A travel writer from Britain is all set to embark on a 133-day, 15,000 mile sail and cycle challenge from China to London, via the USA, the equivalent of travelling almost half way round the world, reported Scuttlebutt.
Simon Parker, 28, from Oxford, who first started sailing just six months ago and has never cycled more than 1,000 miles before, will start with a race across the Pacific – the largest expanse of water on the planet – in the ultimate endurance challenge, the Clipper 2015-16 Round the World Yacht Race, from Qingdao, China, to Seattle, USA. Not content with that achievement alone, Simon will then cycle 4,000 miles across the USA as the Clipper Race fleet continues around America to New York.
He will be relying on his own self-motivation to complete 80-100 miles a day, solo for six weeks.
Once in NYC, Simon will re-join his Clipper Race team and sail across the Atlantic Ocean to Derry Londonderry, Northern Ireland. In his final challenges, he will cycle race the yachts from Northern Ireland to Holland, then sail to London in a 36 hour sprint to the Clipper Race Finish at Tower Bridge on 30 July. On what has motivated him to take on this challenge, Simon said: “People may think I’m crazy for attempting this, and maybe I am a little, but the more I thought about it, the more I saw it as an amazing opportunity for a unique travel challenge.
“The world is full of people who travel and compete in endurance challenges which seem to get harder and more epic all the time. I haven’t heard of this particular challenge ever being attempted before though. I want to use my experience to examine the human psyche and attempt to learn more about what drives us to constantly extend our limits, using myself as the subject.”