Austrian ultracylist Christoph Strasser has set a new world record for the distance ridden on a velodrome in 24 hours, riding an astonishing 941.873 kilometres at the Velodrome Suisse.
The four-time winner of the Race Across America completed 3,767 laps of the 250 metre track in Grenchen, Switzerland, starting at 1pm last Saturday 14 October. His average speed was 39.42 kilometres an hour.
He had to overcome stomach problems that set in four hours into his ride, which took place at the Specialized-Days Grenchen, with 500 people testing the latest models from the US-based brand.
Those problems, caused by the pressure on his stomach due to his aerodynamic position on his bike, meant that his refuelling strategy needed to be reassessed as he continued to ride, with Strasser stopping just once, after 20 hours and for just three minutes.
Ahead of the ride, Strasser described the record attempt as “the most difficult and boring thing you can do,” on a bike, adding that “the mental effort to fight against boredom plays a major role“
"It was an incredible ride,” he reflected afterwards. “I’ve ridden across continents, I set the 24-hour outdoor world record in Berlin.
> Christoph Strasser sets new 24-hour cycling record of 556 miles (896km)
“But almost nothing else compares to today,” he added.
Born in Scotland, Simon moved to London aged seven and now lives in the Oxfordshire Cotswolds with his miniature schnauzer, Elodie. He fell in love with cycling one Saturday morning in 1994 while living in Italy when Milan-San Remo went past his front door. A daily cycle commuter in London back before riding to work started to boom, he's been news editor at road.cc since 2009. Handily for work, he speaks French and Italian. He doesn't get to ride his Colnago as often as he'd like, and freely admits he's much more adept at cooking than fettling with bikes.