"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." "His epic journey will take him through floods, burning deserts, freezing winds and desolate plains." "The experience will push bike, body and soul to the limit." "I feel incredibly weak." "I don't what..." "I don't what to do." "It's the ultimate endurance test." "If he pulls it off, the world record will be his." "This is it." "This is halfway round." "How are you doing?" "Edinburgh, June 16th, 2007." "Christmas has come early for Mark Beaumont." "And that's by far the biggest bike box I've ever seen." "Can I touch it?" "Yeah, bring it on here." "The bike that will carry him around the world has arrived." "This thing is going to go 18,000 miles around the world." "There it is." "It's a big bike." "This is a Koga Miyata Signature bike, every part has been chosen for we're doing here." "To be techie, we're riding a Rohloff hub and the gearing's internal, which means no dirt, no grime can get in there and it should be a lot more efficient." "If it breaks I'm in a lot of trouble because it's pretty hard to fix, but let's have a look at it." "Set it down and see what happens." "When I dreamt up this project three years ago, it was just that - it was a pipedream." "It was..." "I mean, there was a logical progression from what I'd done before but it's just so much bigger." "So, you can start unwrapping." "I'll let you do the honours." "Where to start?" "Since February, when I've been in full-time training over the last four or five months," "I've been on a road-racing bike pushing much faster miles but over less time, so sort of higher intensity." "Out in the world, I'll be pushing sort of 100/120 in a day but using the whole day to do it." "The challenge he's given himself is to set a new Guinness World Record for cycling around the world." "I think that there's a part of the British mentality which sort of says, "What are you doing," ""why are you doing this, why don't you get a proper job?"" "There's another part which loves the good old sort of British "go out there and explore"." "Bubbles." "His round the world challenge will test body and bike to the absolutely limit." "Riding 100 miles a day is the cyclist's marathon." "Doing it every day for seven months is unheard of." "Keep going." "Don't drop off." "Keep it going." "Keep driving." "Come on!" "Keep going." "Keep it going." "That's good." "Good, now on to recovery." "A small team of sport's specialists have come together to advise him." "If you imagine going to your local gym, sitting on an exercise bike and turning it up to the highest resistance that you possibly can, is something that poor Mark's got to do for 8 to 12 hours each day," "day after day." "8 hours on the bike, I'll be looking at sort 5,500-6,000 calories a day." "Oh, I think more than that." "You could be talking between 6,500-7,500 calories a day." "That's a lot of food." "Equivalent, in fact, to eating 24 average-sized cheeseburgers a day." "Difficult at any time." "Tougher still when on the road for 8 hours a day" "You're going to get sick of eating trying to bulk up." "It's really sickly." "These are the days that your stomach is going to shut down and you won't be able to eat 6,000 calories." "Mark's team of advisors is led by his mother." "The only one sort of "ah" with the world cycle was when Mark said he wanted to do it in the record time because, you know, I can see the physical...the pressure." "Mark never does anything low key." "I think he's just genuinely interested to see what he is capable of doing and I think this is just how he is." "For him, dreams are...gold and he, you know, he makes his goals happen." "The start is two weeks away, and just getting to the starting line is becoming a challenge in itself." "MUSIC:" "Push The Tempo by Fatboy Slim" "It's been a dream for three years." "The Guinness rules are clear." "18,000 miles and passing through two opposite points on the planet." "Mark's going through Europe, the Middle East, Pakistan and on to Calcutta, down South East Asia, across Australia, up New Zealand, the long haul across America and finally a sprint from Lisbon to Paris." "It's the night before the start, time for a final check." "Clothing's kept very simple." "I've got a layering system here to keep warm, three cycling strips, your cycle shorts and to go with these we've got chammy cream, and it sort of disinfects them and make sure that you don't develop saddle sores" "which are a pain in the..." "to say the least." "This impending sense of inevitability running towards the start line has been unbelievable." "First wallet, second wallet, which I give away if I get asked for my wallet." "The last two weeks, you know, whilst working 20-hour days." "There was just a sense of, you know, quite a surreal feeling of, whatever I do, I'm going to arrive on the start line, on the 5th, and I'll suddenly have time to think about how far we've come." "That's it." "Check, check and check again." "Sleep is last on the list." "Love you." "See you." "For family and friends, this is the last time they'll see him for seven months." "Are you OK?" "I am fine." "Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three..." "The clock has started, 18,000 miles of pedalling lie ahead, but ominously, after just 30 minutes, he's exhausted." "We've just done about 10 miles out of Paris and I just completely hit the wall." "About four or five miles out, I thought that the adrenalin would sort of see me through and I'd feel good but, with the mayhem of the last couple of days, and another four hour sleep last night," "I was so tired that, I don't know whether it was nerves or tired or a combination of the two." "My eyes were just shutting on me as I was cycling." "A shot of caffeine hits the spot if Mark's to hit his daily target and it's only day one." "Nerves settled, he's finally on the open road and in his element." "This makes it all worth it." "This is... the months in the office putting the support together to make this happen." "This is incredible." "We've got blue skies, we've got a tail wind and I'm off on my own.." "I can't wait to get around the world." "This is..." "This is everything I've dreamt of." "I'm going to leave you guys now and I'll see you in Istanbul." "Leg one should be easy, 2,200 miles in 22 days, Paris to Istanbul." "For Mark, the big miles are nothing new." "At 12 years old, he rode coast to coast across Scotland." "At 15, he rode solo between John O'Groats and Land's End." "But on this trip it's only day three and already his high tech £2,500 bike's in trouble." "By the time I got to Sognes I was about 1K out," "I got a puncture again, that's my third in 24 hours which is just unbelievable." "I checked my tyre both times it happened, but I thought," ""I've got to do something about this."" "I went to the bike shop and he actually found a tiny metal shard." "That's why I've had three punctures in a day." "It's a lot later than I'd hoped for finishing up for today and you can hardly see me." "Puncture fixed, the next challenge of a wet night under canvas is nothing new." "We were brought up kind of watching everything, from David Attenborough to watching Chris Bonington, to all these explorers," "I think it was a case of just wanting to give it a go himself and find his own adventure." "I've just woken up and it's absolutely pouring." "It's pretty nice." "Just torrential." "Day five." "After a slow start, Mark is already 40 miles behind schedule." "If he doesn't start hitting 100 miles a day he'll add 21 days onto the world target." "Bike's going superbly well." "Feeling really comfortable." "I've adjusted the saddle." "I was just getting twinges in my left knee, so I've actually brought the seat down, and moved it forward somewhat." "It feels a lot more comfortable." "The twinges are going from my knee." "For the next two days Mark hits the magic 100-mile-a-day target leaving him just 23 miles behind schedule." "Finally, everything seems to be going well." "Just had a disaster, coming flying down that last hill." "We're about 40K from our destination in Germany." "There was a loud bang from the back wheel." "I've broken a spoke at the back." "It's now going to take time to fix, but it's more than that, it's just such a worry." "I have to take the wheel apart and put a new spoke on, but that does not bode well seven days in." "This really is worse-case scenario." "He's on his own." "If he can't fix it, his dream is dead." "At least it's stopped raining." "Every hour lost is 13 miles to make up." "There we go, one fixed wheel, running pretty much true." "That's delayed me by about an hour but more than that, I've now got a wheel which isn't set up right." "With time lost and a dodgy wheel, Mark hits the city of Dresden." "I get immensely frustrated when I'm going through a town and I'm getting held up by slow bike paths and traffic lights." "If I lose a couple of hours, it really..." "It does stress me out slightly." "So, I've been on Route 6 all morning and I'm expecting to carry on through Route 6 for the next 80 kilometres all the way to the Polish border but these roads tend to get a bit lost in the centre." "But see what we can do." "Right. where's this Route 6?" "Whoa!" "Quick look at the map." "It's not just the bike that needs careful maintenance," "Mark's in danger of pushing himself too hard." "He's suffered from tendonitis in the past, so the team back home have arranged for a physiotherapist to meet him on the road." "About 30 kilometres from Poland, and I'm going to camp because it's beautiful." "Look at that sunset." "The table's up, I'm ready and I'm going to get a massage before it gets dark and quickly get the tent up and get an early night." "His body seems in good shape, and for now the bike is running well, through Germany and on into Poland." "Is leg one, the easy leg, finally going to plan?" "We'll we're, um..." "I'm about 20K into Poland and I've broken another bloody spoke." "Day nine, that's two spokes broken on the rear." "I carried three spare spokes and thought that maybe I'll break one or two in the whole world and that's..." "That's two by..." "Two in the first two weeks." "So, I don't know what to do." "His Polish physio phones ahead for help." "We rolled the last 40km into town, which was exceptionally hilly." "We're just into Poland here, about 40K, and come in and the guy's had a look at it and said basically that because the spokes have been cut to allow for the strange hub that I've got," "it's weakened them which is why they're breaking." "He's rebuilding my new wheel." "Really ------ off, really annoyed that this has happened." "It's the nightmare scenario and he's not yet halfway through leg one." "Has he got the right bike for the job?" "If there are any more serious delays, he might as well pack it in." "Three punctures and two broken wheels in nine days, doesn't bode well for 200-and-something-odd days." "But we'll see if we can get some more miles in, see if we can get 100 miles despite the breakage." "Bike repaired, Mark ends the day having only done 80 miles." "New day, fresh start, but now a constant worry about the bike." "7am, good night's sleep, going to pack up and get on the road and try and make up the miles." "But Mark won't allow himself to take things easily." "Pushing himself and the bike hard, he achieves a record 113 miles in a day." "Poland's being kind to him." "I'm heading for Krakow today." "Really good on the bike today, bike's running well and the back wheel, pleased with it after two days." "So, it's stopping for lunch," "I'm really quite hungry, didn't eat enough this morning but, yeah, feeling good on the bike." "At last Mark's hitting a good rhythm," "He needs 6,000 calories a day, that's equal to six Christmas dinners, tough when you're a vegetarian." "The further from home, the more difficult it will become." "Crossing into the Ukraine, he's got to eat, but the options are limited." "The food is horrendous, absolutely terrible." "Last night I had..." "it was meant to be mushroom soup but it was just oily stock water with chewy mushrooms at the bottom, and an omelette which was just..." "I don't know how they made it as bad, it was just a plain omelette but it was like rubber." "It was the only vegetarian thing on a 12-page menu and this morning I was given the same menu for breakfast," "I had to have the same again." "Well, as you can see, it's a lovely day in Ukraine." "The poor food has an instant effect." "Felt absolutely terrible on the bike this morning - no energy, really, really low." "So I'm going to stop here by a wee shop here and I'm going to see if I can get some proper food." "Mark can't lose time seeking vegetarian food." "He must decide which comes first, race or diet." "then I've got to eat, so all I had last night was fish." "I can only assume that's what it was and I woke up in the middle of the night with sort of some drunken chat outside the window and just felt terrible and was really sick." "I still feel pretty bad this morning, but I'm just going to get up and keep going and see what it's like." "Sick and tired." "Mark is in no fit state to be on the road." "Low in energy, his concentration begins to slip." "Well, I just got pretty much knocked off the road by these guys." "A police car came past and shouted something at me." "I had no idea what he was saying so I kept going, and that thing nearly took my head off." "Adding to his misery, a whole new language." "This is just a nightmare to work out." "I came into town along here and took the bypass instead of going into town and each of these turn-offs, there's been no English at all on them, so I couldn't figure out which one I'm on." "So I'm meant to be going on to M12 but there's nothing on that sign to say M12, so I've looked at these symbols here and managed to find them down here, so I think this is the correct road." "The scale of Mark's challenge is being put to the test." "Can he alone feed himself, find shelter, spend eight hours in the saddle and stay fit, day after day?" "For the second night in a row I was really sick." "I don't know whether this is low sodium levels or over-hydration or whatever but that's quite a serious condition if that's what it is." "So, I need to..." "I need to really address that." "I feel fine now, I've got a cold, but... terrible night's sleep." "Sick again, his body weakening from lack of food," "Mark must call on his mental strength to push him over the border to the next country." "Welcome to Romania." "The first person when I crossed the border put his hand out and said, "Welcome to Romania,"" "and ever since then the people have just been amazing." "It's such a relief to be here." "The last two days have just been fantastic." "The road quality's a million times better, language which I don't understand, but at least it's our alphabet and I feel good for it." "It's tough, every day is tough, and actually the days when it's easy on the bike, the days when you're thinking, I can do this, you're spinning along, that's when the niggles which you don't notice on the tough days come in," "that's when you notice you're saddle sore, your wrists hurt, your hands hurt and the stuff which is there all the time but you don't notice when it's raining or your bike's breaking or other stuff's going on." "Sorry, I'm just whinging now." "But hey, it's not easy." "Dreams hurt." "But it's nice." "So much of what Mark has set out to achieve depends on his mental state." "Happiness equals faster miles." "He's back in the groove." "Today, pushed out about 200 kilometres." "200 kilometres so far, so my biggest day by a bit of a stretch, legs are feeling it and very much looking forward to a day off in Istanbul." "As his route takes him further south, through Romania, across Bulgaria and down into Turkey, there's a new challenge - the hills and the heat." "It is blisteringly hot." "It's 1.30pm and it's OK when you're cycling but when you stop, it's just unbelievable, it just hits you, the warm wind is pretty nasty actually." "You'd think a nice breeze would be nice but the wind's hotter than the air." "Does that make sense?" "It's pretty horrible." "It's 40 degrees and he's sweating heavily." "Most of us drink one or two litres a day, Mark needs eight to 10." "He can't carry that much, so must make regular stops." "I've come across this..." "these sort of watering holes here." "These sort of little water stops which are for the truckers and a little cafe which is fortunate because I'm almost entirely out of water and don't know how far it is to the next town." "So I'm going to go in, have a cup of tea." "I've done five hours' riding, 75 kilometres, that shows how hilly it's been." "I know, Scotland." "Scotia." "Ah, Escocia." "Escocia." "Escocia, Escocia." "Yeah." "One, two, three, four?" "Three." "Three, yeah." "OK?" "Yeah." "Even in the midday heat, he must keep eating and if Mark fails to drink enough, he'll become dehydrated, lose power and his body temperature will rise, a vicious circle." "When we catch up him, a day from Istanbul, he's beginning to dream of water, in any form." "I knew there would come the time when I would sort of pray for rain." "I'm not there yet but, well, this is pretty warm." "Nice part of the world." "Plenty of hills." "It's pretty brutal." "So, this is just all salt sweat, salt marks, so that's..." "you can just see it all over me." "That's the amount of salt I'll have to put back in today." "I think this is because I was sweating so much and losing so much salt, and then not replacing it." "So, live and learn." "I've got to be pretty careful where I get water but these little fountains at the side of the road tend to be good spring water so, I've been filling up all through Eastern Europe, down through Ukraine, Bulgaria, at these stops." "The hotter the country the more there are." "Every 10K, you tend to pass these little water fountains." "His mood is good, the bike's running well, he's not been sick again and the end of leg one is finally in sight." "I just want to get there and I'm still just focusing on the next mile and I try not to think too far ahead, still got a long way to go." "I think you'd scare yourself too much." "I wouldn't mind 18,000 miles of this." "I can do this." "First sight of Istanbul, I think." "For the lone cyclist, a city of 12 million people is a tough way to end the day." "This is tough!" "This is not fun." "And it's a long way into the city centre." "I just want to get there right now." "I've got 10K to go, I think, but this is tough." "This is absolutely emotionally draining, the last hour into Istanbul." "This scares me." "around me, and so many near misses." "This...this is horrible." "That was the scariest bit of cycling I've ever done." "Is that it?" "That was good, leg one over." "I need some food and bed and rest." "The last miles are cruel, but amazingly he's right on schedule." "He's covered the 2,200 miles in 22 days." "Great night's sleep last night, waking up knowing you have a break," "I can get my laundry done, get the bike fixed and prepare properly for leg two." "Day off is all about eating up." "I've had a huge breakfast and we had a second breakfast of stuff we took from breakfast." "This is early lunch, we'll get something a bit later on, then we'll get dinner." "Just going to keep eating." "Constantly hungry after that sort of expenditure, so it's not a problem." "Is it possible to have the same again?" "Same like this?" "OK." "Leg one has proved body and bike can, when pushed, take 100 miles a day, but he's barely an eighth of the way round and there are 12 countries, three continents to go, and the going can only get tougher." "Well, this is Europe and... ..that's Asia." "That's for tomorrow and that's leg two." "Tomorrow, Mark arrives in the Muslim word in search of food, but it's Ramadan." "Got some nuts and this disgusting seeping banana." "He risks being taken hostage near Afghanistan." "Absolutely had enough of the Pakistani police." "They're a bunch of..." "And the men of India find him rather attractive." ""You're wonderful, I love you," and complimenting my physique." "I don't know how to handle it, I'm not used to it." "Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd" "E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk"