Can’t find the source of this news quote, but I saw many similar:
"George Hood may have peddled his way into the Guinness Book of World Records on Saturday night. The 49-year-old Aurora resident began riding a stationary bike at the Five Seasons Sports Club in Burr Ridge at 4 a.m. Wednesday and surpassed the previous record of 82 hours by 8:28 p.m. Saturday. He stopped several minutes before midnight after completing his goal of 85 hours.
“He’s very grateful – and very tired,” said Matt Baron, a spokesman for Five Seasons.
Baron said Hood was talking and thanking his supporters right up to the end, but was taken by paramedics to a hospital as a precaution after he got off the bike.
“He’ll be under observation for a while, and they’re going to administer fluids,” Baron said.
The record of 82 hours was set last year by Brian Overkaer of Denmark.
Getting Hood’s accomplishment into Guinness Book may take several weeks as officials need to certify it, Baron said.
As Hood neared the 82nd hour – and spun more than 1,000 miles – he sped up.
The Drug Enforcement Administration supervisor and 23-year federal law enforcement veteran had been averaging 12.7 mph. Coming down the final stretch, he cycled at 13.5 mph"
I watched the world record of the rope trick “The Texas Skip” (that’s when a cowboy leaps through a vertical loop). It was over 4 hrs long. I also saw the World Record of another rope trick, “The Wedding Ring”, which a cowboy spins a rope around his body (and, truly, around a whole convention floor). That was approx 100 ft wide.
Some people have far too much time on a ranch – so they can practice this stuff…
I don’t know where this gets by being called a world record. A few years back an Italian named Alessandro Colo rode eleven days “straight” on a trainer as part of his training for RAAM. I thought this set a new world record then. The most amazing part of this is he did it on PowerCranks. From the 2005 RAAM site: “Italy’s Alessandro Colo hopes that setting all kinds of indoor stationary cycling distance/time records similar to RAAM (talk about boring and painful on the rear) will give him the mental toughness to make it farther than the 1,191 miles he rode last year. Spinning instructor Colo rode his RAAM bikes with PowerCranks the equivalent of “5,841 miles” in 11 days during which time he faced some of the same physical and technical problems RAAM creates.”
“I don’t know where this gets by being called a world record.”
It’s a Guiness Book of World Records record. That means it needs documentation and confirmation from witnesses, plus adhering to certain rules (like only 5-min break per hour).
Technically, you (or your neighbor) can start today to do a 20-day ride without rest or sleep; but if there is no recording or comparative source, how can one tell it’s a record? Guiness just creates a unifying body for records. A world record can be Smith’s World Records if there were people who knew what Smith was, and what that record constitutes.
Btw, anyone can create a record for anything if you felt like it. I can pet my cat for a certain number of straight hours and claim it, if I had confirmation (and had a willing cat).
No disrespect to Alessandro Colo from anyone, of course. He can submit his own indoor rides if he feels like it.
My understanding is Mr. Colo did comply with all the requirements (5 minute breaks, witnesses, etc) and submitted the information to be a new WR. It is why I was surprised to hear 85 hours as the “new” WR. Maybe the Guinness people don’t speak Italian.
“The Guinness Book of World Records requires witnesses and video of the entire event to certify it (I feel sorry for the verifier who’s going to watch a video of someone spinning for 85 hours, even at triple-speed). As mentioned by UltraRob in an earlier comment at “Setting a stationary bicycle record,” Italian endurance cyclist Alessandro Colo spun for 201 hours in 2005. It was reported in CyclingNews, as well as other publications referenced on Colo’s website, but the latest 2007 Guinness Book of World Records has no mention of that effort.”
Perhaps Mr. Colo ran out of video tape if the require the entire effort to be video taped.
