A British couple is applying for Guinness World Record certification after having cycled across five continents in 180 days. Laura Massey-Pugh and Stevie Massey are the protagonists of a story that has astonished travelers around the world. On their first date, they decided to take a tandem ride not knowing that years later, the inspiration for the venture would come to them from a news story about two British women, Cat Dixon and Raz Marsden, who had taken 263 days, 8 hours and 7 minutes to complete a round-the-world trip.
Once informed of the rules, the adventure began: the departing point of choice was Berlin. According to CNN, the couple had intended to go through Azerbaijan but had to change their route due to the border restrictions in place. They boarded a plane and flew from Turkey to India, from where they cycled down to Malaysia. The journey, to be valid as a record, had to consist of at least 18,000 miles in one direction, passing through two opposite points on the planet and ending where it began. As told by those involved in an interview with BBC Radio, Laura Massey-Pugh was certain from the start that she and her husband would be able to break the existing record.
On December 1st of this year, the couple cycled through a blizzard in Berlin approximately 180 days after their departure. A journey with no less than 21 countries in between, and the equivalent of nearly 30,000 km. “It was dark. It was also snowing. Our friends were absolutely frozen, but they still got their banners out and everything,” Massey-Pugh told CNN.
We felt enormous relief to finally stop pedaling and see some friends and family we hadn’t seen for six months.
Laura Massey-Pugh and Stevie Massey
According to the couple’s website, Stevie is an experienced long-distance cyclist, having started out on his Raleigh Flyer aged 11 years he soon completed his first 100+ mile ride to York. In his racing days he came 4th in the National 24 hour time trial championships cycling 725km in 24 hours. He is a long term member of the Audax UK long-distance cycling club and has completed more rides than he can remember including London-Edinburgh-London and Paris-Brest-Paris often finishing in the top 5%. He has also ridden Derby-Lands End-John O’Groat’s-Derby unsupported in 9.5 days.
Laura has ridden bicycles since a young age, commuting to school and University on two wheels. She thought her first 100 mile trip in her 20s was fairly adventurous until she met Stevie in 2015. She was quick to get the bug of long-distance cycling and within a few years of meeting Stevie and joining Audax UK had her own Super Randonneur series award; completing 200km, 300km, 400km and 600km events. She is a Veterinary Surgeon and Chartered Manager and hopes to bring her skills of organization, logistics and PR to help the challenge get off the ground.
According to both cyclists, their tandem bicycle is equipped with special couplings that allow it to split into two parts so that it can be packed into separate bike boxes for airplane journeys. It has an estimated cost of £8,000 ( roughly 9,000 euros).
The couple managed to raise £10,000 ($12,379) for three different charities, as reported by CNN. Mental health charity Mind, independent charity Vet Life, which provides emotional, financial and mental health support to the veterinary community and Sustrans, a UK charity that supports sustainable transport.
