Tommy Godwins Record miles cycled in a year!!!

[HLaB]

Bernard Bennet must have been gutted:

YearRecord holderCountryDistance
1911 Marcel Planes

France 34,666 miles (55,790 km)
1932 Arthur Humbles

Great Britain 36,007 miles (57,948 km)
1933 Ossie Nicholson

Australia 43,966 miles (70,756 km)
1936 Walter Greaves

Great Britain 45,383 miles (73,037 km)
1937 Bernard Bennett

England 45,801 miles (73,710 km)
1937 René Menzies

France 61,561 miles (99,073 km)
1937 Ossie Nicholson

Australia 62,657 miles (100,837 km)
1939 Bernard Bennett

England 65,127 miles (104,812 km)
1939 Tommy Godwin

England 75,065 miles (120,805 km)

 

[HLaB]

Some of those guys are amazing:

René Menzies (circa November 1889[1][2][3] – circa 1971) was a French long-distance cyclist who at 48 held a record for the greatest distance ridden on a bicycle in a year. He rode 61,561 miles in 1937.[4] He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre in the first world war [5] and was chauffeur to the French leader, Charles de Gaulle in the second world war.[4][5][6] After the war he tried to ride 63,000 miles in a year to celebrate his 63rd birthday but finished with 62,785.

 

[ColinJ]

After the war he tried to ride 63,000 miles in a year to celebrate his 63rd birthday but finished with 62,785.

I bet he was somewhat peed off about that! Imagine (for example) getting to December 28th aged 63 having covered 62,000 miles and trying desperately to get 1,000 miles in from the 29th to the 31st but 'only' managing 785 miles!

 

[Col5632]

I did 200 miles one day a few years ago, just to see if I could. Leeds, Hawes, Leyburn, Northallerton, York, Goole, Castleford, Leeds. I didn't feel like doing anything the next day - nor the day after, come to that.

I feel like that after doing 50 lol

Im gradually building up to greater distances though and once i get a road bike i think i would do alot more and faster

 

[Holdsworth]

I once did 100 miles with a touring load, but 200 miles a day, every day for a year is just astonishing

 

[Crankarm]

These people should get out more. Don't they have anything else in their lives, like gfs or wives?

 

[ColinJ]

These people should get out more.

Actually - they should probably have got out less - they must have been out about 12-15 hours a day!

Don't they have anything else in their lives, like gfs or wives?

Well, they did when they started the rides ...

 

[potsy]

Colin, this thread is making your 1789 miles for this year look very poor
Unless you could do another 70,000 or so before the years out?

 

[ColinJ]

The only thing that stops my 1,789 miles looking very poor is the pitiful 900 miles I did last year! I'm struggling to even find the motivation to do the remaining 221 miles needed for 2k!

 

[YahudaMoon]

Wow just wow ! how many chains and tyres ya reckon Mr Godwin went through in that year considering (my guess) tyres n chains werent as well wearing , not to mention less performance was his yearly amount ?

 

[ColinJ]

Get yourselves down to the newsagent - today's copy of Cycling Weekly has a great 5 page feature on Tommy Godwin and his record!

 

[Red Light]

I bet he was somewhat peed off about that! Imagine (for example) getting to December 28th aged 63 having covered 62,000 miles and trying desperately to get 1,000 miles in from the 29th to the 31st but 'only' managing 785 miles!

Almost as bad as the guy who learnt pi to a phenomenal number of decimal places for a Guinness world record attempt only to find on the great day there was a typo in it.

 

[Red Light]

I did 220 miles in a day once and it took me dawn to dusk in mid-summer so he must have had phenomenal lights for the winter months.

I'm not sure I really believe someone can keep up that level of effort day after day after day.

 

[swee'pea99]

Wasn't he the guy who started out by going to see his mate take part in a race only his mate got the squits so he grabbed his bike and ended up doing something like 60 miles at an average of over 30 MPH and won - this at 14 or something? (I did 30 MPH once...kept it up for...oh, several seconds.)

 

[westofsouth]

Sponsored by Raleigh and Sturmey Archer I believe - beats working for a living.
On a Record Ace with a SA hub - very similar to a 1948 bike I have - but I have not attempted a century ride on it as yet, but probably will in the next few weeks