I very much enjoy these types of books, essentialy women going on interesting adventures or doing very difficult things. I think I picked up this book after Emily Chappell posted it on Instagram, and since I loved Emily’s own book, it seemed like a no brainer to pick it up (or in this case, put it on a birthday present list).

Where Emily Chappell did the transcontinental, Jenny Graham did the world, and broke the world record for a women’s bike ride across the world in the process. The style of writing was bubbly and infections, documenting both the highs and lows of taking on such a monumental task. I certainly couldn’t image doing that long of a ride in 124 days.

What I found most interesting was how her decision making powers were severely curtailed as the ride went on, after all she was only sleeping around 5 hours a night to keep her world record pace. Not only that but being on a bike for 15 hours a day, covering hundreds of kilometres each day. So it’s not just an impressive psychological feat but a real psychological one as well. I get pretty grumpy if I don’t have a full 8-9 hours in a comfy bed. I think this probably means I’ll never attempt such a ride. But I admire the crap out of people who put them into those situations!

I was also intrigued that the Guiness Book of World Records doesn’t differentiate between supported and unsupported. Supported means you can have a team, following you, making you food, having a place to sleep etc. Unsupported means you can only take help if it’s not someone you know or if it’s offered to anyone (so there were some different accommodation networks to take advantage of). Jenny was doing this entirely unsupported, having to make decisoins, find food, accommodation, deal with bike things etc all on her own. She definitely did receive help along the way, in the allowed ways, even though it didn’t really matter according to the rules. The purist mentality was awe inspiring.

Anyway, it is so fantastic. I also love that Mark Beaumont (the currently male record holder), gave her advice on different things before the ride as well. There were lots of fantastic people helping make the ride happen.

For the most part, the people she meet were kind, helpful, and interested in her story. But it was shocking how many times she was propositioned in Russia (probably not a route that would be easy to do in the current climate). Given that she was covered in dust from the road, probably somewhat unwashed etc, it did give a fairly bad impression of Russian men! But after a certain point, all that stopped and it seemed everyone was uniformly lovely (if sometimes a little bit over protective of a woman cycling on her own).

Anyway, fantastic read. 10/10 would recommend.