It is the equivalent of cycling from Glasgow to Edinburgh and back every day for seven months. But rather than witness the joys of Harthill 420 times from his saddle, Mark Beaumont aims to cycle the circumference of the globe in 210 days.

The 24-year-old Dundonian hopes to smashing the record for a round-the-world cycle held by Londoner Steve Strange, who finished his global ride in 276 days, 19 hours and 15 minutes.

Mr Beaumont sets off from Scotland on Wednesday before the real work begins at the Champs Elysees in Paris at 8am on Sunday. The first stage of his epic voyage will take him across France, Germany, Poland, Ukraine, Bulgaria and on to Istanbul for a rest.

Stage two will take him across Turkey, into Iran, skirting the Afghan border in Pakistan and then through India to Calcutta. Stage three takes the Glasgow University graduate from Bangladesh to Singapore via Malaysia.

For the antipodean stage Mr Beaumont will hug the southern coast of Australia before crossing to New Zealand and cycling up to Auckland in the north, where he hopes to spend his 25th birthday on New Year's Day.

The American stage, from Seattle, will take him down the US Pacific coast to San Diego and across the southern states to Miami. Finally, he will travel from Lisbon for a sprint finish to Paris via Madrid.

Funded by corporate sponsors, Mr Beaumont has been working towards his project through his young adult life, having ridden from Land's End to John o' Groats alone at 15 and taken part in countless touring expeditions.

Last year he rode from Oslo to Warsaw, avoiding the shortcut through Denmark and Germany and preferring the 2700-mile route through Sweden, Finland, the Baltic states and into Poland.

Mr Beaumont will be entirely alone when out on his bike, but will be tracked by his support team in Glasgow.

Led by his mother Una and staffed by nutritionists and fitness specialists from Glasgow University, the support team will know his positioning to the nearest two hours through his GPS tracker. He will send daily reports of his health and well-being via e-mail.

While daily helpings of sticky toffee pudding and ice cream is not part of the conventional diet of athletes, Mr Beaumont is on a weight gain programme to build up his fat reserves for the gruelling journey ahead.

He said: "I've got to consume 6500 calories a day when cycling, and my nutritionist has advised me how to source the quality and quantity of foods I'll need. I'm a vegetarian, so getting what I need is going to be a challenge in itself.

"I've been training full-time, twice a day, six days a week since February. Pushing myself to cycle an average of 100 miles every day for seven months is the challenge."

He added: "There have been some safety concerns, especially about stage two, where I'll get close to the Afghan Helmand province.

"But the people on the ground in these places I understand are incredibly warm, the embassies know I'm coming and I'll be in regular contact with them. And the reality is it is these seemingly dangerous places which I'm looking forward to most."

The Champs Elysees provides a world-recognised start and finish for Mr Beaumont's record attempt, though it has been tainted by the Tour de France drug scandals.

Mr Beaumont said: "I've got a number of schools involved in what I'm doing and there's the hope that this can shed an improved light on cycling."