mark beaumont
- Thread starter JohnRedcoRn
- Start date
Page may contain affiliate links. Please see terms for details.
Noodley said:I wonder if he'll get a knighthood? After Ellen McArthur became a Dame for pootering about on a boat for a while...
I bumped into her last year on the canal just outside Rugley in Staffs. She was kayaking with her bloke and dog in tow. Got a lot of respect for her achievement.
Also damn quick as the star in the reasonably priced car
wafflycat said:The members of the Wafflycat household have been watching it each evening. Excellent viewing. Mind, he does whinge a bit.
And there were we in the Herlihy household talking about the mental strength and 'can do' of this guy. Get's food poisoning , can't sleep , broken spokes but hey let's get on and do another 100 hundred miles again today and again tomorrow , and every day for the next six months. You should hear me moan when I get a puncture 30 miles from home sweet home
Watched it a couple of times since it was on earlier in the year. Still have it on my hard drive. An amazing feat that most people couldn't comprehend. Seemed like a really nice bloke too..
But I could have seriously done without the dramatic voice over guy droning away throughout the series, spoiled it a bit thought.
But I could have seriously done without the dramatic voice over guy droning away throughout the series, spoiled it a bit thought.
jassy-x
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Bonnybridge, Scotland
...I think he was just par-for-the-course 'Documentary voice over guy' thrown in to add a bit of extra detail to the proceedings for Mr & Mrs Joe Bloggs...but I would agree as cyclists, we may have a closer understanding of the enormity of the feat without the added sensationalism....I usually enjoy the solitude when I'm up the hills about 20 miles from home, but I could never contemplate ever being in mid-Australia, miles from civilisation with only snakes and spiders to keep me company...scary stuff !!!...in saying that, I think it would have been prefferable to the hurly-burly of Turkey/Pakistan/India etc......I also cringed every time he mentioned his 'saddle sores'...crotig said:
....an incredible acheivement indeed !!!!...
wafflycat
New Member
- Location
- middle of Norfolk
It was indeed an excellent programme. But I would like to see more, going into the daily detail of the logistics, such as what he did do for being able to keep clean on a daily basis, or not as the case may be - laundry, eating, choosing where to stay - what wouldn't he stay in as much as what he would stay in - how the route was decided - more on the feelings of having cycled through the obviously dangerous places such as Pakistan, Iran... and yet the place where he got mugged and hit was in America, supposedly more friendly and less dangerous than Iran... The friendships he made en route - more of the stuff to avoid.. Perhaps more in the offing I hope.
jassy-x
Well-Known Member
- Location
- Bonnybridge, Scotland
....yes I would agree wafflycat...would be really interested to see/learn more of what went on behind the scenes in which the beeb felt worthy of screening (maybe they felt too much detail for a general documentary)....would like to think there might be a DVD or book to follow?????wafflycat said:
It does seem a bit daft to compress a round-the-WORLD cycle ride into 4x30 min (being generous) programmes. If the Beeb think that is all the public can take, then we really are into the realms of dumbing-down 
I watched the progs last time and still think he is absolutely amazing. One tough cookie, that's for sure.
Whatever type of job would appeal to someone like that ? He's a really determined achiever, who drives himself so hard. Hope he doesn't burn out by 30 !
I'd buy the DVD
I watched the progs last time and still think he is absolutely amazing. One tough cookie, that's for sure.
Whatever type of job would appeal to someone like that ? He's a really determined achiever, who drives himself so hard. Hope he doesn't burn out by 30 !
I'd buy the DVD
Blonde
New Member
- Location
- Bury, Lancashire
scoosh said:It does seem a bit daft to compress a round-the-WORLD cycle ride into 4x30 min (being generous) programmes. If the Beeb think that is all the public can take, then we really are into the realms of dumbing-down
I watched the progs last time and still think he is absolutely amazing. One tough cookie, that's for sure.
Whatever type of job would appeal to someone like that ? He's a really determined achiever, who drives himself so hard. Hope he doesn't burn out by 30 !
I'd buy the DVD
Probably hadn't got a huge amount of footage though, since he is filming himself most of the time. I dont think many people want to hear about the ins and outs of how he fed himself, did his laundry etc! I find that kind of thing pretty tedious (and unfortunately much covered in audax ride reports!) Like Wafflycat, I too would have liked to hear that he met people he can keep in touch with etc, but I think it's unlikely he did make any lasting friendships since he was passing through areas so quickly and not really stopping (unlike a more leisurely tour). Personally the lack of sex and intimacy for so long would have been depressing in the extreme for me, but it's not mentioned - again though perhaps not something anyone really wants to hear about! Regarding his job, probably not one where he has to get up and go in at a set time, or doing anything someone else wanted him to, or indoors (definitely not in an office). He may be driven with regards to a world record but I doubt he would have any drive for a "proper" (his words, not mine!) job!
andy_wrx
Über Member
He does seem to 'moan', but the way he puts them I think they're more like observations rather than complaints or sympathy requests. I don't think they're 'moans' as such, more like his 'this is what happened today' journal entries.
They come over as 'moans' because he is completely self-obsessed - but then of course he is, he's cycling around the world in 195 days, on his own, with no backup, little contact with anyone he knows except for emails or mobile phone, sometimes only having fleeting contacts with other people in shops, other times not seeing anyone at all for days.
So of course he's self-obsessed, how could he not be when he's the one doing the miles, doing the navigating, making the decisions of whether to stop or whether to go on, putting up and pulling-down the tent, making meals, etc, etc.
As regards the program though, by the time it's edited down, what do we actually have ?
- his self-filmed bits in the evenings
- his self-filmed bits with the camera at arms length as he cycles along
- his still photographs
- only a very small amount of other stuff from the film crew, or shakily-filmed stuff where perhaps he's given the camera to someone he's met to film him going past
I think it's very good indeed, considering that.
The Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman motorbike-around-the-world stuff was better filmed and edited, but they had a full-time cameraman on another motorbike and a support crew in two FourWheelDrives and various local 'fixers' as they went around the world or down Africa.
But there was also that Race Across America thing on ITV4 during the Tour - remember just how bad that was compared to Mark Beaumont's film...
They come over as 'moans' because he is completely self-obsessed - but then of course he is, he's cycling around the world in 195 days, on his own, with no backup, little contact with anyone he knows except for emails or mobile phone, sometimes only having fleeting contacts with other people in shops, other times not seeing anyone at all for days.
So of course he's self-obsessed, how could he not be when he's the one doing the miles, doing the navigating, making the decisions of whether to stop or whether to go on, putting up and pulling-down the tent, making meals, etc, etc.
As regards the program though, by the time it's edited down, what do we actually have ?
- his self-filmed bits in the evenings
- his self-filmed bits with the camera at arms length as he cycles along
- his still photographs
- only a very small amount of other stuff from the film crew, or shakily-filmed stuff where perhaps he's given the camera to someone he's met to film him going past
I think it's very good indeed, considering that.
The Ewan McGregor & Charlie Boorman motorbike-around-the-world stuff was better filmed and edited, but they had a full-time cameraman on another motorbike and a support crew in two FourWheelDrives and various local 'fixers' as they went around the world or down Africa.
But there was also that Race Across America thing on ITV4 during the Tour - remember just how bad that was compared to Mark Beaumont's film...
Blonde said:
I'd agree - a book written by/ghosted for by an earlier record holder (can remember neither name nor book name) described when the guy paid for a hooker in Thailand. It was probably the most cringing thing I have ever read.