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 use the Great Divide mtb race as training.

More and more, Guy Martin reminds me of the Ninth Doctor (Christopher Eccleston).

Fantastic!  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hs5zvzTcqrE

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. 

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.

Mungecrundle wrote:

More excitement than a whole season of formula 1 https://youtu.be/pFqJ3p3L0rI

+100.

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.

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.

More excitement than a whole season of formula 1 https://youtu.be/pFqJ3p3L0rI

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.

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 

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!!

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?

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.

Hope he's using gears this time.

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!

He doesn't like to do things easily. Surely the worst time of year to attempt this? Although roads should be quiet.

He's really got the cycling bug, hasn't he?