My conversation today will focus on a key crisis skill – endurance. And I’m thrilled to say that we have the perfect guest to help us – record-breaking, long-distance cyclist, adventurer, broadcaster and author Mark Beaumont.
Mark is a man who certainly knows what it means to endure. In 2008 he broke the world record for a circumnavigational bike tour of the world, travelling 18,000 miles from Paris to Paris. The new record was set at 194 days and 17 hours, beating the previous record of 276 days. His video diaries of that ride won him a BAFTA nomination.
Swapping the bike for a boat, Mark rowed through the Canadian Arctic to reach the North Magnetic Pole, the furthest north anyone had rowed. And then in early 2012 he joined another crew in an attempt to break the world record for rowing across the Atlantic Ocean. But after 27 days and over 2,000 miles into the expedition the boat capsized. Mark’s retelling of the terrifying 14-hour ordeal that followed – and the reactions of all involved – alone make this an episode worth listening to.
When someone had the nerve to break Mark’s circumnavigation record, his reaction of course was to get on his bike. And during the summer of 2017 he smashed the new record with a total time of 78 days, 14 hours and 40 minutes.
Mark has also authored a number of successful books including The Man Who Cycled the World, Around the World in 80 Days, Africa Solo and Endurance. In the 2018 New Year Honours he was awarded the British Empire Medal for Services to sport, broadcasting and charity.
Cycling fan or not, this is a valuable episode for anyone looking to push the limits of human potential and understand why increasing our endurance can transform our ability to survive and thrive in crisis.


Full episode transcript available at: https://www.crisiswhatcrisis.com/podcasts/mark-beaumont-on-breaking-records-cheating-death-and-pedalling-with-purpose


Mark’s Crisis Comforts:

1. The Bach suites. I’m a cellist, I mastered the Bach suites when I was quite young, and they’ve always been an absolute go-to. I appreciate that familiarity, that comfort., they give me.
2. If you don’t like where you are, move. You’re not a tree. If you’re in a crisis, if things are going wrong. Move. Don’t sit with it, don’t dwell with it, don’t stew with it, move. You’ve got the choice to move, have the confidence to move.
3. My mum’s cheesecake. I often say to people, “If you’re having a psychological crisis, it’s normally connected to a nutritional crisis.” So, if you’re having trouble, eat something. That’s got me out of a lot of difficult places. It’s amazing, the power of food, to reframe your thinking, your stress.


Links:

Buy Mark’s latest book – Endurance - https://amzn.to/3JAWI2N
Mark’s website - https://markbeaumontonline.com/
Follow Mark on Twitter - https://twitter.com/MrMarkBeaumont
Follow Mark in Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/mrmarkbeaumont/?hl=en
Follow Mark on Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/MarkBeaumontAdventures

Stream/Buy ‘Allies’ by Some Velvet Morning: https://ampl.ink/qp6bm
Some Velvet Morning Website: www.somevelvetmorning.co.uk
Your Daily Practice: Sleep by Myndstream: https://open.spotify.com/track/5OX9XgJufFz9g63o2Dv2i5?si=b2f9397c92084682

Host – Andy Coulson
CWC production team: Louise Difford, Ed Isaacs and Jane Sankey
With special thanks to Global