Round the world cyclist

There are quicker ways to Australia from Ireland, but taking the easy route has never been an option for champion surfer Kate Moloney.

The 27-year-old, currently enjoying the surf in Co Sligo, is planning to return home on her bike. With the occasional train and boat journey thrown in, Kate is hoping to raise almost £100,000 for charity.

A cyclist attempting the record for cycling 50,000 miles around the world has praised Scots hospitality.

Avijit Chakraborty, 39, from Calcutta, aims to complete the trip in 20 months and since leaving India in July has clocked up 15,000 miles.

He also relies on making contacts with local communities for accommodation. Since he arrived in the UK last Thursday he has been staying in the Sikh Temple in Dundee's Nelson Street

Another contender for the round-the-world cycling record has pedalled forward in a bid to outdo Julian Emre Sayarer and road.cc favourite James Bowthorpe, who both set global benchmarks in 2009.

The year 1066 has gone down as in history as the one in which three kings – Edward The Confessor, Harold and William The Conqueror – sat on the English throne. But for Britain’s long-distance cyclists, 2009 will be remembered as a year when three cyclists from these shores each held the round-the-world cycling record.

Anne Mustoe, who took up cycling at the age of 54 and rode around the world twice – once in each direction – recounting her travels on those and other trips in a series of books, has died in Syria aged 76 after being taken ill while on another circumnavigation by bike.

The former schoolteacher, who described herself as an “Improbable Cyclist,” recounted on her website that she was inspired to take up riding a bike during the 1980s during a holiday in India.

After 175 days and 18,602 miles riding his belt drive Santos tourer in a bid to raise £1.8m for research into Parkinson's Disease James Bowthorpe today made back to where it all started on the 29th of March, the bandstand at Hyde Park Corner.

Intrepid round-the-world cyclist James Bowthorpe is in the home stretch of his cycling challenge for charity. And while 33 days to go may seem a little soon to be having thoughts of finishing, when you consider he has already done 136 days it is very much the closing straight.

So where is James right now? Well he is in Santa Fe in New Mexico with his last tweet: “230km today, hilly evening! Santa Fe is at 7000ft, no more roundabouts sighted. Plenty tired now.”

Australia is a vast country, as our intrepid round-the-world cyclist James Bowthorpe is finding out. In an attempt to raise more than £1 million for research into Parkinson’s disease, James is aiming to circumnavigate the globe in record time. This week sees him cycling along the coast from Perth in the direction of Adelaide….

James found an internet kiosk on the edge of the Nullarbor Plain, an area of semi-arid country, and posted the following message.

Round-the-world charity cyclist James Bowthorpe has just arrived in Australia after riding from Thailand through Malaysia to Singapore. Although exhausted from what must seem like an eternally long stretch of south-east Asia, James has still made time to meet with Western Australia’s Deputy Premier and Health Minister Dr Kim Hames AND speak on ABC radio about his travels.

India is done with James and he's now resting up in Bangkok with Thailand, Malaysia and Australia ahead of him. Before he sets out again, though lets look back at his adventures on the Sub Continent…

If riding around the world at a record pace was easy we'd all be doing it. That point was rammed home by the last few weeks in India and Iran. While Iran dealt James some tough psychological blows with real fears for his safety India proved to be a massive physical challenge with a constant battle against heat, sickness and dehydration.