Scottish cyclist Jenny Graham is due to arrive in Berlin this Thursday and break the Guinness World Record for being the fastest woman circumnavigate the globe by bike.
If all goes to plan, the 38-year-old from Inverness will have completed the 18,000-mile journey in 124 days, almost three weeks inside the 144 days set by Italy’s Paola Gianotti in 2014.
Unlike Gianotti, whose successful attempt on the record previously held by Juliana Buhring was paused for three months while she recovered from injury, Graham has undertaken her ride fully unsupported.
The requirements to be satisfied for the Guinness World Record make no distinction between whether a rider is supported or unsupported, however.
Earlier this afternoon, Graham – a member of the female riding collective The Adventure Syndicate– crossed the border from France into Belgium, having arrived in Portugal on a flight from Canada last week. You can follow her progress here.
She is also a member of Cycling UK and sent the charity the following video message as she headed towards Halifax, Nova Scotia to catch her flight to Europe ahead of the final leg of her journey.
Should her record attempt be ratified, both the men’s and women’s Guinness World Records for the fastest circumnavigation of the world by bicycle will be held by Scots, with Mark Beaumont last year regaining the men’s record when, on a supported ride, he completed the trip in just under 79 days.
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.