The Fastest Man Around The World - May 6th 2005

Latest Update : 24/05/05
21:46 hrs GMT
" I am upto 1653 miles in the last 34 hours, I have got another 1000 miles to go through the night, from Prague to Bratislava to Budapest and across Romania and Bulgaria to Istanbul . I am sleeping on the doorstep of friends of mine in Budapest because I am arriving there at 3:00 in the morning…and there Mum has left me a blanket. I'll sleep there for 3 hours before going onto Istanbul. It makes me think my journey is the exact opposite of the “Long Way Around” and it's 6 million budget. I am on day 2, and I am already running out of money! … but I am thinking of interesting ways of make the whole thing continue.
Jiten has just told me that we might not be able to fly the bike out of India because of the “dangerous goods” classification and the regulations at Calcutta customs. What are we going to do ? He says he is going to try and pull some strings with his friends back in India and see if there is anyway around this, but what if not ? What if we just technically cannot do it? I've just thought of a `Plan B'. I fly my bike from Istanbul to Bangkok , it'll take 3-4 days. The other people didn't do it, so I don't have to, although I want to. In the meantime I will fly to Mumbai from where I rent and continue to ride an Enfield from Mumbai to Calcutta , while my R1 is being freighted to Bangkok . The journey will continue the way it was planned at all odds."

10:21 hrs GMT, 25/05/05
I am in Fzegede in south of Hungary on the way to Bucharest . The traffic is now two lanes so it's very slow moving, very dangerous to go fast, and very difficult. Just got of the N5. My schedule has slipped a little bit, right now I am on a 1050miles a day schedule. I was on a 2 and ½ day schedule at 1100 miles a day. This is a bit disconcerting.
By the time I get to Istanbul , I would have ridden 64 hours with only 3 half hour breaks. Incredibly, I feel very strong. I don't quite know why … but I am roaring and doing very well.

Latest Update : 25/05/05
18:20 hrs GMT
Days are mixing into one. I've now been going for all of Monday, all of Tuesday and am now riding into my third night. I'll be arriving in Istanbul at approximately 4:00 in the morning. This will give me 2 and ¾ days for Calais to Istanbul . The route I am now on is a two lane highway across the Carpathian Mountains . From Budapest , to Sibiu in Romania , it's been this two lane highway. I've been able to average only about 30 miles per hour. The traffic has been atrocious; the weather though is looking good. It's been hard taking over truck after truck, but in true Indian style I've managed to do it. The bike has been running very very well. I am still feeling good. I've had moments of tiredness, but have now stopped for a coffee. I think I've got 170 miles to Bucharest and roughly about another 360 from there to Istanbul .

chew i am thoroughly enjoying this !!

dont think no one is reading it - maybe they just aint commenting
keep it up..

Latest Update : 26/05/05
21:40 hrs GMT
I arrived in Istanbul late tea time (local time). I think it's worked out to just about 3000 miles in 3 days and about 5 hours. So we are on a 1000 mile a day schedule and 5 hours behind. I am very pleased about this because it's shown me what I can do. I had no idea I could do this. We're all capable of learning something new, and I this has taught me great deal from this. I had assumed I'd ride and sleep and ride and sleep. It never occurred to me I can ride and ride and ride. I have done that since Monday morning till now….which is Thursday evening. But I get to sleep now, for the first time this week. 77 hours non-stop riding.The time line has been something like this …. Tuesday night 9:00 pm – Prague , Bratislava at Midnight, Budapest at 7:00 am Wednesday. Then I carried across into Transylvania , and that's when I hit the slow tough path. There was torrential rain and storm last night slowing me down to less than 26 miles an hour following the trucks in the narrow lane over the Carpathian Mountains …. Is very difficult, very slippery. There was also a very close near-miss when a bus overtook me and missed an oncoming truck by inches. I was so close to it, it made me wonder if it had been hit the bus would have shunted back into me, anyway it didn't. Inches…. literally, two or three inches separated a mighty collision.In the dark last night, it's been slippy and under foot conditions. Very wet, the torrential rain didn't leave me for 8 hours. It cost me a loss of 4 hours. I have been filming and if I had not been filming I would have been 4 hours ahead. Anyway, I feel very strong, very good. The plan for stage two is now simple, Mumbai to Calcutta non-stop.
Dispatch from Budapest :
Nick met his friend Máté Gábor in Budapest over a quick breakfast, here's an update and pictures from Máté :
He was on his way from Prague to Turkey via Romania. So he just visited us for a quick breakfast, made an interview with us using his mobile studio, which we enjoyed a lot. We took some pictures of him leaving our house, and I helped him to find a faster way to go out of our beautiful city. Because of the traffic jam it was difficult to hurry, but fortunately we met a collegue of mine (Thanks for Cpt. Peter Krauth, training captain Boeing 737, member of Board of the Malev Hungarian Airlines). He was riding his motorbike too, so he then lead Nick further to save time for the new World Record!God save Nick!Gabor & Emese Mate + our daughter Vanda




After 2980 miles, 76 hours and no sleep; Nick is now in Istanbul, and roaring to get to India !

[Viney]

Hes totaly mad. But huge respect

Whens he gonna get new tyres?

Originally Posted by Viney

Whens he gonna get new tyres?

Perth Australia
Anchorage Alaska

And thats it

wheres he gonna get a haircut

Turke wud be good- he can get a massage at the same time !!!! and the hair in yer ears burnt out with meths !!

Stage 2 :
Nick in Mumbai Dispatch 2:
Ikbal from Istanbul
After 2983 miles and 76 hours of no sleep riding, Nick is revving for Stage 2 : INDIA. Now in Mumbai, Nick plans to meet the Royal Enfield Club of Mumbai while he waits for his R1 to arrive.
"... he had some interviews with the Turkish TV channel and press. The Istanbulis were so fascinated to have Nick in Istanbul and to have met the (soon to be again) fastest man around the world."

Latest Update : 27/05/05
In Istabul.
I've had a good night's sleep, and am feeling very strong. I can't explain how after so little sleep I still feel so good. I think it's because I really want to do this project, because there is nothing more important to me at this moment then completing this journey in record time. There seems nothing more important in life. It has to have great intensity for it to have chance to be successful.

I have to say it's a great challenge to beat the previous record, It has really given me something to go for. I am comfortable with the first stage. I don't think I could have done it better, but I am 4-5 hours behind the record breaking schedule. I don't quite know where it's going to be made up for, certainly not in India . The plan for India is to head go to go east upto Vishakapatnam via Pune and Hyderabad , and then north an east to the port Caluctta on the Bay of Bengal , which in all is about 1350 miles. It's day and night riding again, and I have to go non-stop because I have to make up for time lost on stage 1, because I loose time every time I stop to film, and because I am getting lost. It's inevitable without GPS, and every time I get lost, I loose time in finding my way back.

Latest Update : 30/05/05
In Mumbai.

I'll be glad to move on and am looking forward to riding across India. It's always like this, having to deal with the paperwork. It was unfortunate arriving on a weekend and then hitting a Bank Holiday in the UK but I'll be away soon riding through the night. Ihave no intention of resting but will ride absolutely non stop for the 1350 miles from Bombay to Calcutta via Hyderabad. My Indian sources tell me that Bombay to Calcutta via Delhi means going through Bihar - the poorest and most dangerous state in India and that is definately out. Bombay via Nagpur means riding on a recently surfaced road which by all accounts has been done badly so we've decided on Hyderabad.

At the moment I am very homesick and miss my kids but that is part of what I do. Leaving my family is the hardest part of this adventure. The idea that I can get home quicker is the one thing that keeps me going.