Dubai resident wins Guinness Record for longest cycle journey

It’s easy to get stuck in the good expat life in Dubai, but Indian-born Arcot Nagaraj wanted more from life. Over a year ago, he stepped out of the bubble and quit his job to return home to fulfil his childhood dream of making it to the Guinness Book of World Records.

With the title for the “longest journey by bicycle in a single country” under his sleeve now, he’s clearly on top of the world.

Back in Dubai to start his new professional innings, Nagaraj tells Emirates24|7 that it was a telly show that drove him to achieve this feat.

“When I was young, I remember watching the ‘Guinness Book of World Records’ on the TV, and wishing that I’d make it to the elite list one day,” recalls Nagaraj. That dream, however, was left unfulfilled, as work commitments brought him to Dubai in 1999.

After working relentlessly for 13 years, Nagaraj decided it was time he gave his dream a go.

“I quit my job and went back to India. I was unsure about what to do, but felt I had to take a step towards it,” he recalls.

A cycling tour that he couldn’t go on while he was in college propped up as the perfect solution. “I decided that that’s what I wanted to do [and] mapped a route to ride through Andhra Pradesh [the Indian state he belongs to], but I wasn’t content and wanted to do more.”

The plan soon expanded from 1,800km to a South Indian tour of 3,000km. Yet, he wanted to do more.

The final plan was drawn after months of research and training to cover 23,000km across India. “I took into consideration many factors like terrain, politics of the region, weather and cuisine and drew a map that outlined the country. And the entire journey was divided into four parts based on these factors.”

A new bicycle was acquired for the epic journey, and an intense workout started to build on stamina and endurance. “I was going to be on the road for days on end and needed to cycle 125km per day to achieve my target. It wasn’t going to be easy and I needed to train my body to deal with any hurdle,” he says.

Once the road map was finalised, he approached the Guinness Book of World Records, who responded with the suggestion to attempt the title of the “longest journey in one country” as he would be the first. “They said I needed to cycle 2,500km for the title. But since I had already planned to cycle 23,000km, I decided to go the whole hog.”

Nagaraj’s parents, however, weren’t too happy with his decision, and wanted him to cut short his trip.

“I decided to stick to the original plan because I didn’t want anyone to break my record. At least not within a year. I wanted to remain the record holder for a longer time,” he confesses.

Soon, Nagaraj set off to complete the first part that involved 3,000km, traversing through the tough terrains of the north Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir. “But, when I finished, I was told that the journey was invalid, because I hadn’t waited for approval from the Guinness Book of World Record.”

That setback, however, didn’t upset Nagaraj, who decided he would club part 2 and 3 of his final route-plan and ride along. The fourth part, across the North East of India, was abandoned based on political considerations.

“I waited for the monsoon to finish, and set out on October 14, 2013.”

The officials at Guinness also had chalked out few necessary gadgets that were mandatory for the world record attempt and instructed him to meticulously record his journey. “I had to buy a special sports GPS that tracks my journey and also my physical state. And I carried a laptop and blogged about my journey daily on my Facebook page.”

The 37-year-old used Rs650,000 (approximately Dh39,000) from his savings to turn his dream into a reality.

The ride, Nagaraj insists, was well worth every penny, even though it meant he had to miss his only brother’s wedding. “I was upset that I couldn’t be part of the celebrations, but my family knew how important this was for me.”

During the days on the road, he made new friends through his social media network (that now has over 2,500 followers), and was touched by genuine kindness. “Often, my Facebook supporters would invite me into their homes and some would even fund me for an entire day,” he adds. “In Ahmedabad, I was humbled by a large group who gathered to honour me and also invited other cycle champions for a dinner party.”

Another memorable moment was when a Facebook “supporter” insisted on riding with him for a day. “He met me in Agra, where we spent a few days seeing the magnificent sights of the city, and then rode together to his hometown in Gwalior.”

His ride did come with its set of challenges. Some terrains were tougher to tackle, and would involve longer rest periods and less time on the road, while extreme weather also proved a huge hurdle. “During my first 10 days, the Hyderabad weather affected me badly, and I was unable to deal with the heat.” Even the baggage was a concern, with Nagaraj having to reduce bags and items during his journey to avoid taxing himself.

His journey of 14,195.55km, across 900 Indian cities, ended 135 days later on February 25, 2014. The Guinness honour arrived in May this year.

He signs off with, “Don’t fail to attempt. Attempting and then failing is the success of the attempt.”

Follow Emirates 24|7 on Google News.