Mark Beaumont is a man on a mission. Actually, he’s a man who has already been on a mission, came back, went on another mission, then came back again. The first mission was to break the world record for cycling solo around the world – a feat he accomplished, cycling over 100 miles a day to complete the 18,000 mile journey. The second mission was to cycle the length of the America Cordillera, a 13,000 mile expedition stretching from the top of North America to the tip of South America.
His pedal-powered exploits have been captured on film are being shown in the BBC One series, The Man Who Cycled The Americas. But for a more personal account, you can head over to the Congress Theatre on Wednesday March 31 for his inspirational talk, The Man Who Cycled The World. We got Mark off his bike for long enough to chat to us about the show and his amazing adventures.
E: Tell us a little bit about the show.
MB: I’m going to be showing some of my films and some of my photography. A lot of the adventures I’m going to be talking about are from the last couple of major expeditions: my world record cycling around the world and the recent Americas trip. There’s so much in these BBC documentaries which doesn’t make the final programme, so there will be a lot of fresh material for those who know about my stories and expeditions very well.
In terms of time, they’re huge expeditions and the mental and the physical journey I’ve been on in both of these is pretty unique. In terms of coming straight back from a nine month solo expedition, I’m quite looking forward to the talk tour because I think it’ll be quite good for me as well. It’s back out on the road and meeting quite a lot of people who have followed my progress. This last year, especially with BBC1, I’ve had a massive online following, so I’m sure there’ll be a lot of people turning up to these events. They’ve been there for the expedition as it’s happened so it’ll be quite good fun to meet some of them.
E: Does it seem like you’re going from one extreme to the other – spending extended periods in solitude to suddenly having to talk to hundreds of people?
MB: Well a bit. But it’s nice as well. These journeys can get quite lonely if you’re out there completely on your own, and then you come back to the real world. But these trips are followed in a big way online now; and calling into Radio1 and Radio Scotland every week, there’s a great community which has built up around it. It makes it a very different experience for me.
When I came back there was a sense of great elation, great relief. But at the same time I was a little bit lost because nine months is a long time to be in that world. But I’ve had that from a lot of people who have followed it as well, just saying, ‘Well, what do we do now?’ So it’ll be great fun to get out on tour and share some of that. I’ve done a lot of public speaking before, but mainly corporate, never a national event. So it’s nice to be meeting people who have a keen interest in not only cycling, but travel and expedition and seeing the world that we live in.
E: What inspired you to attempt these feats of endurance?
MB: I was eleven years old when I first decided I wanted to cycle John O’ Groats to Land’s End. I guess when you’re that age you don’t really examine too closely why you want to do it; it was just kind of a boyhood dream. These expeditions got bigger and bigger over the years. I did Land’s End to John O’ Groats when I was 15, and went on to do quite a few expeditions as an amateur. Then, after leaving university, I wanted to take it to a professional level and try and take it to TV. So I guess it’s grown quite organically like that. It’s not like I’ve suddenly changed career or and thought right I’m going to do something really crazy. For me it’s built up in a gradual way, where it all seems pretty sensible. And there’re all these people that come to me and remind me the scale of the trips and what’s involved, but for me it’s all happened in a natural way.
E: What do you do to occupy your mind while you’re cycling these mammoth expeditions?
MB: Because I’ve got the documentaries and the online to do, there’s always that focus. I’m always trying to get the shots and capture what’s happening in real time for screen time, which is a very tricky thing to do sometimes.
When you’re on your own filming, it’s not like you’ve got a film crew there saying do this, do that and directing. You’ve got to stay aware to do all that; there are no second takes. It’s the ultimate documentary as you really are capturing the world as you pass through.
But you’re on a different level of consciousness. For days and days the only conversations you have are either to the camera or a phone call back to the production team. Yeah, it’s a very different experience that sort of solo world if you’ve never had it before. I quite enjoy it; it’s a challenge but I guess it’s why I do it.
E: What kind of reaction did you get from the different people you meet on the way?
MB: Almost always positive. The big difference between my last two expeditions was the first one was for a world record. I was doing 100 miles a day, not really stopping too much. This time I experienced a lot more of the world I was passing through. Having a camera and doing all that stuff opened a lot of doors. I met some amazing people. It’s a bit of a cliché but it really hits you in the poorest parts. I was Pisco in Peru, in a place which was destroyed by earthquakes a couple of years ago.
Travelling the speed of a bike allows you to see a lot more and allows people to welcome you in a different way. I think it keeps people very natural, very real. I think if you were turning up in a Range Rover with a film crew it would be very different. But that’s the way I do things. It allows you get pass locked doors and you meet a lot of very cool people.
E: What was the strangest thing you saw on your travels?
MB: One of the most memorable was a night trip into the Panamanian rainforest, looking for tarantulas. We went with torches into the jungle, which was very creepy – very noisy with all the dripping and creaking. You’d flash the torch around and there were eyes everywhere. Tarantulas live in big holes in the ground and you lure them out with big bits of meat, but it’s very eerie. All your senses are absolutely heightened as you try and film it and if your torch goes out you’re stuck in the rainforest. Stuff like that just sticks with you.
E: What was the most beautiful place you’ve cycled through?
MB: Probably the Atacama Desert. Nothing lives there, no animals, no plants, nothing. And you know, by day you’re just getting baked, no shade no shelter, nothing. And then at night you just put your sleeping bag out and sleep under the stars.