You voted yes. Yes, I should break a World Record. That’s what you said.
I was pontificating over the pros and cons of trying to break the World Record for the longest distance cycled in a rickshaw. I thought it was a slightly silly record to aim for and not really what my rickshaw trip was about but also recognised that it could do me some good and give me another challenge to work at. You seemed to think the latter points outweighed the former. So here’s the plan…
On Monday I will arrive in Aviemore with a rickshaw, some camping kit and, no doubt, some biscuits. My mission will be to cycle back to London whilst following a route that will take me through all nineteen regions of the Special Olympics Great Britain. That’s who I’m supporting. If you’ve not heard of them or thought they were the same as the Paralympics, you should really look here.
I’ve plotted a wonderfully crude red line on a map of where I might go. Google tells me this will be somewhere in the region of 800 miles. For the record, I’ll need about 1000 miles.
The record is not and never will be my raison d’etre. I am not changing the aim of my trip to get into the Guinness Book because I think that really would be a shame. However, I also do not intend to ignore the views of the people kind enough to read my website and take the time to vote. And besides, why call my website The Next Challenge and then not be up for one?
So, I have registered with Guiness World Records. I have set up a cycle computer to measure my daily distances and I shall act in accordance with the record guidelines so long as they don’t impede too drastically on the rest of the trip.
I have a time limit for the journey (about six weeks) and I don’t plan to kill myself over the 1000 mile target but, thanks to you, it will be in the corner of my mind at all times and I shall be very pleased if I get anywhere near the distance in your honour.
Thanks for voting. Wish me luck!
P.S. I’ll be maintaining this blog and Twitter as I go, and I’ll have a map online so you can see how I’m getting on and if I’m coming anywhere near you.
