Check this chap's record out...I will never again complain that a ride is too long (you know that is probably not true...whingeing herbert and cycling softie that I am - I was accused today of being a fair weather cyclist, mmmm now I KNOW I would not have enjoyed getting a soaking for hours on the bike today so I didn't bother)
"For those (all of us?) who sometimes think the run they are on is altogether too long, may be interested in a recent article in Cycling Weekly (January 19th, some of you will have seen it already) which told the story of one of the 2 very eminent Tommy Godwins in British cycling history. One is still alive and won a medal at the 1948 Olympics, but the other died much earlier (not surprisingly, you might think) and could have been described as something of a mile eater, at least in 1939 and into 1940. Over that year and a bit he rode over 75,000 miles in the year and then went on to complete 100,000 miles in 400 days. His average was 206 miles every day, summer and winter, with the shortest being 59 miles on Christmas Day and the longest being 348 on a day in July, his greatest for one week being 2,084, and for a month 8,583.
His long epic over, he served in the RAF throughout the rest of The War and, as he was banned from competing in time trials after his sponsored (by Raleigh) ride, became the mentor and coach for many aspiring racers and died, out on a ride with friends in 1975, at the age of 63. For interest, his distances were carefully measured and monitored by external individuals and a body (‘Cycling’ magazine, as it was known at the time) and it is thought that the records are unlikely ever to be bettered. After all this, it’s not surprising that ‘Tommy had no time for whining....who carried on with his record attempt even after breaking a collarbone. He’d used a tube to strap up his shoulder and continued to ride one-handed.’ Apparently, however, it did affect the healing process and may have impaired his health later in life".
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