Josh Quigley completes round-the-world ride – two years after driver almost killed him

Josh Quigley, the Scottish ultracyclist who almost lost his life when he was hit by a driver in Texas two years ago while riding around the world, has completed his navigation of the globe after returning to the United States and riding around 2,000 miles to his final destination, New York City.

His original trip had been cut short four days before Christmas 2019 when he was hit from behind by a driver in Texas travelling at 70mph, sustaining injuries including a punctured lung and fractures to 10 ribs, his skull, pelvis and ankle.

> Round the world cyclist Josh Quigley happy the driver who hit him from behind will not be charged

Quigley – who turned to cycling after attempting suicide, and spoke about his mental health issues on the road.cc podcast earlier this year – arrived in the Big Apple’s Times Square on Wednesday, having set off from Austin, Texas, less than 100 miles from the scene of his near-fatal crash, a little more than two weeks earlier.

“I’m ready to finally close this chapter, what a journey it’s been to get here,” Quigley told BBC Radio Scotland.

“How crazy also that this ended up being exactly two years to the day that I woke up in that hospital bed in Texas in 2019.

“I said back then that I would get back on the bike and finish this cycle.”

On the way he visited some of the healthcare workers who helped save his live and assisted him in his recovery.

"Great times and good memories, I really tried hard to cherish and savour the days on this mad adventure. I’m feeling good," he said.

In the final fortnight of his round-the-world trip, Quigley had to cope with severe weather including extreme temperatures at either end of the scale and a tornado.

“I had some wild weather in Alabama,” he explained.

“I also found it a lot harder in Mississippi with the heat and humidity, which made the cycling challenging.”

His fiancée was in New York City to meet him at the end of his journey, and Quigley said: “Finishing in Times Square, Manhattan is a pretty special and an iconic place to end this chapter.”

Completing his circumnavigation caps a memorable year – for good and bad reasons – for the rider from Livingston, West Lothian.

> Josh Quigley: a timeline of misfortune that ends with one of the most remarkable sporting feats of the year

In September last year he had broken the record for Scotland’s North Coast 500 route, with the ride raising funds for the Baylor Scott & White Medical Centre in Texas, where he had been treated after the 2019 incident. 

But in January this year, he suffered his second serious crash in just over two years when he came off his bike in Dubai on a descent at 35-40mph, sustaining multiple fractures.

Not for the first time, he bounced back however,  and in September this year In September, he rode an incredible 2,179 miles in seven days to claim a new Guinness World Record for the greatest distanced cycled in a week – beating the previous best by two miles.