 240 miles per day for 75 days, with 'three days of flights and two days' contingency'. While ' 80 days' continues that theme, everything is taken to a new level: at first sight it might seem that he is repeating a previous exploit, but in reality, his first round-the-world trip has little in common with this one, even if both resulted in a world record.
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