"With oceans inconveniently filling much of the Earth’s surface, a true circumnavigation by bicycle is impossible. So rules were laid down by Guinness to determine what counts. Wilcox had to complete at least 18,000 miles, travel in the same direction and finish where she started. She also had to pass two points that are antipodal, or located on opposite sides of the Earth. For her, those were Madrid and Wellington. Planning it all was a tricky matter of logistics. The cycling press reported that Wilcox’s 108-day ride was expected to be ratified as breaking the record of 124 days set by Jenny Graham of Scotland in 2018. And it was often a long day in the saddle. 'In the end it was 12 hours riding, sleeping seven hours a night,' Wilcox said."
From "18,000 Miles Later, an American Woman Has Cycled the World/It took Lael Wilcox 108 days to circumnavigate the globe. Improbably, she said it was 'the most fun ride of my life.'" (NYT).
September 12, 2024
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Don't tell AOC or the other greenies about those oceans.
She probably ran every stop sign.
IIRC the Guiness Book of World Records was created by the brewer to settle bar bets.
"Improbably, she said it was “the most fun ride of my life.”
Here's a woman that has chosen to make her own career as a professional cyclist, has accomplished something noteworthy in that field, and still the NYT can't help themselves from being snotty. What is wrong with these f*ckin people?
Plan the trip for favorable trade winds. It's free money.
I have over 350,000 miles on a bicycle by now but it's mostly NJ and Ohio which are not antipodal.
Just out of curiosity, I searched out my antipode from here in Oak Ridge, TN- nothing interesting- middle of the Indian Ocean over a thousand miles away from any land- the nearest was Western Australia.
Well, Aggie, you have to understand that they graduated from Columbia J-school. Did Lael Wilcox graduate from Columbia? So that gives them the right to stick their noses in the air, Obama style, and get all snotty.
Or so they believe.
So what's the carbon footprint to ship a bicycle to all the places. Madrid and Wellington might be antipodal, but we know she didn't do that great circle. And she apparently avoided a lot of the land mass travel through Russia or China, or the Middle East, or Africa.
I guess that is easy to do if you have your latitude and longitude. Just go with latitude south and the subtract (or add depending on where you are with Greenwich prime meridian) to get the reciprocal longitude. Of course if you start in the northern hemisphere most reciprocals south will put you in water.
She also had to pass two points that are antipodal, or located on opposite sides of the Earth
for a creative writing class, i wrote a story about how, in 1952 my dad won a "round the world tour" in a lottery..
All Expenses paid.. not just travel (by Steam Ship!!) but; Food, Lodging, medical care, and Recreational Arts and Crafts (mostly, loading aiming and firing a 105mm howitzer.. Repeatedly). I wrote about all the strange new and interesting people he met (Mostly Red Chinese).
My dad read it when i got home, and said; rather angerly..
It was a trip HALF WAY around the world.. Not 'around the world'..
Seattle to Korea, and back the same way..
Things i learnt.. half way is NOT all the way
I have a ham QSL card from Favorite Island (off Western Australia) that google tells me is the most distant land on earth from where I live. So I won't be beating that distance record.
A bike-around-the-world-record that doesn't really mean you've biked, you know, around the world means nothing.
"With oceans inconveniently filling much of the Earth’s surface, a true circumnavigation by bicycle is impossible.”
You could do it by pedal boat. Now that would be really impressive.
Ha!
My wife and I listened to a lot of her podcast. She recorded every evening after riding a hundred fifty (plus or minus) miles. She must have been exhausted but was always good humored with little vignettes of people she rode with, scenery, weather, etc. She really was enjoying herself; I don’t doubt it was the best ride of her life.
My wife and I listened to a lot of her podcast. She recorded every evening after riding a hundred fifty (plus or minus) miles. She must have been exhausted but was always good humored with little vignettes of people she rode with, scenery, weather, etc. She really was enjoying herself; I don’t doubt it was the best ride of her life.
I was by no means completely thorough but it appears that nowhere in the contiguous US is there an antipode on any significant piece of land. What there is might be on some small island in the Indian Ocean that I can't see on Google maps. The closest is the French Kerguelen Islands which has an antipode in southern Canada. Even Alaska seems to have no land based antipode though I might have missed one in my cursory examination.
toss bike into rowing boat and across oceans you can go ? hook up pedals to oars?
The map of her route on her website is interesting. It shows what she did do, which was a huge amount. Also what she didn't do, which is even huger. Not to mention her deciding to skip Asia and China. So she satisfied a technical definition of "around the world." It wasn't. But it is still remarkable and done in such a short time it would seem incredible if I didn't believe it was actively monitored.
Geometricians be damned. It doesn't count if you don't cycle across Siberia (though South America-Africa-South Asia-Southeast Asia would be even more impressive).
Try riding a road bicycle 150 miles in a week. Then try 150 miles a day for 108 days straight. That's impressive.
When she came through Pasadena, members of my cycling club met and road with her. She was moving at a fast clip of 20-plus miles per hour.
I wonder what injuries she had to survive along the way. I get those injuries with the modest 150-mile week.
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