“There is little doubt whose approach is more successful,” you say. A nice ambiguous way of saying that you can each have no doubt that you are each the more successful. The BBC obviously have no doubt what makes better television, but success is far more than ratings, money or speed. If you race through the most beautiful landscape and don’t have time to stop and gaze and breathe it in, is this success? OK, so your bike sets you in that landscape more connectedly than does a bus, car or even motorbike, but there are wild peacocks in fields and watersnakes in ditches to be seen at 3mph that may be missed at 13mph.

Then, you may say, his book money can pay for him to go back and see it at a more leisurely pace later. But that would place his success some time in the future. With a question mark hanging over it. And where does that leave the ‘here and now’.

And this is to say nothing of the people one must have to whiz past without being able to give them the time of day.

Of course, Mark Beaumont’s is a stupendous, human accomplishment, but there one’s true measure is not against other people or in record books, I think you, and especially Phil Packer, will agree, so your doubtless clarity could point either way.

I hope you’ll excuse my semi agreement / semi objection.

All power to your pedals.
Richard G”