Can This Woman Break The Around The World Record?

Riding around the world sounds like the adventure of a lifetime, but also, like an unimaginable challenge for most. However, we spoke to Vedangi Kulkarni, whose goal is to not only circumnavigate the globe on a bicycle, but to aslo become the fastest woman to do so.

This isn’t her first global ride, though. In 2018, at just 19, Vedangi Kulkarni became the youngest female to cycle around the world. Now, she’s back to break the world record as the fastest woman to do it, aiming to complete the journey in under 124 days, cycling 270-300 km daily. What drives her to take on such a daunting challenge, and how does she stay sane while riding solo around the globe?

00:00 Who is Vedangi Kulkarni?
00:49 What does it mean to “ride around the world”?
03:19 Vedangi’s first round the world record attempt
06:01 Getting mugged, being held at knifepoint, and carrying on
10:50 What are you doing differently this time?
16:16 Tips for endurance cyclists
18:10 Sleep & hygiene while cycling around the world
21:13 What advice would you give to somebody wanting to ride around the world?
22:20 Thank you, Vedangi – we’re rooting for you!

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this is the dangi kakani she is attempting to be the fastest woman to circumnavigate the globe on a bicycle well today I have the pleasure of meeting her and I want to find out what her inspiration is on taking on one of the most incredibly challenging things you can ever do on a bike but also how in the world do you keep saying when you’re riding around the world I’m super excited to meet vangi today and riding around the world is a challenge that I can’t even comprehend doing let alone going for a world record at the same time and this isn’t even the first time she’s ridden around the world in 2018 she became the youngest female ever to circumnavigate the globe and now the second time round she’s going for the world record too but than it’s so great to meet you so you were 19 19 when you set off on your round the world trip and first of all what did your parents think of this cuz that must have been incred ibly scary for the 19-year-old daughter to embark on something like that well they Indian parents they were obviously worried I remember sitting on a bench at John and gr calling my dad and going dad next year I’m cycling around the world and I want to break the record um and I remember he he was like it was in the middle of the night in India so he didn’t say much at the time but the next morning when I woke up I saw that my dad had sent me a bunch of links from people who have cycled around the world solo and I was just like that just like that I knew that my dad’s on board my mom’s on board and can you just explain to us how riding around the world works because you don’t essentially ride all the way around the world no so the idea is that you’re circumnavigating around the world so you’re starting and finishing at the same place so that’s one of the rules you have to do a minimum of 18,000 miles or 29,000 km you have to cross two antipodal points so two points on the exact opposite ends of the Earth for me one is Wellington and another one is Madrid um you have to be unidirectional you have to go unidirectional so you can’t go back on yourself to make up the mileage um and yeah you can’t draft others and things like that but yeah and you you can do the solo uh not solo sorry supported or unsupported it doesn’t really um it doesn’t really matter the record is the same um but yeah I I’m I’m I’m going for the unsupport Ed one but then I’m also saying that I’m cycling across India as a part of this so some of that might go out the window it might be a semi- supported situation in India but the rest of the world at least will be unsupported so and do you have to get evidence along the way of you know where you’ve been how do you prove that you have ridden around the world so you’ve got a Tracker that shows the world where you are um you have the GPS logs and then you also have a log book so people that you come across say um I’ve stopped at a gas station I’ve had my lovely Subway I can just you know ask the cashier to sign the receipt and you know um I can pop that into the log book but even just having done it once you’re going to learn so much going into your next record attempt but the first time you did it how many miles did you actually cover it total just to 18,000 miles okay like I I literally it was like so close it was just over 18,000 miles so you started unfinished in Australia yeah in Pur in so why Australia does everybody do the same route or do you get to choose where you go you you choose whatever is convenient for you I hold an Indian passport so visas are hard for me and last time mared was Australia New Zealand Canada Iceland which was wild uh that was not part of the original plan that was just because um Danish Embassy also issues visas for Iceland like you know for shenen Visa m um and obviously Iceland is more West than Denmark so I ended up going there um but yeah that was probably where I went to Iceland and then yeah Mainland Europe Russia India and then back to Australia that was my rud last time yeah you must have learned so much on around the world trip so how many days did you do it in 160 160 and you know just tell us some of the stories or what you learned about yourself riding around the world that first time I learned to trust people and Trust the world because yeah I mean I’ve spoken a lot about some of the bad things that happened to me like yeah I did get mugged mugged at knife point I did get like stalked by strangers and random people telling me things and chase by bear cycling across Russian winter like a lot like like that has happened but one thing I’ve learned throughout has been to trust people and to trust the world and it’s got me to think that you know the world is made of good people and at the ense of everything like yeah the the humanity that’s always there that’s such a nice way of looking at it yeah and I think that’s why I am okay with doing this again in spite of bad things that happened back then um I mean don’t get me wrong sometimes when you know the evenings get dark and I’m still up at like 12: and I’m reading on my Kindle my mind kind of wanders to some of the bad moments and I’m like what what if that happens again what if worse happens and then and then I bring it back and I’m like no actually even if something worse happens what will bring me out of that situation is the good people so some the biggest thing I learned is to believe that the world is essentially made of good people and then there’s more good in the world than bad and I think that’s what keeps me going on adventures as well you mentioned very briefly there about being mugged held at knife point how how did that happen where did it happen how do you overcome that cuz that is that must have been absolutely terrifying as a 19-year-old on your own riding around the world I did not handle that well at all um I mean how do you even handle that like you know something that you never think would happen to you or anybody to be fair like as it was happening I think I F I was so present that it almost like an outof body moment you know I remember the hardest part was like I I left from where wherever I was staying I was like I cannot stay inside I have to keep going and I think the hardest part at that moment for me was why am I doing this anymore because and then I didn’t have anywhere to go to like I remember I didn’t tell my parents about this until I was like you know a few days into this happening um and I I realized that I didn’t have like a home because my UK Visa um because I hadn’t been in the country for that long at this point uh I didn’t know that on a student visa that you’re meant to be in the country for so long and if you’re out then they cancel your Visa or something so my UK Visa had been cancelled I didn’t know like I didn’t know where was home anymore and so I had to keep going I mean even just having that happen and your ability to overcome that to keep going even when you know that had happened you have got really bad concussion you’re thinking why am I doing this I’ve got nowhere to go you just kept kept going it’ been so easy for you to be like actually no it’s not worth it all this has happened it’s just not a good idea anymore I’m going to go home but you just just kept going yeah but it was never not worth it for me for me it was just I couldn’t stop thinking about the fact that someone like me is getting to do this there was also a part where I was like well what’s the point of every one supporting you if you’re not going to do the thing right and so then yeah that that was also a little bit there so there’s always that little fear of disappointing people and at that point like there was so many people really rooting for me and yeah just as I said world is full of nice people and all these people messaging me and I was a bit like it’ be such a shame to not finish this and um I also realize I would be the youngest woman to do it and that’s such a big accomplishment at such a young age how did you feel when you finished that obviously knackered very very tired I was really relieved um but also like I had a severe lack of um satisfaction I didn’t I didn’t feel like I had done something like this it didn’t feel like a big deal it didn’t feel like anything and I think that was because I finished on Christmas Eve um really late on Christmas Eve in Australia when I should have finished in amongst all my friends and everything you know instead I was finishing on the other end of the world from where my friends are um and yeah my parents were there at the finish line which was really nice celebrated with them but ah everything was closed on Christmas day and I just remember going I’ve just done this thing but it doesn’t feel big I don’t feel satisfied I don’t feel like yeah was that and I was just I couldn’t stop thinking that I wasn’t stronger I couldn’t go further I couldn’t do this faster back then I knew I wanted to do it again but I didn’t know when and I didn’t know if I would actually but there was that thing that I want to be stronger and I want to I don’t want all these bad things to happen and even if they do like I want to bounce back quicker because that bit between Spain and Finland when I was so ridiculously slow and yeah like you shouldn’t feel like that when you’re breaking records you should feel like you’re pushing yourself you know and I grew up thinking that when you feel like you’re pushing yourself that’s a good thing when you feel like you’re going a little bit outside your comfort zone that’s a good thing when you feel challenged that’s a good thing and so then like when it started feeling a bit like I’m doing barely any distance and it’s feeling just as hard I felt a bit and I I think it was those few weeks there in between that impacted how I felt about the overall ride so suddenly I’d forgotten that it took me fairly less days to do the first half of around the world um yeah I I think I was just only focused on the last two oneir at that point and yeah yeah so what are you doing differently this time because it’s only a matter of weeks before you start your next round the world Venture I have trained what what train how do you train to ride around the world do you just you do it one time and then you do it again do you trained the first time that was a training a few years ago but yeah what what does your training look like do you just go on like epically long rides no not a lot of that actually okay interesting um I think the way my approach to this was a bit calm like I was a bit like okay I’m 25 now I’m a bit grown up so I can my Approach can be a bit grown up so I think for me mentally having yeah having it all a bit together means more to me than physically being stronger obviously I had to work up my strength so yeah strength and conditioning was a big part so weight training just general strength and conditioning General Mobility um I started every day with like yoga and meditation and that’s always been a thing like no matter when where whatever has been happening with me no matter where I’ve been in this time I’ve always started my day like that just to yeah feel feel a bit put together um and uh the actual training I did lots of indoor training uh which was new for me I didn’t do a lot of that last time um is I didn’t take anything seriously last time this time the minute I started seeing the increas in numbers I was like oh this is worth it outdoor rides I’ve I’ve made sure that the outdoor rides aren’t intense like yes I’m trying to push myself on everything but I’m pushing in terms of distance not in terms of intensity because I know I can do intense like you know I I know I can ride longer distances and I know that but I need to be able to do that while maintaining you know my zone to and things like that so um all of my outdoor rides for me have felt like a holiday they felt like I’m just chilling and I’m just getting the distance done doesn’t matter how long it’s takes I’m just trying to get it done and and I think that’s been a really nice approach and then also honning my setup and then um also I have like specific weaknesses like on my my upper body or like uh I feel sometimes like I’m not activating my core enough and things like that so really like little things like that I focused a lot on and in terms of the route this time I mean how do you even go about planning around the world route because even if I plan a route if I’m going out on the weekend you know it’ll take me me quite a bit of time how long has it taken you to plan this rout and you know where where do you start do you have to look at every single Road you go on yeah I mean I did because I um I like looking at maps and every morning like um if my iPad is nearby I I’m on Google Earth and I drop the yellow man everywhere I can um and um I really I’m obsessed with like maps and I’m obsessed with roots and I’m obsessed with looking at the Topography of places and um so that’s been like more of a fun job for me that ah like I can find like the most yeah like I can find the prettiest route for me I can I can make the most out of that so yeah that’s been the fun part um the hard part has been how can I make this route so that there’s less Visa issues yeah but I also it’s that but also when you’re going for the record you want to have the fastest route yeah but also quickest roads or yeah but how many times do you get to ride around the world you also need to find a root that you want to go to and um that was the thing like I know that if I feel curious and if I really want to see something I’ll push myself through the bits that I don’t want to and what are you most looking forward to about about this I’m looking forward to feeling strong on bike because I’m on a I’m I’m like my setup is completely different you know like I’m going for a completely different approach when it comes to how I’m doing this so I want to I want to feel like I can ride my bike and I’m looking forwards to feeling like that um I’m looking forwards to riding across Mongolia on my bike and feeling like you know there’s nothing about me my bike on this road over here um and yeah also riding with people where I can like you know inviting more people to join me riding with them and um yeah you can’t plan for the kindness of strangers but I’ve noticed the more things I do by myself people just yeah are very very nice so I’m also looking forwards to that um all the countries that I haven’t been to before I’m also really looking forward to riding across those and you’re obviously going for the record do you feel the pressure yeah you know saying that you’re you know you’re going to go for it I do feel the pressure and I really want to get the record and I know I have prepared specifically for this um but I also know that especially for me there’s a huge luck factor involved with my passport with with my Approach there’s a huge factor of like luck and you must have so many tips for you know people out there that are riding long distances solo you know how do you keep saying how do you keep going when it does get tough um yeah like I mentioned before talking to yourself you know be your best friend and I think you really need to like yourself before you head out there because otherwise like it shouldn’t be like a it shouldn’t feel like a punishment to push yourself it should feel good it should feel more like self-care I would say so like you know so you need to really like yourself when you’re out there and have good things going in your head more more often than not audio books help with that good music helps and also not looking at things as like a big distance yeah uh thinking about your local training ride like you know um I have a 50k training Loop and 100K training Loop and 100 mile training Loop and so if I was ever like struggling with things I would think about the first ever time I rode 50k or the first ever time I rode that particular 50k training Loop and I think that puts things in perspective really well like I remember last time um when there was a certain distance left I would think okay this is from my student house to The Climbing Center to my friend’s house and then back to my student house and I would like have those things going in my head yeah and and then suddenly you’re like okay it’s four trips to Climbing Center friend’s house and back that’s not much you know and so that would suddenly seem so much more doable and uh um something that I’m trying to get better at so fueling having snacks all the snacks and more everywhere on the bike just so like you’re munching on something as you go the sleeping is something we haven’t actually spoken about yet you don’t really know where you’re going to sleep or you know what what hedge or bus stop you’re going to come across or how like safe is to sleep how do you manage that and would you sleep for 6 hours I hope so I hope so um sleep is a big thing when it comes to perform it is yeah absolutely um and my sleep setup is actually really comfortable I’m taking a bivy bag uh I have a really nice sleeping bag and a sleeping map that’s like literally this big um which I’m really stroked about it’s it’s it’s new that’s why I’m stroked about it because every single time before this my sleeping mat has folded up to this so the fact that this one folds like this big is like so fascinating to me um but yeah so my sleep setup is literally just that sleeping bag sleeping mat and um baby bag um and are you the kind of person that can kind of sleep anywhere yeah yeah I’m is that something that you kind of learned to get into if you do it more and more yeah I think so but also you know when you’ve ridden like a long distance you kind of don’t care where you sleep so you just can sleep anywhere anytime and it doesn’t take a lot for you to fall asleep so I think that’s 100 person me like I can just sleep like that so if I’ve worked hard enough so um yeah I think there’s a lot about that to be said um but I I think more I will try and find places that are that have some level of shelter as much as I can um just so it’s I think it’s just safer like that um but also I won’t be camping all the time you know because for Hygiene purposes especially again that’s another thing to uh you know I I have to maintain a good hygiene and I’ve had issues before with that and uh it wasn’t Pleasant so it would be um again that’s something I’m doing differently that and how how do you prepare for that how do you do you find is it like gas stations that have showers or yeah I’ll just keep an eye at um I’ll keep an eye at like where’s what and so at the beginning of every day or at the end of every day looking on the next day I’ll look at places where there is somewhere that I can you know shower or there’s places where um there will be you know hand dryers even because you can always wash and dry things there um but yeah considerations like that but with me the main thing is I sweat a lot and I don’t mind in terms of how it looks but for me it’s more I’m losing salt you know so I need to have some sort of electrolytes with me or the kind of stuff that I eat has to be something that’s replenishing the minerals that I’ve lost by sweating so much and then also the hygiene part of it so you know if I’m using Pat CHS for example how am I managing that you know it’s going to all get really wet so yeah things like that that’s one of the considerations for this whole thing so much to think about but I wanted to finish on what advice would you give someone who’s might be watching this being like riding around the world sounds really cool I want to do it um I think something I would say is that don’t like look at the obstacles that are along the way yeah sure because you have to you have to do your risk assessments and things but don’t let anything kind of stop you from getting started because yes like an Indian passport has made things harder for me in terms of getting the Visas or doing exactly the best and the fastest route possible but there is a way there is always a way to do things despite your circumstances and yeah I mean I’ve set up this thing called looking Beyond barriers and that’s like my message about this whole thing that no matter what you can actually you know find a way to do things your own way if the normal way doesn’t work yeah so yeah Bas good advice yeah yeah well we all here at GN wish you all the best on your record attempt we will be keeping an eye on you seeing how you going hopefully checking in on you as well so good luck and thank you so much for coming on and being on the channel oh thanks for having me over it’s been a pleasure no it’s been a pleasure to have you thank you it was super inspirational to meet bangi today I learned so much about her and her story and I really hope that you all at home watching have enjoyed watching this video and if you want to know more about the bike she’s riding and all the gear that she takes with her make sure to head over to the gcn tech Channel where we’ve done a whole bike check on all of her kit if you did enjoy this video make sure to give it a big thumbs up and I’ll see you in the next next one