Steve Abraham Year Record attempt passes 10,000 mile mark

Steve Abraham, the 40-year-old Audax specialist from Milton Keynes who is attempting to set a record for the most miles ridden in a year passed another significant milestone yesterday when he clocked up 10,000 miles since January 1.

With a ride of 201.2 miles, Abraham also logged his tenth double century of the year, bringing his total to 10,176.1 miles. That's 1,804.1 miles ahead of the distance recorded by this time in 1939 by record-holder Tommy Godwin when he set the existing record of 75,065 miles.

As it happens, Abraham's route yesterday passed by the homes of two road.cc staff, and if you're wondering what an ultra-endurance rider eats, he stopped for fuel at Dave Arthur's local KFC.

The other serious contender in the race for the record, American Kurt Searvogel, also had a good day with a 224.1 mile ride that took him past the 9,000-mile mark. Searvogel started nine days after Abraham, but in 45 days has logged 26 days over 200 miles.

Both Searvogel and Abraham are planning to ramp up the miles as the days get longer. So far, Abraham is on track to hit the more ambitious of the two schedules he laid out in planning the attempt.

He'd planned to reach 10,906 miles by the end of February on a schedule that will see him accumulate 87,129 miles by the end of the year. We don't want to jinx Abraham, but with five days of the month to go, he should make his February target.

Searvogel had planned a schedule that would have taken him to 7,638.9 miles by yesterday. He's now over 1,400 miles ahead of the plan, which didn't include any days of over 200 miles until May. As the famous general said, no battle plan survives contact with the enemy.

When he set the existing record in 1939, Tommy Godwin recorded fairly modest distances in January and February as he battled one of the worst winters of the 20th century. His daily averages began to climb in March and April and by May he was exceeding 200 miles/day. On May 31 he recorded his first triple-century with a ride of 308 miles.

Searvogel and Abraham both plan to substantially increase their daily distances as the weather improves and the days get longer. Given the need for sleep, both plan to increase their average speed, rather than just spend more time on the bike.

The Year Record

The recognised mark for the greatest distance ridden in a year was set in 1939 by Tommy Godwin. He went on to set a record for the shortest time to cover 100,000 miles and after learning how to walk again joined the RAF.

The Year Record is now run under auspices of the Ultramarathon Cycling Association and there are two serious contenders taking a stab at Godwin's record. 

Steve Abraham is a star of the UK Audax long-distance riding scene and started on January 1. You can follow Steve through his website, on Strava and via Twitter.

Kurt Searvogel holds an age-group record for the Race Across America and started on January 10. You can follow him through his website, via Strava or on Facebook

For those who love a good spreadsheet (and who doesn't, really?) Abraham's crew chief Chris Hopkinson tracks Abraham's and Searvogel's progress against Godwin's record. 

Trackleaders has live tracking of Abraham and Searvogel, and there's a Strava club where you can join to express your support as well as tracking their milage.