Next week, a mobile bike mechanic will attempt to break the world record for riding from Land's End to John O'Groats and back again. Bruce Berkeley, who already holds the world record for riding the greatest distance in a month, will need to average 478km a day if he is to be successful.
The current mark is five days, 21 hours and eight minutes, set by Ben Rockett on August 27, 2010. In 2013, ultra-cyclist Chris Hopkinson abandoned an attempt just short of halfway after riding most of the way from Cornwall to northern Scotland into a headwind in sub-zero temperatures. Other setbacks included his support car breaking down near Preston and Hopkinson himself suffering severe breathing difficulties.
Berkeley, a former elite rider who now runs mobile mechanic business Cycledr, is no stranger to astonishing feats of endurance. In January, he headed to Australia to ride 9,751km – an average of more than 300km a day – to take the world record for riding the longest distance cycled in a month. He averaged 29km/h and managed 45,000 metres of climbing for good measure.
He has also previously held the record for greatest distance cycled in a week with 2,825km – although others not recognised by Guinness World Records have certainly ridden further. For example, Severin Zotter covered over 4,800km in eight days, eight hours and 17 minutes in June to win the Race Across America and presumably covered more than Berkeley over a seven-day period.
Berkeley rode his one-month record on a Canyon Ultimate CF SL, but on Canyon’s Facebook page he says he will gain valuable speed from using an Aeroad CF SLX this time around.
“At 185 watts on the Aeroad I’m going 1km/h quicker than on the Ultimate CF SL. 1km/h over 141 hours – that’s going to be the difference between breaking the record or not.”
You can follow his efforts on Strava.
6 thoughts on “Bike mechanic to attempt record for cycling from Land’s End to John O’Groats and back again”
I don’t want to write him
I don’t want to write him off, but to beat it he’s going to have to put in some effort as since the record was set, the rules were made….Rockett’s record was set on a basic set of rules and after his ride a firm set were made.
So no drafting, like Ben, no other riders on the road helping…like Ben and a host of other rules make it fairly difficult to get near his time, nevermind beating it.
Having been an official for this record twice, I doubt it will be beaten. BUT I will be the first to eat my words and I’ll be happy when it is broken as the current record wouldn’t stand under the current rules.
If the rules were changed
If the rules were changed then surely under the new rules the record mark should be changed ?
Harsh on the record holder but if drafting allowed then clearly that would be almost impossible to beat for anyone ?
You would think ianrobo, but
You would think ianrobo, but Guinness is Guinness and what they say goes….that is why I don’t see Ben’s attempt as an official record, just a time marker.
Just have to look at this video, where at points he’s riding with a pack of riders https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VtFdiA8-W-A
If it was allowed now, someone like Wiggo could take his whole team and set the record…
First nothing against the guy
First nothing against the guy for doing what he did, still a fantastic achievement but I am guessing the rules now more like RAAM ?
Shouldn’t they just make a
Shouldn’t they just make a different category for the same achievement as the rules have been changed drastically?
Here are the rules and
Here are the rules and guidelines we worked from in 2013.
Guinness gave use guidelines and UMCA gave us rules
Guinness Guidelines http://docdro.id/Pmh1I30
Guinness Evidence required http://docdro.id/TSBHNyb
UMCA Rules http://docdro.id/rzlJaZX