"One man, one bike, one dream:" "to be the fastest man around the world." "To smash the record," "Mark Beaumont must cycle 18,000 miles in just 200 days." "He's crossed Europe and half of Asia." "Now he has to complete the southern hemisphere." "In this leg, Mark will struggle against the elements." "It's monsoon season in Asia." "This is like angry rain." "It's almost painful, it was so heavy." "And in the outback, he'll spend weeks riding against a constant headwind." "There's nothing I can do against that wind." "But his biggest battle will be with himself as the isolation of Australia tests his mental resolve to the limit." "A real struggle to keep going on the bike." "I don't know what to do." "Well, I'm in Thailand, I'm in Bangkok." "A real adventure getting here." "I slept for 20 minutes on the flight, so I've had a grand total of 40 minutes' sleep last night." "If that's not the worst bike box you've ever seen..." "It's just incredible, and you can see they opened it last night." "It was held together by these security straps." "That was it." "It was pretty much open for the whole flight, so bits are poking through on all sides, and it will be a miracle if that's in one piece." "Thankfully for Mark, his £2,500 bike has survived the flight, and he's soon back in the saddle." "In the first two legs of his journey," "Mark has travelled over 7,500 miles through Europe and half of Asia." "In leg three, he'll complete his journey in the southern hemisphere as he cycles through Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore," "Australia and New Zealand." "It's a huge effort." "The sheer physical exertion of this record attempt means that each day Mark will burn off three times the number of calories he'd normally need to consume." "That's the equivalent of 24 cheeseburgers a day." "So mealtime becomes rather more elaborate than back home." "This afternoon has been a struggle because over on my left-hand side, all afternoon there's been these beautiful groves of palm trees, and I know that within two or three kilometres of the road, is the Pacific and the beach." "Every instinct wants to just get to the beach." "Can you see the palm trees behind me are all slightly slanted that way?" "Now, the prevailing wind's obviously really, really strong in that direction, which is due south, and that's exactly the way the road's going for the next nine days." "Happy days, as they say." "The wind may be behind him, but Mark will have to battle against another of the elements." "He's arrived in Asia at the start of the monsoon season, and has no choice but to cycle through the torrential rain and risk losing valuable time." "I don't normally mind rain, but... ..this is like angry rain." "It was almost painful, it was so heavy." "It just pounds and bounces." "I've never ridden in rain like it." "I suppose that's monsoon rain." "After riding for three days, Mark is about 200 miles from the Malaysian border." "But conditions are getting worse." "It's properly, properly pouring it down." "It's definitely what I'll remember Thailand for, a lot of rain." "Mark's spirits remain high, but the wet weather has created another problem." "My cycle computers, both of them, have packed in." "It's really important for the verification for the world record, that I have a note of what I do." "But, you know, I need an exact mileage, and that's lost." "Next morning, Mark devises an ingenious solution." "I had a read of the Cat Eye manual this morning, and it says that in heavy rain it can affect the sensors and to put some silicon grease on the contact points, which I don't have," "but I do have silicon gel which I use for saddle-sores." "This is meant for your skin, a skin treatment thing." "It's the closest thing I've got, so I'll put that on the contact points, and then I've got my other computer on the other side." "And between the two of then, hopefully I'll..." "I'll be able to keep track of my distances from now on." "50 kilometres to the Malaysian border." "This area is the area that the British Embassy has told me not to cycle through." "Despite the warning about terrorist attacks in south-east Thailand," "Mark presses on and later that day crosses safely into Malaysia." "This jungle's made it incredibly muggy." "And some more hills." "I could see the hills coming in the distance." "It'll flatten out by Kuala Lumpur, but the next few hundred kilometres look pretty hilly." "It's exciting cycling, you don't know what's round every corner." "There's some incredible rock formations in this jungle area, north of Kuala Lumpur." "But it's not long before the monsoon rain returns." "Well, that's a pretty major thunder and lightning storm that I'm about to cycle into." "I'll get a wee bit closer and find out how bad it is." "The monsoon rain has brought down a tree, which has completely blocked the road." "It's absolutely bucketing, and if the force of it is bringing down the tree that size..." "It's quite refreshing, it was muggy earlier on, but I'd rather it was dry." "The rain stops as Mark reaches the Malaysian capital right on schedule." "But Kuala Lumpur has its own hazards." "Central Kuala Lumpur is a place I would definitely recommend not trying to cycle through." "Not quite Istanbul standard, but it's pretty chaotic." "It's all through the business district and incredible skyscrapers." "I'll get through this dangerous bit as quickly as possible." "180 kilometres, bang on eight hours, and it just flew by." "I was completely in the zone today." "I left this morning with a sore left Achilles tendon." "Yesterday, my left knee was hurting." "My left calf has been seized for two days, just a couple of days ago." "It's all mind over matter, and it's amazing what the body can do when you think there's nothing left, when it's hurting." "Great." "Extra strawberry milkshake tonight." "Mark pushes on through Malaysia." "Now, 50 miles of cycling will take him across Singapore and to the end of Asia." "I've reached the ocean." "I'm 8,500 miles around the world and it's the first time I've seen the ocean." "There's something about reaching the sea." "What a beautiful, beautiful sight it is." "A lovely little harbour here." "It definitely feels like the end of a chapter." "I'm ready for Australia now." "Ahead lies Australia, and the biggest single country crossing he'll undertake on this trip." "3,800 miles - that's more than a fifth of his route around the world." "It's also one of the most sparsely populated areas" "Mark will have to cross." "Flying in this morning was... at dawn, literally, it was beautiful." "After the volume of people and the sort of claustrophobic feeling of having gone through places like Pakistan and India, just seeing this massive expanse of nothing." "It really is going to be a huge change." "Almost 9,000 miles of cycling has been punishing on both bike and rider." "So before setting out into the outback," "Mark gets some welcome rest, and his bike is given a full overhaul." "It was a big job." "Almost a full day for two mechanics." "I mean, in the end, they had to change most of the moving parts." "Definitely worth it." "Everything feels a lot, lot smoother." "'This isn't something I'm gonna do twice, 'and to do anything like this, 'you plan and you prepare as much as possible, 'but there has to be a part which is just sort of naive and unknown." "'That's absolutely essential about any adventure." "'That's the part which means that people after any big adventure say," "'"It was wonderful, but I wouldn't do it again."" "'I don't know what it would take to make me cycle through Pakistan again 'but I don't regret doing it." "'That's part of the fun.'" "Well, definitely enjoying my new reality." "These roads are amazing, a breath of fresh air." "I don't even mind the fact that I'm now doing the biggest hills I've seen since Turkey." "This is what it's all about." "The uphills are all worth it." "Look, there's nothing in my way but big, sweeping..." "These big, sweeping turns." "Right on schedule, Mark reaches one of his major milestones." "Well, this is it!" "This is halfway round." "It's November..." "November 9th, I think." "It's 6:40 in the evening and I'm 9,000 miles around the world." "And I'm in the middle of absolutely nowhere." "The longer I stand here and think about it, at the more this sort of seems like an important moment." "But it really is just another mile, getting to 9,000." "I can really focus on the race now." "And it's exciting, because... there's every opportunity to do it in under 200 days, if not better." "Then I'd break the record by two months." "That's the thought keeping me going." "To accomplish the rest of his 18,000 mile circuit around the planet," "Mark has to finish crossing Australia, then New Zealand, coast-to-coast across America, and from Portugal to France to finish where it all began." "But just as Mark has started dreaming of the Parisian finish line, he falls foul of the elements yet again, and this time, it's the one all cyclists dread." "The wind coming in, sort of front left, sorry, front right, from the ocean, the Southern Ocean's down there." "And it's just... it's slowing me down by about five kilometres an hour." "Just like the wind pushed me a long at, you know, five kilometres an hour in Thailand and Malaysia a wee bit." "It's slowing me down by about the same right here, so I'm having to put long hours on the bike just to get my 160 a day." "I'll make it today but I'll have sat on the bike for over nine hours." "Another milestone." "I've made it to Norseman, which is really the start of the proper outback." "I don't know who the Aussies are kidding, cos I've just come through what in my mind is nothingness for the last week." "The Australian outback is a notorious expanse of inhospitable wilderness and Mark will be crossing it entirely alone and unsupported." "It's so remote out here that the RFDS, which is the Royal Flying Doctor Service, is the only medical service in this area." "If you get into serious trouble, they fly you all the way to Perth, which is a 2½ hour flight." "Whenever a doctor's got to come in, then, you know, they fly out here in the jeeps, stop the traffic, which isn't hard, because there is no traffic!" "And, um...they land on the road." "It's not bad, is it?" "Beats an office job." "Nothing's passed me in about half an hour," "I'm gonna camp out in about half an hour when it's dark, and it's just beautiful out here." "Listen to this." "It's very nice." "Ah, makes it all worth it." "You know, saddle-sore, sore legs, who cares?" "Look at this!" "An amazing sunset." "But the solitude of the outback has started to play on Mark's mind." "I really am on my own out here." "The thing which I'm slightly nervous about is camping." "Like, I know that snakes and spiders and stuff are as scared of us as we are of them, but it doesn't help the reality that there's nobody out here to help me if I get into trouble." "And, you know, I'm pretty near the road here." "The road itself is about 100 metres that way." "But, I mean, if I got bitten out here, you know, most snakes are venomous to the point of being deadly." "And there's not really any help at hand, because the amount of traffic on that road and the speed it goes at, you know, I'd not be found." "With just flies, mosquitoes and the occasional venomous spider for company," "Mark's finding conditions in Australia's outback maddening, to say the least." "The flies are just terrible." "I'm gonna get the tent up, get in as quickly as possible." "The mosquitos are bad and it'll be pitch black in about 15 minutes." "I slept pretty well last night." "I've woken up this morning, jumped out of my tent and looked back and there's an absolutely massive hairy spider." "No idea what it is, I've never seen a spider that size in my life." "I got it." "I don't really know my spiders that well, but I think that might have been a Huntsman." "It looks like a tarantula, but it's not, and it's hairy and brown." "And they are deadly." "Even after two weeks, Mark's not reached the end of the marathon crossing." "It's pretty tough out here." "I'm in the middle of a 200-kilometre stretch where there's absolutely nothing." "There's not a single house or anywhere to get water, so I have to carry 10½ litres of water." "It got to 49 degrees yesterday." "It must be close to that today." "It's absolutely scorching, and the horseflies or cleggs or March flies, or whatever you call them - they're the big ones that bite you - were really bad." "I had swarms of them round me, and they kept biting my hands." "I don't know why but they went for the black things, for my shorts and my gloves." "Incredibly painful." "I've been looking forward to getting to the 90 Mile Straight ever since I started planning this world trip, and now that I'm here, I'm not sure it's gonna be that much fun." "It's, what, 10:30 in the morning." "I'm gonna ride until seven or eight this evening and I'm not gonna turn." "My rest stop's 90 miles ahead tonight." "The next place" "I can pick up water and food, and I'm gonna try and get there tonight." "So, this is, er..." "The wind's really picked up again this afternoon, and I've still got 80k to go." "I'm in the middle of this massive 90-mile straight, and I've only just done 100k." "It's gone 3:00 in the afternoon and I'm pushing 50km now." "There's nothing I can do against that wind." "I don't have enough water to camp out tonight." "I'm gonna have to get there, but I'm really hurting." "My legs are sore and this wind's just tough going." "As the day wears on, Mark realises he won't make it to the next rest stop and, in the 40-degree heat, is running dangerously low on food and water." "I don't know if you can even see me." "I didn't make it." "I put my all into it, but that wind is just too much." "Well..." "I'm on the 90 Mile Strait." "I learned my lesson yesterday," "I need to get earlier starts to beat this afternoon wind, so I got up at 5:45 this morning and I'm about to get on the road." "I don't have any breakfast, so I'm gonna have to cycle into this rest stop, which is 20k away, to get some food." "Mark is having to ride 10 hours a day into an unrelenting headwind to hit his daily 100-mile target." "Day after day of this punishing physical effort, combined with a lack of human contact, is taking a huge toll on him." "Oh..." "I don't know if you can even hear me cos of that wind." "Today, I'm feeling absolutely terrible." "I've got pretty bad callouses on my ass, skin callouses from the saddle-sores which have been developing mainly in Thailand and Australia," "Malaysia and Australia." "So the saddle-sores are getting pretty chronic, and the energy levels, I feel incredibly weak." "Erm..." "Real struggle to keep going on the bike." "I don't know what to do." "I just feel it's absolutely ruining me." "It's not sustainable." "I'm literally falling asleep on the bike." "And the saddle-sores are getting really, really bad." "This bloody wind." "I've almost never done this, I'm trying to think back... but I've...decided to stop early." "The wind is unremitting, but Mark's spirits lift as the monotony of the outback is replaced by the spectacular coastline of south-east Australia." "I'm on the Southern Ocean!" "90-metre cliffs." "It's just spectacular." "You can see where Antarctica just broke off and moved off down that way on its continental plate." "It's just amazing, the swell, the waves coming in here are absolutely massive." "Couldn't beat this for a campsite!" "I'm gonna have to hide away from the cliffs a wee bit because it's pretty windy out here, but this is absolutely spectacular." "It doesn't get much better than this." "I had an absolute nightmare of a night." "I'm camped right next to the cliffs here, and at 2:30 this morning I woke up to an absolute gale." "I jumped out the tent to put some pegs back in and it was the wrong thing to do, because I was the only thing actually keeping my tent on the ground, and the whole thing blew, and it was in the middle of the night, the wind was so strong," "I couldn't put the tent back up." "My only option was to take my Therm-A-Rest out, put it on top to stop everything flying away and sleep outside for the rest of the night in all my clothes and inside my sleeping bag liner with my shoes and everything on." "It was freezing, and... so, for the last four hours I've been sleeping like that." "But even a horrendous night's sleep doesn't stop Mark from pounding out the miles." "I've made it to Ceduna." "I've made it back to civilisation." "Since Norseman, which is over 1,000 kilometres, there has been absolutely nothing, so if you imagine, that's the length of Britain with about six or seven petrol stations in between, and the rest of it, there's not a house, there's not a farm," "there's not a fence, there's nothing, absolutely nothing." "And with civilisation comes some home comforts." "Phone reception and a welcome shave." "This helps Mark to regain his focus and prepare for the next push to Brisbane." "I've got the tailwind I've been hoping and praying for!" "It makes such a difference." "It's about 6:00, I've done 160 kilometres, easily." "Feel like I'm getting there with Australia." "Feel like I've been here forever!" "I was in Australia when I got 9,000 miles round, and 3,000 miles later I'm still here!" "But I'm getting there." "I've just got to finish off New South Wales, get into Queensland and fly to New Zealand." "But this is it, 12,000 miles around the world - two thirds - one third to go." "Mark has now set himself a new target, to reach Brisbane and the end of Australia two days ahead of schedule." "But he's been pushing himself too hard, and again he's had to stop early." "I'm incredibly saddle-sore." "It's so painful on the bike." "I could barely face doing another hour on the bike, but I'd do it if I had somewhere to stay." "But if I didn't clean again tonight, get on the bike again tomorrow," "I don't think I could push out another day like I did today and yesterday." "Agh." "Finishing Australia ahead of schedule is now becoming an obsession for Mark." "It was make or break today." "I had to get the miles and I had to make up some miles, or I'd lose a day on that flight." "So, definitely worth it, but I'm feeling a wee bit rubbish right now." "My legs are so sore." "I had to get off the bike yesterday after 160k because I was so saddle-sore, and today I've done 10 hours!" "It doesn't help." "Still, two more days in Australia, I hope." "Although Australia has drained Mark much more than he'd anticipated, he finishes the country two days ahead of target and on track for a new world record." "Made it to Brisbane, across Australia, and another big milestone." "The exciting thing is, Christmas is just over a week away, and that's gonna be in New Zealand, and in a week and a half's time I'm gonna be in America, and it's gonna be the middle of winter" "and I'll have another huge country to cross." "But the race goes on." "It feels great to get to this point." "I've done Australia." "After the mammoth 40-day slog of Australia," "Mark has allowed himself just 10 days to complete New Zealand's South and North Islands." "I thought the Australians had pretty interesting names for things, but that's pretty unique!" "What a contrast, what a change to Australia." "It's 100% more interesting cycling." "Around every corner are views like this." "It's just spectacular." "I was expecting some hills, I could see them on the map and people warned me about them, but these are proper Alpine switchbacks." "Great fun, but not fast." "It's Christmas Day." "Mark, being Mark, celebrates in the saddle, in the driving rain." "# It's Christmas time All over the world" "# And Christmas here at home" "# The church bells chime Wherever we roam" "# Jwaye nowel, feliz natal" "# Hyvaa joulua" "# To you.... #" "Four kilometres out of town, in the middle of nowhere, is this motel, and the lady is lovely." "I turned up and it said on the door "Office closed"." "Then I read the small print." "It said, "Come to the big house down the road." Phew!" "I turned up and they're having the big Christmas afternoon, the whole family's there." "I felt a bit bad, but she said, "No problem at all, I'll get you a room."" "So I've got a room." "Then I said, "Where do I get food?"" "She said, "Four kilometres back into town"!" "She obviously saw my face sink." "I was just like, ugh!" "I can't do an 8km round trip in the rain." "I just couldn't face it." "Especially going back, it's the most demoralising thing in the world." "So she immediately said," ""But don't worry, we've got so many leftovers from Christmas lunch," ""go and get a shower and I'll bring you over some dinner."" "So I'm getting my Christmas lunch!" "Makes me smile." "I'm fine, but it's just been a BLEEP Christmas!" "Tomorrow, in the final programme, in America Mark spends" "That was one of the worst nights in a tent I've ever had." "It didn't snow, but the wind picked up a lot in the night, and my tent collapsed again." "He's knocked off the bike and mugged all in one day." "I'm pretty shaken up by it all." "And the finish line's in sight, but Mark's exhausted." "Mentally, I'm quite burnt out at this point." "Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd"