Coffee First, Then the World
One Woman's Record-Breaking Pedal Around the Planet
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5.0 • 3 Ratings
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- $11.99
Publisher Description
SELECTED FOR THE BBC AND READING AGENCY'S BIG SPORTING READ 2024
SHORTLISTED FOR THE SPORTS BOOK AWARDS 2024 – CYCLING BOOK OF THE YEAR
A WATERSTONES BEST BOOK OF THE YEAR 2023 – SPORT
'An amazing adventure... I was left in total awe' - Lorraine Kelly
'Brilliant' - Mark Beaumont
16 countries, 124 days and 18,000 miles. This is the story of one woman's solo lap of the planet by bike.
'The relief was immense: no longer was I talking, thinking or worrying about this. I was just actually doing it. I, Jenny Graham, was riding around the actual world!'
In 2018, amateur cyclist Jenny Graham left family and friends behind in Scotland to become the fastest woman to cycle around the world. Alone and unsupported, she crossed the finish line at the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin four months later, smashing the female record by nearly three weeks.
With infectious wit and honesty, Jenny brings readers into her remarkable Round the World adventure, as she takes on four continents, 16 countries – and countless cups of coffee. Her journey swerves from terrifying near road collisions in Russia and weather extremes in Australia to breathtaking landscapes in Mongolia and exhilarating wildlife encounters in North America. Tight on time and money, she resorts to fixing her bike on the fly, sleeping on roadsides and often riding through the night to stay on track and complete her mission.
As she battles physical and mental challenges to race against the clock, Jenny gradually opens up to the joy of the adventure and all its daily discoveries. She gives in to her impulse to connect with people, making friends with strangers across the globe and embracing new cultures.
Coffee First, Then the World is her account of a record-breaking ride, and how one woman and a humble bike conquered the world.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Graham—director of the Adventure Syndicate, a collective of women cyclists—debuts with a stirring account of how she became "the fastest woman to circumnavigate the planet by bike." She was a dedicated cyclist looking for her next challenge when she heard about the Guinness World Record for circling the planet by bike and set about breaking it, embarking in 2018 on a grueling trek that took 125 days and spanned 18,000 miles through 16 countries (she was allowed to fly across oceans). Recounting her feat in novelistic detail, Graham describes sleeping in drainage pipes under the road when shelter was unavailable and narrowly avoiding calamity on several occasions (a close scrape with a truck in Russia was particularly harrowing). Graham keeps the tone light with humorous asides, as when she remembers fearing mosquito bites had swelled her forehead so much that Chinese border officials would not match her to her passport photo. The meticulous account of her ride—filled with details about her struggle to eat well, maintain her bike, and keep it together mentally—provides an intimate look into an impressive accomplishment. This tale of endurance and determination inspires.
