In August, 19 year-old Tom Davies from Battersea became what is believed to be of the youngest people to cycle around the world solo, clocking up 18,000 miles and raising more than £50,000 for numerous charities.
Tom used a Wattbike to train for his epic six-month trip, during which he was chased by dogs in Albania, survived food poisoning in Europe, and raced an emu in Australia.
Riding up to 100 miles a day, he had to ride in all kinds of weather conditions, enduring a mixture of emotional highs, pain and suffering to complete his journey.
In this blog post, we caught up with Tom to find out how the Wattbike helped prepare him for 174 hard days on the road:
1. What inspired you to want to cycle around the world?
I was thinking of things to do in my gap year and decided that I wanted to cycle as much as I could. I still liked the idea of travelling though, so I was looking at places around the world that I could take my bike. I came up with this idea, and never looked back really.
2. How does it feel to be one of the youngest people to cycle the world?
It's pretty cool! Although it's not actually an official world record; I didn't do the trip because of the accolade, I would have done it even if I was not the youngest, so it's just a bit of a bonus really.
3. What did it take to get around the world?
It’s hard to pick one factor, I don’t think there were any easy aspects to be honest. The mental side was definitely harder than the physical side though. I think a lot of that was down to the distance I had to cover. Even now I can’t get my head around the concept of riding 18,000 miles. Having said that, the physical side was by no means easy. Knee problems and food poisoning defined some of my lowest points but it was weather that really made things difficult. Any time there was a headwind, it was hard to stay positive - add rain, snow or even 40 degree heat to that and you have yourself a really rubbish day!
4. What were your worst and best places on the bike?
The worst leg was Europe in winter without a doubt. Having rain or snow the majority of days was no fun. The food poisoning and knee problems just added insult to injury!
I really like the Australian cities - Perth, Adelaide and Sydney. From a cycling perspective, my favourite road was the Great Ocean Road, just west of Melbourne. An absolutely stunning 150 mile stretch and a ‘must-ride’ for any cyclists visiting the area.
5. What did you take with you?
A few clothes for the evenings, and one spare set of cycling kit. Usual toiletries and chargers. A tent, sleeping bag, sleeping mat. A laptop so that I could upload the routes to my Garmin and update my daily blog, and I think that’s it mostly aside from repair kit.
6. Were there any big surprises along the way?
I got chased by a monkey in Thailand... that definitely surprised me!
7. Were there times when you felt like giving up?
Going through Europe at the start, there were definitely some real low points. However I never actually considered quitting. It was more a case of self-doubt and having no idea how I was going to finish it. I just never gave myself the option of giving up; it would have been much harder to resist if I had.
8. What was the hardest thing about leaving?
I think it’s fair to say nervousness and excitement controlled most of the weeks leading up to departure. The first day was London to Portsmouth and it was getting on the ferry to France that evening when it really hit me. Leaving my family was quite emotional and it was then that I started to question what I'd got myself into.
9. What type of training did you do before completing your challenge?
All sorts really. Training around school (and then work in the last couple of months) meant that I just didn’t have time to go out and do daily 100 mile rides, so I did quite a lot of intervals on the Wattbike. I also did a lot of training off the bike to keep myself mentally fresh. I decided it was important not to get tired of cycling before I left so there was a lot of core work going on.
10. How effective was the Wattbike in helping you to get fit for your big adventure and what kind of training did you do?
Massively. It was invaluable. Being pushed for time, meant the intensity had to be much higher and the Wattbike was the perfect tool for structuring all my training and especially any interval sessions I did.
I did a lot of interval training; anything from 3 minute to 30 minute intervals. As I got closer to leaving though, I started to phase this out. Doing 1 hour (or longer) sessions at 90% effort I found really effective. Unlike riding a real bike, there’s no downhill and no traffic lights so there isn’t any respite. I found these were great for getting the last bit of strength into my legs. I also found these sessions were good for training mental focus.
11. Did you have a target fitness or mileage you wanted to achieve before you left?
Not really. I was never going to be able to hit an ideal mileage whilst training around other commitments, so I just worked hard every day and by the time I left, I was the fittest I’d ever been both on and off the bike so I was pretty happy with my preparation.
12. What was your favourite Wattbike session in training?
My most useful session on the Wattbike was quite a while before I left (about 8 months). I would do 3 minutes at my maximum 5 minute power followed by 6 minutes rest, and I would do that 8 times. I did that twice a week for 6 weeks. That was horrible, but I saw the biggest improvements I’ve had over that time period. I haven’t been able to face doing it again though!
Just the convenience of it was huge. Being able to jump on in shorts and a t-shirt whatever the weather and no matter how late it was and still get a proper session in was fantastic. I also like numbers, so having all the information I could want right in front of me was great.
15. What did it feel like the day you reached home?
Something I can't really put into words. After a very hard six and a half months it was all a bit emotional. I honestly can’t describe it, it was the best feeling in the world.
16. How does it feel to be home and what's been going on since you got back?
To be perfectly honest I returned to normal life very quickly and I was glad my friends and family didn't treat me any differently. The only difference was occasionally seeing my face in a newspaper and people asking for interviews. It was all a bit surreal really. Now at university I'm pretty much just like everybody else, only I have some slightly unusual tan lines.
17. Do you plan any more big challenges in future?
Not just yet. I think my parents would be suitably unimpressed if I came out with anything too soon! I'm going to see how Uni goes and try get into racing this coming season. I've never done any before so I want to give it a go. Having said that, there is a transcontinental race across Europe which has caught my eye so maybe that's something for 2017. That's a fair way off mind so I think I'll just see how things go for now!
18. Will you carry on using a Wattbike?
Absolutely. They've got a few here at Loughborough University so I've been making good use of them already.