156. Guy Martin: Getting kidnapped, land speed records and defying death on two wheels

This week, James is joined by Guy Martin, former British motorcycle racer, land speed record setter, part-time cyclist and reluctant TV presenter - he says he’d rather be known for his day job fixing trucks than as a TV personality. But on the box he is, where you may have seen him building his own narrowboat from archaic methods (think smelting your own iron), breaking tractor land speed records (spoiler, 135mph), rebuilding First World War tanks and travelling the globe in the Our Guy in… series, where Guy visits the Chernobyl reactor in Ukraine, cycles across the desert in China, travels through India on a motorcycle and much more - we haven't even got to the drug cartels in Colombia yet.

Guy is also a keen cyclist, from enduro-mountain biking to breaking the British land speed record on a special steel road bike, to his own self-styled ultra-cycling challenges, although he’d just call them ‘long rides to get me head straight’. And he’s also an author, his new book All the Medals Have Been Handed Out is out on 7th May, which along with charting his adventures and misadventures on two wheels, recounts being kidnapped in Colombia and waterboarded; his soul-crushing, death-defying bicycle ride to Azerbaijan; and his continued ‘300 miles per hour job’, an ongoing project to turn a street bike he bought for £5,000 into a record breaking motorcycle that he’ll ride at over 300mph. And he's tightened all those nuts and bolts himself.

We talk about all this and more, so buckle up your four-point harness and drop the clutch. Or just put the kettle on.

Chat begins at 5.36

Guy's new book, All the Medals Have Been Handed Out (Penguin books) is out on 7th May. More details plus where to buy can be found here

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This episode is brought to you by the Hammerhead Karoo GPS bike computer. Visit hammerhead.io and use the code CYCLIST to get a free HR strap with every purchase (just be sure to add the strap to your cart then apply the code at checkout)

This episode is also brought to you by the Maserati Grecale SUV car. For more information, go to maserati.com

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