Mark Beaumont, The Man Who Cycled The World (2009) Bantam Press, 9780593062333 Octo 418pp £13.99 An engaging account of a record breaking circumnavigation of the globe covering 18,297 miles in 194 days during 2007 - 2008

There is much that is remarkable about Mark Beaumont. Most obviously, he cycled nearly 100 miles a day for over six months. He has also demonstrated a new semi-supported version of super endurance tours - his mother co-ordinated a GPS-linked base camp throughout his effort. And, he has produced a well-written and highly readable account of his endeavour - despite, by his own admission, having little prior experience of writing.

He never quite nails what it is that drives him to such an extreme bid to carve his space in the record books - but then that is not really the job of autobiography. What he does is to provide something close to a blow-by-blow account of the enormous resolve and determination that were necessary to undertake this journey.

This is not a book to read if you are looking for more than a flavour of the countries though which Beaumont passed. By Calcutta: "It was getting harder and harder to care about the world though which I was passing", he admits. Nonetheless, he does manage the occasional evocative passage.

Here, Beaumont has wandered from the road somewhere in the Australian outback. "I saw that I was hundreds of meters from the road. The sense of space was awesome. A plateau as far as the eye could see in every direction, as the sun sank in the west. It has clouded over at sixish after another hot clear day , and the spectrum of oranges that were now seeping into the sky was mesmerizing."

More than anything, however, this is a book about the relentless grind of cycling day-in-day-out. Like many super-endurance tourists, the search for food and shelter takes up most of their attention. As you might expect, the toll on his body is a heavy one. Before Brisbane he notes that: "I looked at myself in the bathroom mirror and saw a ghost staring back. My eyes were heavy, I was pale and I was shocked at how old I looked". (He was 23). He is forced to abandon his vegetarianism pretty quickly, and he sleeps in some pretty rough sounding put ups.

Unlike many who have proceeded him, however, he did enjoy a considerable degree of support - indeed, his mother contributes the final chapter to this book about the experience of running base camp. She shipped out replacement parts, organised a police escort through part of Pakistan and co-ordinated a significant supporting cast of friends and well-wishers around the world.

Possibly the book would have benefitted from a bit of sliming down. But unusually for round-the-world accounts it picks up towards the end, rather than tailing off. Chasing a record at times seems like an odd reason for travelling so far - but by the end, I was willing him through the final few days.

Beaumont's well-publicised record - a four-programme BBC series about his attempt was screened last year - seems to have kicked off a new interest in the record. Whether endless attempts to better his time will be good for cycling, or for books about cycling remains to be seen. For the moment though, if you are looking for excuses not to join the race around the world, Beaumont provides as many reasons not to emulate his ride as he presents himself as an intriguing and likeable chap.

PS Sept 09