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.

But won't the quantity spoil the fun?
For a Xth b'day, I'd go for X super-duper not-to-be missed bucket-list rides

Cycling around the world is dangerous.

http://news.yahoo.com/round-world-uk-cy ... 55377.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

This could happen in your neighborhood as well.

You are not actually riding round the earth. You are cycling a bit indoors and then back and forth to work , only you want to spend more time doing it to lose some weight. Why not eat less crap and ride up and down some steep hills as fast as you can and push a few weights and all your dreams will come true and will also not take up so much of your time . There is nothing inspirational about a man riding a bike indoors ,going nowhere for 2 or 3 hours staring at the space in front of him. and then cycling to work .
The "thinking" in the title is most apt and the "earth" is a room in your house

I am glad I am not worried about inspiring anyone but myself.

I made a resolution to ride the equivalent of the circumference of the earth as measured at the latitude of my current hometown (Atlanta, GA) in one year.

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.

I see you followed my advice to pick a latitude (other than the equator).

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.