A Bournemouth University student has become the fourth fastest woman to cycle round the world, as well as the youngest – and the quickest Asian, male or female, to do so.
Vedangi Kulkarni from Pune, India, set out on her circumnavigation from Perth, Australia in July and was set to fly there from Kolkata on Christmas Eve to ride 15 kilometres back to the start point and formally complete her 29,000-kilometre trip in 159 days, reports the Times of India.
The Guinness World Record for the fastest circumnavigation of the globe by a female cyclist stands at 124 days, set by Scotland’s Jenny Graham earlier this year.
During her ride, Kulkarni, who celebrated her 20th birthday along the way, was chased by a grizzly bear in Canada, being robbed at knifepoint when cycling in Spain, and camping out in sub-zero temperatures in Russia.
Her journey took her through 14 countries including New Zealand, Portugal, France, Germany, and Finland with an average daily distance of more than 180 kilometres.
She lost time along the way due to visa difficulties, which also hampered her progress through Europe and Russia as winter set in.
She said: “My parents have done a great job in giving a 19-year- old all the required mental support and encouragement to explore the world, standing strong when the going got tough, always being on the other end of the phone and at not letting the curiosity die out due to ill experiences even though the parental instincts told them otherwise.”
Among those to congratulate her on social media was the men’s Guinness World Record holder, Mark Beaumont.
Huge congratulations Vedangi – a ride with courage and spirit https://t.co/P2J9jZQ5KT
— Mark Beaumont (@MrMarkBeaumont) December 24, 2018
24 thoughts on “Bournemouth University student becomes fourth fastest woman – and the youngest – to cycle round the world”
Could have got a better
Could have got a better picture. She looks as miserable as sin
SpikeBike wrote:
A woman barely out of her teens manages an achievement as amazing as this and the only thing you can do is comment on her appearance. What a nob.
Mathemagician wrote:
Could have got a better picture. She looks as miserable as sin
— Mathemagician A woman barely out of her teens manages an achievement as amazing as this and the only thing you can do is comment on her appearance. What a nob.— SpikeBike
Sorry please don’t try and make this comment into something it isn’t! We are all cyclists on here and I of course I am in amazement at the achievement. I should have led with that and for that I am totally sorry. It was an off the cuff comment about getting a picture of smiling happy pic of that achievement. Nothing more.
Again sorry for any offence.
Chapeau, Vedangi.
Chapeau, Vedangi.
SpikeBike – do one.
CygnusX1 wrote:
Ditto
Amazong achievement, well
Amazong achievement, well done to her.
Given all the issues, 112.5
Given all the issues, 112.5 miles a day on average, every single day for 159 days is some going! Take into account having to deal with extreme weather conditions also and only being 19 turning 20 really pushes that up another notch.
An epic achievement and one she will be able to take much from and memories for a lifetime.
Superb effort. A ride of
Superb effort. A ride of superlatives. ‘Epic’ doesn’t do it justice.
“She encountered temperatures ranging from -20 degree Celsius to 37 degrees Celsius during the ride”.
It’s a shame the writer didn’t extend any effort in the selection of the photo – that’s not even her circumnavigation bike.
simonmb wrote:
Given that the World’s media and a plethora of professional photographers weren’t there to greet her, I would guess the author possibly didn’t have much to choose from, this looks like a quick picture grab by a bystander or friend and might be all that was available.
OnTheRopes wrote:
It’s from her Facebook feed. And whoever picked it will have had to scroll past much better and more appropriate images to get to it.
Just sayin’.
simonmb wrote:
Another Hurrah! from me to Vedangi. What an amazing woman. That’s an achievement to be incredibly proud of.
Isn’t that the picture that was used in the article (that probably I read here) when she was planning her journey and raising funds? The article may well have been on road.cc, but I’ve tried the search farcility too often to expect to find the article again.
simonmb wrote:
Fair enough
Out of interest, how is
Out of interest, how is ’round the world’ defined?
At one of the polar research bases they have a regular ’round the world’ race. I think the winning time is usually a matter of minutes!
Good going though. A test of fitness, dealing with the world’s border cops, and coping with the everything the planet’s crap drivers can throw at you. Not sure which would be the greater challenge.
FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:
IIRC you have to visit both N and S hemispheres and pass through a two points that are globally opposite.
CygnusX1 wrote:
Out of interest, how is ’round the world’ defined?
At one of the polar research bases they have a regular ’round the world’ race. I think the winning time is usually a matter of minutes!
Good going though. A test of fitness, dealing with the world’s border cops, and coping with the everything the planet’s crap drivers can throw at you. Not sure which would be the greater challenge.
— CygnusX1 IIRC you have to visit both N and S hemispheres and pass through a two points that are globally opposite.— FluffyKittenofTindalos
New Zealand and Portugal are the usual antipodal points that people choose. My pipe-dream rtw has me going through Mongolia and Chile.
https://www.antipodesmap.com/
FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:
Guinness World Records have a very detailed definition, minimum of 18,000 miles, 2 antipodal points, and no significant East/West backtracking (which in itself makes for an interesting challenge in selecting the route).
A quick Google says a minimum
A quick Google says a minimum of 29, 000 kms. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Around_the_world_cycling_record
We done Vedangi, I’m trying to remember what I was doing at 19/20 years old.
don simon fbpe wrote:
Good point. I tried to do LEJOG when I was 19 but gave up after a week because it was a bit wet (though I was camping and probably missed my mum as well).
don simon fbpe wrote:
That’s an easy one for me, I joined the army straight out of college, 88/89 was a very memorable period of time and the start of a new adventure and shaped my life forever, I think I’d rather have been cycling every day instead though.lol!
Interesting…. https://road
Interesting…. https://road.cc/content/news/234618-uk-based-student-aims-become-fastest-woman-ride-around-world
Where are you now @alansmurphy?
(good spot @janusz0)
Now I think of it, I remember
Now I think of it, I remember being quite cynical when told to I had to celebarate some round-the-world-solo-yatchtswoman. I recall thinking ‘big deal, she went on a very long holiday, I hope she enjoyed it, but how does it make the world better in any way?’.
But I find myself reacting completely differently to this. I’m honestly impressed and happy to cheer her (though with a tiny twinge of envy).
I guess I’m just modeist (prejudiced based on mode of transport). Maybe I can justify it by arguing she’s promoting an environmentally-beneficial form of transport?
Yeah, I’m gonna go with “there’s a difference between pushing a normal everyday means of getting around to its limit, vs indulging in a minority affluent-person’s hobby”.
FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:
How much do you think it would cost to cycle around the world over the period of time it was done in, plus all the flights involved.
You know so that we can assess if it requires somebody being affluent in a minority hobby, because that applies to cycling too doesn’t it?
You do realise that she (McArthur) didn’t own the boat she sailed around the world in, that it was a sponsored boat (B&Q being the main one), her parents were teachers, hardly ‘affluent’.
MCArthurs first boat was bought (a rubber dinghy) with her own money she saved over three years! McArthurs achievement is beyond what was done here IMHO and by a long way
There’s no packing up and going home if things get a bit tough, there’s literally nowhere to hide and your life is at risk every day, the physical and mental demands of a solo circumnavigation by boat, particularly in that timescale and type of boat is beyond what most people can imagine.
Suggest you bother to actually understand what others are doing and how they got to do things instead of making stupid and wildly inaccurate presumptions!
BehindTheBikesheds wrote:
Nah. Still don’t care about yachting.
impressive achievement at any
impressive achievement at any age but at 20 – way impressive
…as to “yachting” if not read Ellen MaCarthur’s bio’ and the personal sacrifices made and the dangers faced suggest should before dismissing