Cliff Wilson, who is cycling around the world, with a camel in Kazakhstan in November. CLIFF WILSON
Around the World, by Bike
A Look at One Man’s Attempt at an Increasingly Popular Pursuit: Cycling Across the Globe
The clock reads midnight in Urumqi, China, and Cliff Wilson has just cycled about 100 miles in sub-freezing temperatures. He has food poisoning. He is lonely and faces the daunting task of riding up to 120 miles each day for a week to reach his next destination in time for a flight.
Wilson is cycling the world—30,000 kilometers (18,641 miles) in 300 days across 30 countries. Having started in Barcelona on Aug. 23, he has already traversed over 6,200 miles, or about a third of the way. He has zipped past the gondolas of Venice and the mosques of Istanbul and crossed the Caspian Sea before riding through central Asia.
From China, Wilson—a 29-year-old Englishman (and childhood friend of mine)—is flying to western Australia to ride from Perth to Sydney via the Great Ocean Road. He will then take a plane to San Francisco, bike down California to Mexico and travel through Central America. From Lima, Peru, he’ll cross South America to the warm sand and street parties of Rio de Janeiro.
But in China, Wilson has been battling frostbite, cold winds and the boredom of often cycling miles without seeing another soul. It has been the “toughest part so far,” he said by phone from Urumqi. “It will be worth it when I get to Australia," he adds.
A rickety bridge that Wilson encountered in Kazakhstan. CLIFF WILSON
Wilson isn’t the first to attempt cycling around the world in a continuous circumnavigation. There are numerous websites and blogs set up by cycling enthusiasts and adventurers, some whom are in the middle of their tours, which can take years to complete.
But the feat is becoming increasingly popular to achieve, particularly at high speed. In 2012, Guinness World Records created new rules for the fastest circumnavigation by bicycle. The rules state that the journey should be continuous and in one direction with a minimum distance ridden of 18,000 miles. The total distance traveled, including planes or boats, has to exceed the length of the equator, at 24,900 miles.
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The record is held by professional cyclist Alan Bate, who completed the distance in 125 days, 21 hours and 45 minutes in 2010.
In December 2012, Juliana Buhring became the first woman to officially cycle the world (152 days 1 hour). A Guinness spokesperson said it had received “numerous record applications,” some of which it is reviewing.
Cycling the world is “definitely growing popularity,” said Buhring, 33, who traveled through Europe, India, Australia and the U.S. “The more people who do it, the more others realize it’s not an impossible task.”
Wilson’s journey on bicycles began in 2010 when his grandfather offered to buy him a fixie, or fixed-gear bike. Teaching and living in Barcelona at the time, Wilson was visiting his family in the south of England. Rather than fly the bike home, he decided to cycle the 900 miles to Spain over two weeks. He has since cycled thousands of miles across France, Italy, Belgium and the Netherlands.
Wilson and his Irish friend Niall Canavan spent two months earlier this year planning the trip around the world. They figured it would cost about 10,000 euros each (about $12,200), which included the bike, visas, flights, 15 euros a day for food and expenses, and equipment for the road.
The duo was offered a discount by bicycle manufacturer Dawes and bought its Galaxy Plus bike, as well as a one-man tent and waterproof apparel. They topped up on immunizations and packed basic medical supplies, but didn’t go as far as enrolling on a safety or security course. 4Life, a Salt Lake City-based company that creates immune-system support products, agreed to offer the pair a year’s supply of supplements.
Canavan rode nearly 3,000 miles to Tbilisi in Georgia before deciding he didn’t have the cash to continue, and has found work in the Georgian capital. Going it alone, Wilson has been averaging about 6 hours each day on the bike at an average speed of 12 miles an hour.
Wilson rides a bike much bigger than his own in Tbilisi, Georgia. CLIFF WILSON
Wilson has camped in a tent by the side of the road or bedded in hostels. He has eaten where and when he can. After a 134-mile stretch in Kazakhstan, he fainted in a hostel after downing some food and sugary drinks—only to be awakened and told he couldn’t sleep in the dining area.
Heavy snow and temperatures below zero have regularly frozen his chain. In the Kazak city of Shymkent, the owner of a car-mechanic shop fixed Wilson’s pedal mechanism after a day’s worth of tinkering at no cost. Wilson was introduced to the owner’s family and fed sausages, eggs and te.
But the road isn’t free from danger. Only a few days into the ride, Wilson and Canavan passed a queue of cars on France’s Route Nationale 7 that waited as an ambulance attended to a cyclist who had been knocked down. Earlier this year, a British cyclist touring the world was killed on the road in Bolivia after being hit by a van.
Unfazed, Wilson plans to finish the rest of his journey repeating some simple advice he was given before he left: “Come back alive, come back friends, come back successful—in that order.”
Write to Rory Jones at rory.jones@wsj.com
