I hope that the other 2.1 million Brits who watched Mark Beaumont's program 'The man who cycled the Americas' last night on BBC1 were as inspired as I was. What an incredible feat of human endurance, and wonderful program. Other than the obvious adventure aspect, the thing that really interested me was his ascent of Mt McKinley to start the trip with. It brought back wonderful memories of my trip to North America's highest peak back in 2003, and the five minutes of footage captured and encapsulated what Denali (given it's other name) represents perfectly. As he said, it's one thing for all the exhausted climbers on the way down the mountain to dream of that beer and burger on return to civilisation, another thing completely to realised that you now have a 13,000 mile bike ride and six months before the end of your journey.

Beautifully self filmed, it really showed the trials and tribulations, alongside the attractions and highs of large-scale epic solo adventures. I can't wait for next weeks episode! Maybe I should think about learning how to ride a bicycle now...