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Kajsa Tylen A year in the saddle.pngKajsa Tylen hits 50,000km target and passes Billie Fleming’s annual distance record
Kajsa Tylen has hit her personal target of cycling 50,000km in a year. This also means that the Nottingham-based Swede has passed Billie Fleming’s 1938 record for the greatest distance cycled in a year by a woman, which was 47,642.5 kilometres.
Initial celebrations were a touch awkward.
LIVE on #Periscope: Celebrations https://t.co/8PGrkOl0qS
— Kajsa Tylén (@yearinthesaddle) December 9, 2016
But on the plus side, it did mean a triple scone day.
LIVE on #Periscope: It's a 3-scone day! https://t.co/W1NoDddJh1
— Kajsa Tylén (@yearinthesaddle) December 9, 2016
Writing on Facebook, Tylen said:
“I got to share my record-hitting day with some of my favourite people and there were tears but mainly lots and lots of laughs! Of course, it isn't over yet, I still have until the end of the year to add to the total and then I have to send all my evidence to Guinness and hope everything is as it should be. So it's not official until they say it is.
“My plan now is to start recovering, with reduced miles (but without slacking), and enjoying the rest of the year. And do the admin of course!”
You can find out more about her efforts at her website ayearinthesaddle.com.
Over in Florida, Amanda Coker is continuing her record attempt. According to the Human Annual Mileage Record page on the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association website, the 24-year-old has so far ridden 47,172 miles (75,916km) in 209 days.
Coker has stuck to the same route – laps of a flat course in a park that is sheltered from the wind – since May. This has helped her average over 20mph and means she is on course to break the overall record set by Kurt Searvogel in January.
Alex has written for more cricket publications than the rest of the road.cc team combined. Despite the apparent evidence of this picture, he doesn't especially like cake.
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Hopefully it'll still be allowed for recreational use.
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20 comments
Both women deserves respect for the effort surely? It's two different records under two different set of rules. One is going for absolute distance and the other going for road distance. Some bellend comments here pisses me off, some people are way too far up their own arses.
Would that be measured in centimetres or inches?
2nd the comment above ref. dave Barter's book, The Year. Mind you, with all the recent distance-record attempts he'll be swearing into his christmas stocking if he's asked to bring the book up to date.
Actually, yesterday I noticed a comment on a thread on another forum (that shall remain unnamed) when asked if there would be "a further edition of this book in the not-too-distant future":
The same thread mentions that the Kindle price for the original book is now £1.
Well done Kajsa!
As the record is global and is worthy of a global news story, then Km's are entirely appropriate.
In case anyone missed it when it was released last year - and if, like me, you're not allowed any more shiny bike-related things for Christmas - The Year by Dave Barter has a deeply moving chapter devoted to Billie Fleming. The book was reviewed on this site and is a remarkable account of a number of people and their attempts to set records that would go on to stand for well over 70 years.
I thought that The Year: Rewakening the Legend of Cycling's Hardest Endurance Legend was an excellent read (your kilometreage may vary).
And as usual on road.cc, the comments thread rapidly moves away from anything like, oh I don't know, praise for her achievements maybe? Some expression of admiration for putting herself through that possibly? Even a mild "chapeau" for personal sacrifice, the mental fortitude and determination to ride more in a year than I suspect many people ride in a decade?
Oh no, we'll bicker like children about miles vs km...
FWIW, I can work quite happily in both, I can see why you'd choose a nice round number like 50,000km instead of 31,068 miles. Same going the other way, 30,000 miles is better than 48,280km...
Amazing achievement anyway and she did it in a far more interesting way than Amanda Coker has done her ride - I mean Amanda deserves a medal for not going completely utterly insane riding round and round the same pan-flat park every day drafting her mates but Kasja gets the real kudos for her actual proper cycling!
...
IMG_0235.JPG
When I was doing some research at university I came across a paper published by the,unfortunately now defunct learned society, North East Coast Institute of Engineers and Shipbuilders. The paper written in the 1880's argued that to be competitive Great Britain should move to the metric system. It only took about 90 years to acheive that aim - I suspect it'll take a lot longer to move away from mph and the pint.
The metric system has been taught in the UK for a minimum of 35 years. I would have thought that was time enough to wrap your head around it. Road distances still appearing in miles is more of a historical legacy like giving your height in feet and inches; just because one group of people are used to it doesn't make it right. I personally use kilometers/kph. Using Imperial measurements can cause you to crash (into Mars.)
Miles, pounds and other non-scientific units have not been seen in schools for a very long time, but they are beloved of UKIPpers and the like. Having worked internationally in sports timing, the UK is only place to ask for results in mph - and didn't receive them...
Huge ride! Congratulations.
chapeau
well done Kajsa done in all weathers, all conditions and thats a proper record. Sorry but Coker's attempt it pure and simple plain cheating.
I think that "cheating" is a little harsh, preferring personally to view it as a different record. I respect Amanda's approach from the perspective of setting out to grab the furthest distance, plain and simple, by taking the path of least resistance.
If Amanda manages to avoid injury, and she has youth on her side in that regard, she's going to set a benchmark so high it could discourage many others from attempting that style. My hope is that in turn we see more 'true' efforts like Kajsa's, and countless variations there of.
Huge respect for any riders who attempt these heroic feats...
Amanda is no cheat as far as I know and I have been watching her. Neither was Kurt. There wasn't anything against the rules about anyone, myself and Kajsa included, riding where Amanda is riding. We have all picked the best routes we can.
Amanda is dong very well, but I don't think she's having it as easy as many think. The circuit she is riding on is known loclly as, "The Windy Woods." It rains most days at some time and is prone to flooding. It is also pretty hazardous with other cyclists, runners and wildlife including deer, boars, snakes and alligators. Amanda has had at least 4 crashes so far. She won't ride on roads because she had a very bad injury a few years ago when she was hit by a car.
There is also the fact that Florida is prone to hurricanes. Amanda has cut a few days short because of servere weather. She isn't a soft fair weather cyclist, the weather can get seriously dangerous.
Amanda hasn't put me off going for the year again. I now have some data to prove that my route planning was very good at saving effort. I have already at least equaled Amanda for a month and think I have learned from that how I can do better and am back in training.
I have ridden with Kajsa for what must be over 1000 miles this year. She has inspired many and ridden well above herself. She was doing 100mpd in early winter, which was very mild weather. Then she got very fatigued and couldn't manage the 100mpd, but I knew from when I first rode with her, she had the mental strength to not give up. I never doubted she would get the record, barring broken ankles etc. Recovery took a very long time, which seems to be how it is with year reord attempts. Her summer mileage wasn't as much as I'd hoped. But after she rode as the cycling part of a team, completing the Roth Ironman by the skin of their teeth, she suddenly got stronger.
In the last 3 months or so, she was able to average over 100mpd, where she couldn't manage that at the begining. Not only that, but in continuously worsening weather. Anyone go out a week or so ago when it was below zero? Doing 100 miles just once in those conditions is hard. Doing it every day is very hard. People who rode with her were very tired the next day. But Kajsa had become a much stronger and more capable rider. I'm not even sure she realises how much she has changed during the year.
It was Guinness who set the arbitary 50,000km requirement for acceptance of the record. Had Kajsa surpassed Billie's total distance but fell short of 50,000km, her record would be invalid.
Also, even if Kajsa had gone for the record via the UMCA, her record would still stand because Amanda's attempt won't be over until May. Even though Amanda has overtaken Kajsa on the road, Kajsa will finish first.
Watching how kajsa has improved, how well she overcome difficulties and seeing how well she has done with minimal support has been very impressive to me.
I hope that some of you go up to Nottingham to congratulate her on 31st December. Details are on her Facebook page
https://www.facebook.com/ayearinthesaddle/
I wouldn't call Coker's attempt cheating, but crucially it doesn't sound like any sort of fun at all.
Well done, Kajsa. It has been very rewarding following the record attempt from the outset. And for the record again: I rhyme scone with cone
I respect you for admitting that. I think that you're utterly wrong, but I respect you for admitting it
That's a bit over the top and I think she is due a lot more respect than calling her a cheat! IMHO it's just a sensible approach to maximise your performance. Her choice of location is entirely within the rules and there's nothing to stop anyone else using the same location.
To be clear, Amanda Coker has been riding under completely different rules anyway - under UMCA rules drafting is allowed, and I believe she has made extensive use of this. Under Guinness rules, it isn't, and I believe Kajsa has had to go to some lengths to avoid infringing this rule. So they are two different records. What gets complicated is that for the men's record, Guinness apparently retrospectively recognised Kurt Searvogel's record even though it wasn't done under these rules. I don't know whether they have resolved what will happen to Kajsa's Guinness record when Amanda finishes and officially takes the UMCA record... I hope for Kajsa's sake that they recognise them as being different records.
Massive congrats and huge respect to Kajsa!!
Well unless you're knocking out 230 miles on a daily basis, I suggest you're talking out your fat arse.
Ah, the old 'you can't criticise it til you've done it' fallacy.
By that logic, only Coker qualifies to criticise Coker. More importantly, unless you've slagged Coker off for cheating, you don't qualify to criticise someone else slagging her off for cheating - you can't possibly know what ianrobo went through to post that comment. So you'd better get slagging off, quick, or shut your yap.
Besides, as has been adequately pointed out here, there are 'miles' and there are miles. Coker's closer to a turbo than Tylen's riding*.
*my max miles per day = 255 (with, more importantly, close to 15,000 feet, on proper roads with cars and hills and wind and that); hopefully pedantic Web bores will rule that as part-qualification.