Earlier this year, cyclist adventurer Mark Beaumont rode the entire North Coast 500 route non-stop. This is the video of that epic challenge.
“This is purely about turning the pedals and not stopping for over 500 miles, says Beaumont at the start of the video, adding that such an undertaking is “beautifully simple, but wonderfully scary as well.”
He said he’d forgotten how steep and rugged the west coast is, but being as he completed the route anticlockwise, presumably things didn’t get much easier from there.
North Coast 500 from North Coast 500 on Vimeo.
“There’s still that kid inside me that wants to go fast and to see the world on two wheels,” he says, explaining his motivation.
Beaumont set a new world record for the quickest journey by bicycle from Cairo to Cape Town earlier in the year and has previously held the round-the-world record, but he said this was the longest time he has ever spent in the saddle without a break.
He set off from Inverness Castle at 6am on a Monday morning and arrived back 37 hours and 58 minutes later. In between those times, the weather wasn’t always kind.
“People travel from all over the world for Route 66,” said Mike Cantlay, chairman of VisitScotland, when unveiling the North Coast 500 in March. “With our scenery, there’s no reason why the North Coast 500 can’t prove to be just as popular.”
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If you look carefully, you get glimpses of arguably the UK's best cycling route behind Mark Beaumont's ego.
I hope Visit Scotland didn't pay too much for his self promo. Funniest bit is where it's pitch black!
Grumble, bitch, moan, whinge generator:
Why doesn't he/she get a real job/bike/life? It really pisses me off when someone has more fun that me/gets the life I want seemingly for free/does something for money/gets off their arse and does something/doesn't follow the crowd/I thought of first. They should grow up/stop having fun/stop seeking publicity/join a proper race team/become as bitter as me.
Or...
Well done that man.
I'm taking option two today - though yes, there is an roughly equivilent 1300km Audax and it's a good one by all accounts and I probably would have mudguards on and he probably did have to poo at some point. But it's just too easy to snark.
There is not one kind of right riding, nor one kind of right rider, we each make our choices and live by them, and in doing so respect the choices of others.
Who is he a walking billboard for this time?
Clearly someone who sets goals and then achieves them. Well done and an inspiration to many of us (except those who grumble at the attention he gets for actually doing what he sets out to do.
An amazing route. . . . Should be a sportive ( or is it already?). Give me something to aim for in 2016!
I think it's an Audax.
See here;
http://www.aukweb.net/events/detail/16-392/
Plus here's a video of it from 2014;
http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/p02d909k
Wot, no toilet stops? No food breaks? My sceptic gland is working overtime.
I do wish Beaumont would get himself a job instead of completing these challenges all the time. Lots of us cycle and not eveything in life has to be the latest greatest challenge, which in Mark's case seems to be more about keeping his name in the media than anything else.
You're right, other peoples choices upset me too...
What a horrible mealy mouthed person you are. In what way does one person riding his bike for a long time affect you? Why don't you trot off to Mail Online and join all of your nasty small minded friends to complain about stuff that isn't even vaguely offensive.
And then there's that Wiggo character, winning the Tour de France, Olympic gold, breaking the hour record and now daring to race ANOTHER Olympics. I wish he would get a job as well because I would much rather watch him do that on TV and read about it on this website.
Good route for mudguards!