Well, anyway, I'm happy

to report Samuel went out, did the ride, and he didn't just finish it.

He set a new world record.

He completed it in 12 days, 15 hours, and 5 minutes, becoming the first person to do so in under 13 days.

Now, with the benefit of being able to reflect on his achievements, Samuel has been magnanimous enough to offer up his time so that we can chat about his experience fully.

And in order to do that properly, it means winding back and getting a picture of Sam, the writer himself.

Because you don't just magic your way into a world record, and while it no doubt took months of preparation to set off on this specific challenge, you could argue Sam's actually been building up to this for many years.

Maybe I'll put that around the world record attempt on ice for a couple of years then.