It’s been a long 11 months for 69-year-old Mark Herbst.
The Ontario man has cycled 30,000 km around the world while raising more than $50,000 for the Princess Margaret Cancer Centre.
Herbst took on the challenge to honour his late wife, who died in December 2021 after a cancer diagnosis.
“I was trying to find a sense of purpose in my life,” said Herbst. “When you have somebody that you’ve lost that is close to you, you know, you lose so much… I still laugh at things, I have a lot of fun still, but there was something missing.”
The Ontarian began his journey on Jan. 7, 2025, in Bangkok, Thailand.
From there, he rode across 25 countries and experienced 25 different cultures.
“The countries I went through that I had never been to before: Turkey, Albania, Slovenia, Georgia,” listed Herbst. “I really didn’t know what to expect, people were just so friendly.”
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So friendly that some people even offered lodging along the way.
“Going through Australia, I would get an email from somebody I had never met and somehow they found out that I was coming through,” he recalled.
“They would say, ‘You’re coming through the town we live in, we’re not going to be there this weekend but the key is under the mat. Just use the home.’”
Riding between eight and 12 hours every day, his achievement is impressive.
Herbst’s longtime friend and Olympic triathlon coach, Barrie Shepley, said his athleticism rivaled that of Olympians.
“A 69-year-old man who didn’t just have support for a few hundred-kilometre bike ride, [he was] solo on a 100-plus pound bike… carrying everything,” said Shepley.
Herbst hopes to set the Guinness record for oldest person to circumnavigate the world by bike.
Along his journey, he even crossed paths with a New Zealand man that shared the goal.
“He got it because he finished before I did, but we were sending messages back and forth and cheering each other on,” said Herbst.
“He’s only 66. So, you know, when he got it I said, ‘Enjoy it, I’ll let you have it for a few months and then I’m going to take it away.’”
Arriving back in Toronto on Monday, Herbst said his hope is to inspire others to challenge themselves every day.
“It doesn’t have to be a ride around the world,” he said. “It can be to learn a language, learn how to play guitar, anything. Just challenge yourself so we’re growing all the time.”
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