The freedom of the open road is one of the most heralded pleasures of cycling, but one which few people really take to its extreme. Vedangi Kulkarni is one of those few, who at the age of 19 set off to ride around the world. Near the end of December 2018 and 159 days after leaving Perth, Australia, Vedangi, then 20, arrived in Kolkata with 29,000km in her legs, ready to board a flight back to Australia to complete the circumnavigation.

The tests the young Indian faced along the way involved not just adverse weather and gruelling distances, but large hairy mammals, speeding trucks and violent humans. But Vedangi overcame it all with her characteristic grit and determination, becoming the fastest Asian ever to pedal the globe.

Although the possibility of breaking records was on her radar when she took the start, her motivation to circumnavigate the globe came about in a far more organic way. It was just the natural next step on a path which had started at home in India barely two years earlier.

Kit Nicholson talked with Vedangi about how cycling became an everyday tool for exploration and discovery.

How did you get into cycling?

I’m originally from India and my expeditions started when I was seventeen. I wanted to cycle across the Himalayas and tried to go with several touring companies, but it didn’t work out because I was underage. My dad was also concerned because of my age, but I’d decided I would do it solo. In the end, he said that I could ride, but that he and mum would be in a car somewhere nearby. I was happy as long as I was cycling. As long as I was doing the route as planned, I didn’t mind.

I cycled from Manali all the way to Srinagar, crossing four high passes along the way, the tallest of which was almost 18,000ft. I loved the fact that I was on my bike, alone all the time – my parents were around somewhere but I never knew exactly where. All things considered, I really loved it. I particularly loved being in the mountains and I decided there and then that I was going to have to do more of the same; it was just a question of how much more…

Your dad has been a big influence and supporter of your expeditions?

My dad used to work in the oil and gas industry, so he had seen a lot more of the world than anyone else in my family might have. He believed that the more I travelled, the better person I would be. He encouraged me to get out a lot, to ride bikes, to go running. We lived very close to the mountains, so my family used to go on long hikes.

Then later, every time I came up with any crazy idea, I’d always tell my dad and he was always a huge support, but he’d also make sure I had the mechanical know-how and proper instincts to deal with any situation that may arise.

Did you discover anything about yourself as you explored the country?

Yes, definitely. This journey was as much about self-discovery as it was about challenging and pushing myself. I learned how far I can actually go if I set my mind to it and I went above and beyond my limits.

There was also an element of learning what freedom meant to me. The reason I moved to England specifically was freedom and I remember my father told me at the airport “Don’t come back, you’re not going to get any freedom here.” That’s where the whole thing with self-discovery began. I moved here and I started traveling, I started meeting new people, I started learning a few more languages. When I took up long-distance cycling, I found I could explore everything around me and even inside me, finally achieving that sense of freedom.

Freedom for me is being able to explore as much as I can. Freedom for me is conversations. Freedom for me is people. And freedom for me is riding my bike.

“This journey was as much about self-discovery as it was about challenging and pushing myself. I learned how far I can actually go if I set my mind to it and I went above and beyond my limits.”

So, you got to know the UK by bike. Was that an inspiration for your round-the-world trip – getting to know the world?

Not quite. The expedition actually has its roots back in 2015 when I read about Tom Davies who was 19 and cycled around the world, becoming the youngest person to do it. I remember looking at my dad and saying, “One day I’ll do something like that.”

At that point, it could have been anything. In fact, it would probably not be a bike trip, but somehow I would travel the world. I was young, I was having the time of my life, and my dad just smiled. He knew then that once I’d said that, I was hooked; I was going to do it and I just had to work out how.

You realised that when you were fifteen?

Yes. I do remember feeling very much under the impression that I wasn’t normal. I wasn’t very good friends with the people at my school. Maybe I was doing something wrong. Why couldn’t I just get on with everyone? I just knew there was something different about me.

I was already reading about adventures and about riding around the world. I didn’t know whether I could do that, but I knew I wanted to explore, I knew I wanted to travel. When I eventually cycled across the UK, I discovered that I really loved long distance cycling and that I was able to cycle for a long time.

I was alone, but I didn’t feel alone when I was cycling.

You had some pretty dramatic experiences on your trip, right?

Yeah, I got chased by a bear in Canada. It was on a climb out of Glacier National Park and my bear spray was out of reach in my hydration pack so I was panicking a little. It was a grizzly – really, really big and surprisingly fast. I think that’s the fastest I’ve ever gone uphill, zigzagging all over the road trying to get away. And to make it worse, there was a truck coming in the opposite direction and he must have stopped inches from me. I swear, if the grizzly wasn’t going to get me, the truck would!

Then I was mugged in Spain and that changed everything for me. I was under pressure to get the world record by this point so was riding faster and further each day. Getting mugged at knife-point, thrown into a ditch and robbed of my cash, certainly didn’t help things. At least they didn’t take my bike.

I was unconscious for a few hours and when I finally got up, I just didn’t know anything. I didn’t know which direction I’d been riding or which country I was in… I ended up at a gas station where the guy asked me loads of questions, trying to understand what had happened, but I didn’t really have any answers.

“I was mugged in Spain. I was under pressure to get the world record by this point so was riding faster and further each day. Getting mugged at knife-point, thrown into a ditch and robbed of my cash, certainly didn’t help things. At least they didn’t take my bike.”

That must have felt particularly lonely?

Oh yes. I think the main thing I felt a lot of the time was one of being left out. I felt it most acutely when I logged onto social media. Everyone in Bournemouth was having the best time of their lives and then there’s me… But I was never bored. I might have been physically alone but I was filled with so much curiosity and fascination about what was around me, doing those roads for the first time, even in Australia where there was a whole load of nothing!

“It’s always easy to cry about problems, but I like to just move onto the next step. To be proactive and get on with it is something I learnt during the expedition. I like keeping this attitude because I want to go further and do other things – that’s what I’m here for.”

I was actually at my happiest when I had problem-solving situations. That’s when I was at my best. On the Russian border, for instance. They’d asked me for money, but I knew that was not official and anyway, they weren’t asking anyone else. I’d done my research, so I kept refusing and said, “If you ask me one more time, I’m going to call my lawyer.” Honestly, I didn’t have any phone signal at the time, I didn’t even have a Russian sim card, but as soon as I said ‘lawyer’ they gave in – I was inside the country. Brave or reckless, I don’t know, but I knew I shouldn’t have to pay anything.

That was my thing – when I had a problem to solve or something to sort out. I knew I had those instincts and resources to draw upon. It’s always easy to cry about problems, but I like to just move on, onto the next step. To be proactive and get on with it is something I learnt during the expedition. I like keeping this attitude because I want to go further and do other things – that’s what I’m here for.

And it’s that instinct that you’re planning on harnessing in a professional capacity?

That’s the plan. I am managing an expedition for a guy I met at university who is planning to be the youngest person to do a solo crossing of Antarctica – from coast to south pole. He will be 22 when he does it in November 2020.

I’d like to do more of that – help university students to raise money for their expeditions and get all the logistics sorted. Working on expeditions, whether it’s your own or somebody else’s, you’re always working towards something, always on the move, always getting somewhere with what you’re doing.

Basically, I want to be in those problem-solving situations more and managing expeditions would give me just that.