19-year-old cyclist spends gap year aiming to be youngest person to ride around the world

A 19-year-old cyclist from London who is off to university in September is spending his gap year in the saddle and is well on his way to become the youngest person to ride around the world unsupported.

So far, since setting out on 17 January, Tom Davies has travelled through 17 countries and ridden 12,000 miles and raised more than £35,000 for the charities Sohana Research Fund, Prostate Cancer UK and Carney’s Community.

While his ride, which he is aiming to complete in around 200 days, complies with Guinness World Records rules, including passing through two antipodal points, he won’t make it into the record books since they don’t encourage “youngest to do … “ type records.

Currently Tom, who is riding a steel-framed Condor Fratello, is 125 days into his trip and riding through Oregon as he heads across North America before catching a plane from Boston to Lisbon to start the final leg of his journey back to London.

With the odd rest day factored in, he’s averaging around 100 miles a day and is blogging about his journey here as well as providing updates on Facebook and Twitter – his Virgin Money Giving page is here, and you can also follow his ride on Strava.