Guy Martin has set off to try and beat the Guinness World Record for riding the length of the coastline of Great Britain in the shortest time.
The mechanic, Isle of Man TT legend and TV personality plans to cover the approximately 4,800 miles in 21 days.
The 35-year-old began his record attempt in his home town of Grimsby on Sunday and this morning was in Johnshaven, Aberdeenshire.
That came as something of a surprise to the owner of the hotel where Martin and his crew had breakfast – he’d watched the Channel 4 show Our Guy In China last night, so was a bit taken aback to see him in person in Scotland a few hours later.
> Read more: Channel 4 programme documents Guy Martin’s latest cycling record attempt – crossing a desert in China
“It was a surprise because he was in China last night,” he told thecourier.co.uk.
“I knew it was him because I’d just seen him on TV the night before in the desert.
“I’m a keen cyclist myself so it was nice to see him — he was a lovely guy.”
Martin spoke about his latest record attempt in a video message uploaded to YouTube yesterday.
He said: “We’ve got a big job on. Record’s stood since 1984, I’m going to try and break it.
“I’m setting off to try to break the record of pedalling around the circumference of England, Scotland and Wales. That’s what I’m doing.
“The record, as it stands, is 22 days, I’m going to try and do it in less than that. The record’s stood since 1984. No-one’s broken it, no-one’s come near it, so, it all starts here.
“It’s further than you’d think. It’s 4,802 miles, that’s what the official record distance is, 4,802.”
Coincidentally, while Martin is someone who achieved fame on a motorbike before embracing pedal power, the current record holder, Nick Sanders, is someone who has made the opposite journey.
Twice a Guinness World Record holder for the quickest circumnavigation of the globe by bicycle, he has ridden around the world seven times on a motorbike, the quickest being in an astonishing 19 days 4 hours.
To beat the record, Martin needs to complete the ride by 5am on Christmas morning.
-1024x680.jpg "“Clear anti-cyclist bias”: Lawsuit filed against Toronto police after cop doored cyclist… before ticketing rider over incident")
21 thoughts on “Video: Guy Martin sets off to beat record for cycling round British coastline, aiming to ride a whopping 4,800 miles in just 21 days”
He’s really got the cycling
He’s really got the cycling bug, hasn’t he?
He doesn’t like to do things
He doesn’t like to do things easily. Surely the worst time of year to attempt this? Although roads should be quiet.
Danger Dicko wrote:
Agree! Longer daylight hours and likely less winds would make June a better month to try this before the summer holiday traffic starts.
Good luck to him, though!
He already looks like he’s
He already looks like he’s sleep deprived in that!
He’s also looking like he’s been riding a lot. Good luck to him!
Hope he’s using gears this
Hope he’s using gears this time.
An average of about 220 miles
An average of about 220 miles a day for the record. That’ll be very tough going along coastal roads. It’d be interesting to see the route. I assume it’s mostly main roads and he doesn’t have to stick as close to the coast as possible? Otherwise roads such as The Valley of the Rocks on the North Devon Coast will cost a huge amount of time and effort compared to the A39. Even so, those coastal roads in the West Country will be very tough, especially with a headwind.
I reckon that with a very good crew feeding him, taking care of his bikes etc etc, he will need about 13mph minimum so that he can get enough sleep. He’d need about 15mph for his target of 250mpd. That’s seriously tough when you’re doing it for 15-16 hours a day for a week, let alone 3 weeks. He’d be able to afford to slow down and get behind on sleep in the last week, or he could afford to slow down as long as he speeds up again to regain lost sleep, which could work as a way of dealing with winds. I don’t fancy his chances of the 250mpd, but I reckon he has some chance of getting the record, even if only by a matter of minutes. Only time will tell.
Steve Abraham wrote:
Reckon you’d have a good chance at breaking this record Steve!
dassie wrote:
Wouldn’t be worth getting out of bed for just 21 days though…
Can anyone find an official
Can anyone find an official listing with full details, for the ‘riding the length of the coastline of Great Britain in the shortest time’ record?
He doesn’t believe in taking
He doesn’t believe in taking things easy does he!? It looks to me like his mind is always racing, flitting from the calendar to the cycle back to the calendar…
Good luck to him – he’ll need it, although he’ll not need winter gear up in Scotland over the next couple of days – Heatwave!!
I heard that he has two
I heard that he has two bladders in his camelback, one with water to drink and one with tea that goes via an IV straight into his bloodstream
If you want to watch a couple
If you want to watch a couple of videos that will turn your hair white, checkout this and this. Guy Martin has balls of absolute steel.
guyrwood wrote:
……after watching them that’s a massive nope from me!!! IoM TT riders are seriously brave or have a screw loose.
More excitment than a whole
More excitement than a whole season of formula 1 https://youtu.be/pFqJ3p3L0rI
Genuine question; how the
Genuine question; how the hell do people do this? I’ve been cycling “seriously” for about a year and whilst I have reasonable power, any more than 150km in a day – with a multi-hour-long stop in the middle – and I’m done for. Legs stop working back and arse sore… The works. Takes me a good 24 hours plus to recover.
400km is beyond my imagination.
part_robot wrote:
I’ve done 400km in a day, took 23 hours though, so no doing it again the following day. Just keep eating, keep turning the pedals.
you have to build up the time though, as it really is the contact points that suffer more than the muscles (for me at least)
Martin has been diagnosed
Martin has been diagnosed with Asperger Syndrome which would go some way to explain his obsessive character and his manner in the video in which a few people have commented on.
All of his obsessions ostensibly seem ‘positive’: mechanics, motorbikes, breaking records & now cycling. An interesting programme would perhaps look at how this behaviour has affected the rest of his life or if he has had obsessions which were more harmful, and on the social side of things despite having a team around him most of his endeavors are an individual pursuit.
I wonder if he still eschews lycra. Even tougher riding round Britain in a pair of old cargo shorts like he usually does.
If I was trying to break the
If I was trying to break the record I’d not ride it anti-clockwise. And I wouldn’t do it in December.
Good luck to him.
+100.
I like the man, but he does
I like the man, but he does risk overexposure (as in media saturation, not riding through snow in bibshorts.) Going to China is one thing, but if he ends up presenting that cake programme when it moves to Channel 4 next year we’ll know things have gone too far.
More and more, Guy Martin
More and more, Guy Martin reminds me of the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston).
Fantastic!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs5zvzTcqrE
He use the Great Divide mtb
He use the Great Divide mtb race as training.