Round-the-world cyclist update: 136 days, 12999 miles, 33 days to go

Intrepid round-the-world cyclist James Bowthorpe is in the home stretch of his cycling challenge for charity. And while 33 days to go may seem a little soon to be having thoughts of finishing, when you consider he has already done 136 days it is very much the closing straight.

So where is James right now? Well he is in Santa Fe in New Mexico with his last tweet: “230km today, hilly evening! Santa Fe is at 7000ft, no more roundabouts sighted. Plenty tired now.”

James has worked his way from California and LA through the dessert in Arizona to New Mexico and he recently did 110 dessert miles in one day earlier this month.

And while cyclists have to usually worry about those aches and pains, James suffered brain freeze after doing refreshment American style. He tweeted: “I now understand the rational behind a half gallon slurpee. I also have acute brain freeze.”

He has also done a bit of star-gazing too since being in the US, having shared a petrol station forecourt with actor Nick Nolte. He wanted to approach the star for a bike pic but there were too many people bothering him. And a 12-year-old gave him some encouragement by telling him to break the record.

James is doing this ride to raise money and awareness for research into Parkinson's disease. The total raised so far is £45,673.38 towards his goal of raising £1.8m. If you want to support James in his quest you can donate at his site www.globecycle.org, you can also follow his progress via live GPS updates at www.whereintheworldisjames.com (James has attached lots of pictures to the route too so that it is very much more than a line on a map) and he also has his own video channel on Youtube.