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Go Go Dermo!<br />
Travel 8<br />
Dermot Higgins is aiming to become the fastest person over 50 to cycle around the globe and he<br />
hopes to set a new Guinness World Record in the process.<br />
Dermot?s Route<br />
Start: Madrid<br />
Route: Cycle across Europe, into<br />
Asia via Russia, Kazakhstan and<br />
China.<br />
Progress along Australia?s<br />
southern coast arriving in<br />
Melbourne in time for Christmas.<br />
Cycle the length of New Zealand.<br />
Cross the United States.<br />
Fly across the Atlantic to Portugal.<br />
Finish: Madrid<br />
it?s going to take him nine months.<br />
He will spend an average of eight<br />
hours a day in the saddle. He will<br />
start his odyssey in Madrid, Spain, in<br />
June 2017 and will hopefully end<br />
there in one piece over 30,000km<br />
later on Easter Sunday 2018. Most<br />
of his sleeping will be under canvas,<br />
he will have no back-up support and<br />
he will need to cycle 160km six days<br />
a week to meet his goal on time. Is<br />
the man<br />
completely mad?<br />
?Well yes, I<br />
suppose you do<br />
have to have a<br />
degree of<br />
madness to take<br />
on something like this,? he says. ?I<br />
know there will be a lot of energy<br />
and effort and probably pain<br />
involved, but circumnavigating the<br />
globe is something I?ve wanted to do<br />
ever since I read Around the World<br />
in 80 Days by the French author<br />
Jules Vernes when I was a child.?<br />
Dermot (55) leaves Ireland the day<br />
after he retires as a teacher after 35<br />
years. He is doing his trip on a<br />
shoestring budget of ?20 a day with<br />
a little bit of help from a small<br />
number of sponsors including The<br />
Freebird Club which will provide<br />
him with a comfortable bed with a<br />
Freebird host on his rest day each<br />
week.<br />
As a teacher and an active<br />
environmentalist, Dermot is<br />
passionate about educating people<br />
about protecting the planet. He<br />
plans to make stops along the way<br />
to visit schools and environmental<br />
projects to spread the message of<br />
the UN?s Global Goals for<br />
Sustainable Development, a series<br />
of ambitious targets aimed at<br />
ending extreme poverty, inequality<br />
and tackling climate change.<br />
Throughout his trip Dermot will be<br />
working in partnership with the<br />
Irish aid organisation, Trocaire, a<br />
global charity which shares his<br />
interests and ideals. He is hoping his<br />
epic journey will raise ?20,000 for<br />
the organisation through donations.<br />
Dermot is no stranger to taking on<br />
tough challenges as he has always<br />
been involved in adventure sports.<br />
He runs, cycles, hikes and kayaks<br />
and says he has effectively been in<br />
training for his world trip for most<br />
of his life.<br />
Asked what aspects of the trip<br />
might test his<br />
?Travelling around the globe , under my own<br />
power will be my life?s ambition realised.?said<br />
Dermot. ?Having the opportunity to promote the<br />
Global Goals is the icing on the cake!?<br />
resilience most<br />
he says, ?being<br />
wet, miserable<br />
and<br />
uncomfortable,<br />
having an<br />
accident, camping in the wild and<br />
coping adverse weather conditions<br />
such as headwinds.? But this<br />
ironman is not dwelling on what<br />
could go wrong. His focus is 100%<br />
positive and he can?t wait to get<br />
started. The Freebird Club proudly<br />
salutes its adventurous ambassador<br />
and adds its voice to his campaign?s<br />
slogan: GoGoDermo!
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