Well not exactly, but here is the idea: I have been thinking that for my upcoming birthday in April, I would make a resolution to ride the equivalent of the circumference of the earth (40,075 km) in one year. That comes out to an average of about 110 km/day. It would have to be a combination of riding indoors and outdoors. If I can accomplish that, it would be a cool 30th birthday present, not to mention it would probably get me in great shape again which hasn't been the case in several years now. I know actually riding around the earth would be way cooler, but that is just not in the cards right now

Am I nuts?

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Realistically that's more like 130km/day (1 day rest each week), for me it would take me ~5 hours each day (with stops), which is completely impossible for me.

It will be quite an achievement, if you can pull it off!

Absolutely. You are nuts.

Posisble... of course, but surely 'real' life will get in the way?

Still, I applaud your ambition

Well, it sounds crazy. But rather than riding the circumference of the earth, make your goal to ride around the earth, and then very cleverly you get to pick the latitude. Say you pick the arctic (or antarctic) circle, then that would be about 9900 miles, which sounds a lot more reasonable.

I have been investigating this a little more, and it looks like as far as actually riding around the world is concerned, officially at least 18,000 miles of the route must be cycled (the rest can be traveled to cross the oceans). With that said, I think this might be a more realistic goal. I would have to average one century a week and about 50 miles a day for the other 5 days (one rest day a week). Riding 50 miles is about a 2.5-3 hour ride for me, depending on the terrain around where I live. Riding 50 miles indoor if needed would be boring as hell but should be doable. Then I just have to find some fun century rides around here to make it a bit enjoyable

As for schedule, I have a full-time job at the moment. That said, I have been considering going part-time for a while now so I think I will be able to dial back to a three-day work week. That should give me four solid days of riding. I will also need to look into commuting to work as an easy way to get 50 miles per day in, though I am not sure it would be very safe (busy road that are not bike friendly).

Also, when I told my lovely wife about my crazy idea, I was expecting her to just roll her eyes and walk away, but she got very excited and seems fully supportive of all of this. This is probably because she remembered what I used to look like when I was still racing in graduate school and wants me to have that body back

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Well, 2.5~3.0 hours per day are definitely not a challenge during the longer daylight months, if you split the riding up twice a day - remember, this is a marathon, not a sprint.

Even without commuting, if you get up early and ride, and are willing to then ride evenings...

Do you have lit areas nearby where you could ride in the evening and/or at night?

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And you can call me Macktastik Honey Pete Kicks, thank you.

Another option could be to mix it up a bit ... cross some continents (e.g. Nth America, Europe) in the warmer months and ride locally / roller the rest.

I concur with Powerful Pete's take on the numbers.

Also, FA63 (apologies if I forgot your name) - definitely document this. You already have a blog (I think...), maybe make it a campaign of sorts on your blog? Give it some press? Document your progress, thoughts, and so on as you do this?

I'm thinking it would be a huge inspiration to a lot of people out there, there are a lot who want to ride more, loose some weight, etc:.

Do it.

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Just don't do it like this fellow: http://tourdefranceorbust.wordpress.com/

He planned to ride the Tour route one stage / day. (A few weeks later than the actual TdF)
first post: http://tourdefranceorbust.wordpress.com ... llo-world/

The report of his first (and final!) day's ride: http://tourdefranceorbust.wordpress.com ... -bit-more/
He abandoned on the very first day.

I was following his blog, as I thought I might want to do the same one day.

^LOL, i've a friend who trained the whole autumn-winter period to follow the Giro route just like this chap. he was a really fit guy even before and those few months of extensive training made him bad-ass on the bike. the only mistake he made was he never even tried to ride like 200km/day with bags and stuff. from what i know he ended his journey the very first day in italy and turned back to the hotel after hour or so into the stage

Thanks everyone for the thoughts / comments so far.


That is how I am approaching it as well; break up the riding into mornings and evenings. I am used to waking up really early anyways. Unfortunately, there aren't too many lit areas, though some of the roads around are quite residential with very little traffic so I might be able to get some miles in even in the dark.


That would be nice, but I am afraid I won't be able to get away for more than a week at a time due to work, which would make it improbable to cross continents.


I do have a blog which I use mostly to put up pictures of my favorite bikes at the moment, but I would most certainly document the journey and my progress. Not sure how much press I want to get for it though, this is more of a personal challange for me. But I will have to see how this shakes out; I guess I wouldn't mind if I could generate some publicity/donations for a charity while I do this.


I promise, it won't be like that.

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Hehe, when I suggested to my significant other that I toyed with the idea of trying to ride 100k vertical meters this season, she did give me the rolleyes. And it's a modest undertaking in comparison. Great to have so much support, definitely do those things before you have children (or when they are grown)

All the best for your undertaking. Hope you have enough terrain so you don't get bored, it's about the ride after all, not about the numbers produced.

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More realistically, stuff always comes up (sick, travel, etc), which will bleed an additional 10%, so it's more like 145 km / day.

"You've got to be ahead of schedule to be on schedule" -- Benjamin Franklin

Circumnavigation at 40 deg N would be 30700 km.

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When I lived in Buckhead a couple of years ago I used to go ride in the parking deck at Phipps Plaza in the mornings. I could knockout 30 miles pretty easily in around 1.5 hours, boring as hell though.