American kurt searvogel sets annual mileage record

[Weatherby]

Calling this a record is not fair. There have been a number of people who have ridden that far in a year.

I rode over 200 most days for 2 years. I was not trying to get a record or I would have ridden everyday. 150 miles into a 200 mile ride, there are hills on the right, 4 hours until sunset, head for the hills and the day is 270 miles. Or 150 miles into a winter ride, your toes are cold, and there is no shelter for the next 50 miles.

200 miles every day is not that hard. Staying well is the hard part.

The Ultra-Marathon Cycling Association is the governing over these types of records. Why don't you take it up with them? If an UMCA rider wins the 24 hour World TT championship, would they be entitled to wear a rainbow jersey? The winner only did around 22 mph? My point is simple. It starts with 4 little pins. Saying 75,000+ miles in a year is not a record is silly.

If you are Freddie Hoffman, I believe your story but he merely didn't do 150-200 miles a day for 2 years, he did it for 20 years. Freddie, you meant 20 years?

I'm nearing 60 years old but when I was in my 20's, I sometimes did 1000 mile weeks and for me, it was never easy but I lack talent. I did a couple 1000 mile weeks last year and they were not bad but I absolutely needed a couple two or three days rest and I am not saying I can comprehend what Kurt did, but I have sense of it. I am sure your account is accurate in your mind and it might be.

 

[pwarbi]

While I don't wish to be dragged in to any arguments, personally I'll stick with my original opinion and say that 200 miles a day over that period of time is a major achievement and deserves to be recognised.

I certainly know that I wouldn't be able to do it anyway and I'm sure that goes for a lot of other cyclists also no matter how fit they are, so this is an achievement that deserves the credit it's getting in my opinion.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

200 miles per day for 365 day is hard. Period.
Staying physically healthy during that time can be hard. Even the mental aspect of sitting on a bike that many hours for that many days can be difficult to maintain.
Having good fortune on your side is probably beyond our control. At least sometimes it is.
The logistics required for such are difficult to achieve. Even the 10 to 15 hours per day time slot takes...no job, bike support, food, survival funds to get you through the year. Basically, all you have time to do is pedal and sleep.

The Englishman, Steven Abraham, Kurt was competing against for the HAM record had the misfortune to get tagged by a moped or scooter if I got the story correct. That ended his record attempt to that point and after recovering he re-started his attempt. Just like Lance Armstrong had a lot of luck on his side (in addition to a lot od PED's!) to win seven TDF victories, Kurt had a little more luck than Steven.

From my perspective, everything about the attempt is difficult. Kudos to both Kurt and Steven for their efforts.

And if anyone else has a verifiable annual mileage total that surpasses Kurt's, please submit it and I will put up a thread in honor of your accomplishment because any valid effort deserves recognition.

The difficulty of the HAM record in light of today's modern equipment, training, energy foods, clothing, etc. all put the 75-year old record holder, Tommy Godwin, on an even higher pedestal.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

The account of Steve Abraham involved in a collision with a motor scooter of some sort.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news...moped-during-world-mileage-record-ride-164475

 

[CAMPYBOB]

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[CAMPYBOB]

Tommy Godwin's 1939 Raleigh weighed about 30 pounds and had a Sturmey-Archer 4-speed hub. Not exactly light, but certainly not a boat anchor. I have no clue what ratios his hub afforded, but I'm certain he was smart enough to change the chainring and/or rear gear to best meet his needs.

 

[An old Guy]

The Ultra-Marathon Cycling Association is the governing over these types of records. Why don't you take it up with them?

Saying 75,000+ miles in a year is not a record is silly.

I did a couple 1000 mile weeks last year and they were not bad but I absolutely needed a couple two or three days rest and I am not saying I can comprehend what Kurt did, but I have sense of it.

The UMCA is not "the governing body" They simply claim they are. Since they only made that claim in 2014, they seem to be a bit late to the game. The Guinness people used to make the claim that they evaluated this record, but they turned down many claims and later quit evaluating claims. The fact that a fair number of people made claims of riding over 200 miles a day for a year, suggests that there are a reasonable number who either did or who would have had there been a "fair" method of validation and recognition.

I bet you know some people who think doing a single 1000 mile week is beyond belief. Yet you claim to have done so. Not once but a couple times. They might even think your account is accurate in your mind. But if you need a couple days rest after a 1000 mile week, you are doing the wrong type of riding to do 1000 mile weeks for a year.

If you want to do 200 miles each day you need to be comfortable doing 200 miles in one day. Then you have to find a pace both riding and refueling that lets you feel just as good the next morning. Then you just go out everyday and ride that pace. In many ways it is just like riding back and forth to work during the week and doing weekend rides with your friends. It is not like training by beating yourself up most days.

I am sure your account is accurate in your mind and it might be.

I don't really care what you think about my account. You don't have the riding experience to make a rational statement.

 

[Weatherby]

The UMCA is not "the governing body" They simply claim they are. Since they only made that claim in 2014, they seem to be a bit late to the game. The Guinness people used to make the claim that they evaluated this record, but they turned down many claims and later quit evaluating claims. The fact that a fair number of people made claims of riding over 200 miles a day for a year, suggests that there are a reasonable number who either did or who would have had there been a "fair" method of validation and recognition.

I bet you know some people who think doing a single 1000 mile week is beyond belief. Yet you claim to have done so. Not once but a couple times. They might even think your account is accurate in your mind. But if you need a couple days rest after a 1000 mile week, you are doing the wrong type of riding to do 1000 mile weeks for a year.

If you want to do 200 miles each day you need to be comfortable doing 200 miles in one day. Then you have to find a pace both riding and refueling that lets you feel just as good the next morning. Then you just go out everyday and ride that pace. In many ways it is just like riding back and forth to work during the week and doing weekend rides with your friends. It is not like training by beating yourself up most days.


I don't really care what you think about my account. You don't have the riding experience to make a rational statement.

Your claim of over 200 miles most days with some of them being 270 miles and if I understand correctly, your short days on the non-majority days were 150 miles, you would have ridden around 65,000 miles in a year, which would support your obvious lack of admiration for Kurt Searvogel's achievement. I am not calling BS to your statement but I am rather skeptical. Riding experience and rational thought are not necessarily related.

 

[Uawadall]

Well first of all, he makes most of us look like little wusses,lol....200 miles a day is crazy to me, I'm less than a year in and have yet to do my first century..I've heard of runners who do a marathon (26 miles) everyday...I think that may be a little harder.

 

[An old Guy]

Your claim of over 200 miles most days with some of them being 270 miles and if I understand correctly, your short days on the non-majority days were 150 miles, you would have ridden around 65,000 miles in a year, which would support your obvious lack of admiration for Kurt Searvogel's achievement. I am not calling BS to your statement but I am rather skeptical. Riding experience and rational thought are not necessarily related.

No, some of my short days were 0 miles - I had family obligations. If you reread my comment, the 150 miles was the first part of a typical 200 mile winter ride. I had several 200 mile routes and I rode those almost every day - some days I had chores in the morning and got a late start. Many days in the summer I would put in substantial side trips. I was not trying for a record, so I had no reason to keep records or to ride everyday.

But my experience and that of others indicates that 200 miles/day (75K miles/year) is not hard to accomplish. Any rider who is interested in distance rather than speed can do that. You don't give someone a record for doing what anyone can do.

My experience leads me to believe that 250 miles/day is the least one should demand for a record. Not because 250 miles is physically harder than 200 miles, but because it becomes difficult to get in enough rest before the next ride.

 

[pwarbi]

I think at the end of the day, his record is an achievement in itself and it shouldn't really matter if a person as cycled more than he has or not.

Anybody who can cycle that amount of miles, it doesn't matter if they're actually going for a record on purpose or just clocking up the miles as part of their usual routine, you have to give credit were it's due.

 

[maydog]

Why would anyone "poo poo" this record?

No excuses, no days off, all weather conditions, all health conditions - it is a hell of an accomplishment.

Doing any activity continuously for 12 hours a day for the full 365 days of the year is quite a commitment. Hell I couldn't even do 12x365 on an easy chair.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

There were folks in England *****ing that Kurt Searvogel's record is bogus because he wasn't riding through craptastic English weather.

There were folks claiming that Kurt's riding a recumbent was tantamount to cheating, despite the UMCA rules permitting the use of bents.

I don't think there is such a thing as a level playing field in much of anything in life and the HAM record is far from a 'fair' competition. But, it all boils down to verification if the other rules are met. And nothing beats rock solid evidence like GPS data, ride videos and all the modern stuff. It doesn't matter if 20 guys make the claim, no one is getting the record without putting up the data for everyone to see.

It isn't just Froome throwing up numbers these days. All the RAAM contestants were chipped and almost every weekend warrior doing a fondo or qualifying for an Ironman has the data to back up the claim.

Searvogel is a genuine badass in my opinion.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

http://road.cc/content/news/220479-amanda-coker-breaks-kurt-searvogels-year-record-40-days-spare

Amanda Coker, age 24, beats Searvogel's record WITH 40 DAYS to SPARE!!!!!!!

http://www.bicycling.com/rides/records/is-amanda-coker-for-real/slide/1

 

[CAMPYBOB]

Kurt Searvogel congratulates Amand Coker on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tarzanrides/posts/1891557274419310

 

[Froze]

Except for one small problem, a woman by the name of Amanda Coker just broke not only the womens record for the year but apparently Kurts record too, read: http://www.bicycling.com/rides/records/is-amanda-coker-for-real

 

[CAMPYBOB]

???

That's the same link I posted on Monday.

I updated this thread with Coker's record reports. Yes, Coker now hold the HAM record. That was the point of the updates.

 

[Froze]

???

That's the same link I posted on Monday.

I updated this thread with Coker's record reports. Yes, Coker now hold the HAM record. That was the point of the updates.

LOL, I must have lost my mind.

 

[CAMPYBOB]

I was going to start a new thread, but Amanda and Kurt are kind of interwoven in their record attempts. If the English guy comes over to attempt the HAM record, I'll include his data here also.

To bad thread edited end after 1/2 hour and it is impossible to edit thread titles...I would have definitely updated the title.

It will be interesting to see how far Coker takes the record. She must be a very focused competitor!

 

[Froze]

It will be interesting to see how far Coker takes the record. She must be a very focused competitor!

Very focus indeed, also very super fit, and probably with a lot of insanity mixed in.