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Adventure report: #AfricaSolo

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Adventure report: #AfricaSolo

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April 13th, 2015

An attempt at the record for fastest ride of the 10,000km between Cairo and Cape Town

Mark Beaumont began an ambitious undertaking on 10th April, attempting to add the fastest journey from Cairo to Cape Town to his list of world records.

He held the record for fastest trip round the world, completing 18,297 miles in 194 days and 17 hours. The record has since been beaten by Alan Bate, however.

Africa Solo route

Image linked to source

 

Just three days in, he’s already smashed 769 kilometres.

That’s nearly 8% of the way there!

On the first three days he’s ridden 203km, 286km and 280km respectively.

This is where he is now:

Location day 3
(Click the picture to go to the live GPS feed!)

In terms of distance, he’s doing 2.73 Tour de Frances 

We’d love to get a look at the elevation profile and see how many Everest’s worth of climbing he’s doing. Or should that be Kilimanjaro’s?

Fun fact: the Tour de France route ascends 62,803m in total – that’s 10.7 Kilimanjaros or 7.1 Everests!

These calculations used 2014’s route of 3663.5km.

 

If you’re impressed by the route, wait ‘til you see the bike:

Mark outlines the nifty custom features in a video, or check them out below:

  • Carbon frame
  • Dynamo front hub to charge his electronics
  • Electronic gearing
  • Hydraulic brakes

He gives special thanks to Gav and Owen in his email newsletter for their help with the bike:

Special mention in this newsletter to Gav and Owen from Gamma Bike Division in Stockbridge, Edinburgh, who have put a huge amount of work into preparing the bike. And to the team from Endura who have custom made the superb clothing. I recently visited their factory in Livingston and was so impressed with the whole process and the ethos of the company. 

Altogether it weighs a minuscule 8.1 kilos  

 

The record is currently held by Keegan Longueira of South Africa

He finished his ride at the V & A Waterfront in Cape Town on 1st March 2015 in 59 days 8 hrs.

The info on the Guinness World Records’ site is already out of date! See below:

Robert Knol record

He may not have the record any more, but Robert’s ride looks amazing:

Mark is riding to raise money for OrkidStudio:

a humanitarian design organisation whose focus is to benefit children and communities worldwide through innovative architecture and construction

Their projects look inspiring: check them out here.

 

Good luck Mark, we’ll be watching your progress with interest!

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