The fastest crossing of India from edge to edge — Gujarat to Arunachal Pradesh — ridden for the Indian Army's Swarnim Vijay Varsh, and my third Guinness World Record.
On 17 October 2021 I rolled out of Koteshwar in Gujarat, on the western edge of India, aiming for Kibithoo in Arunachal Pradesh — the country's far eastern frontier. Nine days, seven hours and five minutes later I reached Kibithoo on 26 October 2021, setting a new Guinness World Record for the fastest time to cycle trans-India, west to east, over roughly 3,800 km.
The ride was dedicated to the Indian Army's Swarnim Vijay Varsh — the year-long commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the 1971 war, in which the Armed Forces secured a decisive victory. Along the route my crew and I engaged with young people in Jaipur, Agra, Lucknow, Gorakhpur, Siliguri and Tezpur, carrying the message of the anniversary to the country's youth.
The previous record — 11 days, 21 hours, 57 minutes and 2 seconds, held by Naresh Kumar — fell by more than two days. I rode a Scott Plasma time-trial bike across terrain that was mostly flat but never easy: heavy traffic through the plains, days of rain, high daytime temperatures and the long grind east of Siliguri toward the mountains. A compact six-member crew — including a dietician, a bike mechanic and a physiotherapist — kept the expedition moving around the clock.
This was my third Guinness World Record on the bike, after the Leh–Manali and Golden Quadrilateral records of 2020. “Edge to edge across India” is exactly that — Arunachal Pradesh is landlocked, so this is a true frontier-to-frontier traverse rather than a coast-to-coast one.
