A man who broke the world record for most countries cycled in seven days says his attempt has shaped his understanding of the world, and has influenced his approach to his new job as a politician.
Mark Kowalski’s attempt was a compromise with his fiancée after agreeing not to ride the Transcontinental Race for the fourth year in a row. Instead, inspired by his friend Rob Gardiner’s record breaking effort in 2019, he chose to cycle 2,798km unsupported through 21 countries, from the southern tip of the Netherlands through the Swiss and Austrian Alps, before riding through the Balkans.
He beat the previous record of 20 countries, set by Craig Nilsson last year, by riding across North Macedonia to reach Greece, crossing the border with two hours to spare.
View this post on Instagram
During his ordeal last month, Kowalski averaged 19 hours of riding a day, and ate approximately two kilograms of sugar every 24 hours. He also started buying 5kg bags of ice from petrol stations and chewing the ice whilst riding “to bring my sanity back” during searing heatwaves where the temperature barely dropped below 30 degrees Celsius during the day.
Speaking to road.cc afterwards, he admitted his teeth were “probably pretty wrecked” but also that he thinks he misjudged his hydration strategy. Just not in the way you would expect…
“I carried a two litre bladder on my back and then I had two 700ml bottles on my bike, everything was always full when I filled it up. But I probably carried too much water because I never used those bottles because I would want to stop when I’d see a fountain and just get cold water because everything would have heated up. Then you have these two bottles that you never even touch because you’re stopping so much to get cold water.
“The ultra cyclist in me is analysing the situation [riding a world record attempt, cycling 400km a day through one of the biggest heat waves Europe has ever seen – ed] and saying, ‘You carried too much water. You carried two full bottles which you never touched because you stopped too much to replenish your hydration pack with cold water and dunk your head underneath the fountain.’ That’s why my fiancée calls me crazy.”
Having started training for the record nine months beforehand, before even realising the record now stood at 20 countries in a week, Kowalski found his training interrupted by his entry into politics. After both standing and winning election as a Green Party councillor in Lewisham, he started incorporating his daily commute into his training, and would spend hours on the turbo trainer, fielding work-related phone calls as well as watching films and listening to podcasts to while away the hours.
“I watched The Deer Hunter for the first time on a six hour session so when I think back to the movie I also remember myself cycling. It’s a weird feeling to have this different relationship with things that you associate with suffering or exercising,” he said.
But despite the monotony of pedalling, Kowalski said he enjoys the time and space the world record attempt brought him.
“You have a lot of time to think about any any issues you’ve got, any problems you want to think about. You’ve got plenty of time to think. I never try and look at distance. Otherwise you just trap yourself in thinking ‘Oh there’s this much distance left to do’ and you just keep thinking about that and it’s like watching a kettle boil. It’s just not conducive to a smooth ride.
“I’ve had some of my best revelations on a bike about how I think the world works. I saw a lot of fly tipping in the Balkans and I’m pretty sure it derives from the construction industry because you just see drywall everywhere and bricks. Then, being on the council, I think about fly tipping quite a lot!”
The challenge also brought into perspective the work done by the charity he raised money for during the challenge.
“I saw refugees en route. I was traversing a continent under very different circumstances and I saw them on this ride as I was descending from Kosovo into North Macedonia and I saw four young guys who were clearly on a long, long journey trying to get somewhere.
“I gave them a thumbs up and they gave me a big smile and waved back at me. It makes me really proud to support AFRIL [a refugee charity based in Lewisham]. They’re a wonderful group of people in our community who have come together to try and help solve the problems that these people are experiencing.”
Despite having ridden unsupported, Kowalski is clear he couldn’t have made the attempt without the support and understanding of his family, including his fiancée Myrna.
“Getting messages from friends and family is really important for me with motivation. It just really helps saying a little hello to friends as they pop into your chats and then cheer you on as they’re watching your dot.
“I had a record pace dot on the tracker which was the total distance divided by 168 hours. It was moving all the time at 17kph so it almost served as a competitor that I was racing against. Every day I’d wake up and the dot was ahead of me because I would go to sleep. I had four hours to get in and out of my hotel and in that time the dot would pass me and I’d be chasing it for a good part of the [next] day.”
“On that last day I’m super tired, I’m not going as fast as I normally want to go I think I was averaging 20kph and only gaining three kilometres every hour. On that last day I started at 6AM and didn’t pass the dot for 12 hours. I didn’t even look at it but then I got a message from a friend being like, ‘Hey you passed it! You passed it!’ Then the final night I knew I wasn’t gonna stop so I knew I had gained a new advantage over the dots because I no longer had to sleep!”
But Kowalski’s overriding message he wants to impart is the power of cycling in changing how he sees the world and understands the people in it.
“I want to share how much these experiences of migration shape me as much as I can. I’ve seen these things first-hand and not many people get to see those things. That’s why I think riding a bike is one of the most magical, special and powerful things you can do to travel – rather than going on a plane from A to B and just peering in another country and missing all those stories in between.
“Cycling allows you to see and learn about your world.”
2 thoughts on “Deer Hunter on the turbo, chewing ice in a heatwave and new understandings of migration: How a Lewisham cyclist broke an ultra cycling record and learnt to see the world differently”
The most insightful people always come from Lewisham 🎉
Mark is truly lovely human and an amazing cyclist, with zero ego about his amazing accomplishments!