Update, May 8, 2007 — “Guinness rejects record attempt”
Chalk up 85 straight hours of bicycling on a stationary cycle for 49-year-old Aurora, Illinois, resident George Hood.
As he broke the previous Guinness World Record of 82 hours Saturday evening, he passed the equivalent of 1,000 miles.
Hood was riding the solo endurance event to raise $25,000 for the Illinois COPS (Concerns of Police Officers), a group dedicated to raising money for survivors of police killed in the line of duty. You might remember two policemen on bikes died in a COPS fund-raising bike ride in neighboring Indiana last year.
After finishing just before midnight on Saturday, paramedics took him to a nearby hospital for fluid replacement as a precaution.
Mental toughness
Riding a stationary bike for that long takes a certain physical and mental toughness. His virtual speed averaged 12.7 mph, and he only got about 40 minutes sleep over four days. He subsisted mainly on fluids.
The Drug Enforcement Agency supervisor started training in June by spinning 25 to 30 hours a week. As his event got closer, he'd practice sleep deprivation and ride through the night. The Guinness certifiers allow only 5 minutes off the bike per hour.
Guinness
The Guinness Book of World Records requires witnesses and video of the entire event to certify it (I feel sorry for the verifier who's going to watch a video of someone spinning for 85 hours, even at triple-speed). As mentioned by UltraRob in an earlier comment at “Setting a stationary bicycle record,” Italian endurance cyclist Alessandro Colo spun for 201 hours in 2005. It was reported in CyclingNews, as well as other publications referenced on Colo's website, but the latest 2007 Guinness Book of World Records has no mention of that effort.
For more, see USA Today and Chicago Tribune.
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