‘It brought us closer together’ – British couple set a new record for cycling around the world

Amy and Kyle Hudson were well ahead of schedule during their round-the-world cycle when a serious traffic incident in Canada caused Kyle to crash, leaving him with a broken collarbone and throwing the couple’s whole record attempt into doubt.

“We were just getting out of Montreal, on a bike path, when a car decided to turn left without any right of way,” Kyle told Cycling Weekly, while enroute to hospital.

“Amy had to slam her brakes on – which was the best course of action, otherwise we would have all got run over – and there was nowhere for me to go. I ended up hitting her bag and then the floor. I stood up straight away and said: ‘I think my collarbone’s gone’. I hit my head quite hard off the floor and cracked my helmet.”

“It was really horrible,” Amy Hudson adds. “I could see the look in his eyes and at that point I thought, ‘Oh no…it's over!’ But Kyle was like: ‘No, it's not over – there's no way I'm letting it be over.’

“We had 2,000 thousand miles left to go. We just had to carry on and keep trying. He managed to just live with it, but obviously we had to be really careful. I kept thinking, ‘I hope nothing else bad happens – if he hits a pothole and comes off, it’s definitely over’. It did taint the last bit of the ride.”

However, their luck – and Kyle’s pain threshold – held, and on 2 September, the bikepacking couple came to the end of their epic adventure in their home county of Derby.

Travelling self-supported, the bikepacking pair finished their lap of the globe in 123 days, 27 days quicker than they had planned on doing it, and 83 days faster than the previous record of 205 days, set by David Ferguson and Caroline Soubayroux in 2023.

Arising each day at 4am and cycling until 8pm, Amy and Kyle pedalled around 150 miles each day, passing through 20 countries and visiting both hemispheres during their 18,100-mile ride, satisfying the requirements for a round-the world record. The route they took can be seen here, and whilst on the adventure the pair have also raised almost £70,000 for the mental health charity Shout – a cause very close to their hearts.

The expedition is currently being ratified by the World Ultra Cycling Association (WUCA) as the fastest cycling circumnavigation of the globe by bike by a mixed pair, and by Guinness as the quickest round-the-world ride by a married couple.

Aside from bad and occasionally aggressive drivers (one of whom, in the US, screamed that he hoped they would get run over), they had to contend with wildlife on the roads, wet weather, brutal heat and severe cold during their journey.

“In Serbia and Bulgaria, there were so many stray dogs,” recounts Amy. “Big scary dogs that would chase you. And in Canada, there were massive bison with babies beside the road. In Thailand and Malaysia, it was 45°C with 99% humidity – we bought ice in every shop we passed and stuffed it into our shorts and jerseys.

“We rode through a heatwave in North America. Kyle's really good in the heat and I'm not. I get quite swollen up in the heat and need loads of electrolytes. There was a lot of crying…but I got through it.”

Even more amazingly, the couple are still speaking to another. “It actually brought us closer together,” observes Kyle. “We've been together 10 years, but when you spend so much time with each other, you learn new things – like how you both deal with certain situations.”

“We got know how each other ticks,” agrees Amy. “I know that we had to get Kyle a coffee in the morning, otherwise he won’t talk for the first two hours. And he knows that when I'm struggling, I need to have a little cry and a shout. And then, 10 minutes later, I'll be fine.”

Their bikes – carbon Pinarello gravel steeds – survived relatively unscathed too. “We got so many messages saying how risky it was to use carbon bikes, and urging us to use steel bikes instead, but honestly, they were so good,” laughs Amy.

“The only mechanicals we had were punctures – and we had 53 punctures in total, which for 18,000 miles on two bikes isn’t actually too bad – and a cable snap, which Kyle fixed on the side of the road. We fell off our bikes six times in total, including the crash, and they were fine every time.”

For now, the pair are looking forward to catching up on some sleep, but they already have more rides planned. “Kyle’s collarbone needs to mend, but I'm going on a ride this weekend,” says Amy.

“There's Paris–Brest–Paris next year. Last time we did it we’d only really been cycling for about two years, and we did it in 72 hours – so we want to try and beat that this year.”

Kyle tells me he is planning an attempt to beat his club’s one-day distance record, with a view to doing 450 miles in 24 hours, and Amy alludes to a new record attempt, but she’s keeping that one under wraps for now, so watch this space.