Post type: Book review, Date: 31-July-2022, Language: English

Author: Mark Beaumont

This is the story of a man’s journey around the world on a bicycle, trying to smash the world record for fastest circumnavigation on a bicycle. After Josie Dew’s Wind in my Wheels, books on cycling experiences have captured my attention. This one, however, was slightly different in terms of its objectives, in that the cyclist was just trying to cover 100 miles a day no matter what! The book is a distillation of his thoughts while travelling around the world - absorbing the good, the bad and the ugly that the world has to offer. My key take-aways from the book have been the cyclist’s thoughts, struggle and pain when he was cycling through unexplored landscapes of the middle east, (occasionally risking his life), the dry deserts of Australia and numerous “tumbleweed” towns in the US.

As an Indian, I was also eager to know his experience of cycling in India. He describes as a “love / hate relationship” because he loved the country for what it was but was frantically pedalling to leave it behind.

Other things that I enjoyed was the “wisdom of perspective” that his mother had from the base camp, that often saved him from situations taking a downward spiral, and the mention of the lack of emotions when one is really close to achieving a dream of so many years. It was an interesting read