While we're on the topic of long distance cycling events today, remember back in February when I told you about the World Cycling Race? That event featured nine riders who set out from London on a race around the world that would cover a minimum of 18,000 miles (28,968km) and would hopefully return to them to the U.K. in time for the start of the Olympic Games. Due to attrition, five of the riders withdrew from the event while the others have continued on, with one of those riders already finishing his circumnavigation, arriving home in record time.Last week, British rider Mike Hall completed the race by finishing his round-the-world ride in just 91 days, 18 hours. In doing so, he shaved nearly 15 full days off the previous record, which as 106 days, 10 hours and was set by Alan Bate back in 2010. Hall's route took him across 20 countries on four continents and he went the entire distance completely unsupported, carrying just 35 pounds of gear along the way.
In order to finish this ride in such a relatively short time Mike had to average more than 200 miles per day, every day, for three months. That's an incredible pace for any rider to maintain, especially taking into consideration the varying road conditions, unpredictable weather and unexpected mishaps that can occur along the way.
The three remaining riders are continuing their push towards the finish line with Richard Dunnett currently in Turkey, Simon Hutchinson in New Mexico and Sean Conway in India. A two-person team consisting of Kristina Stoney and Nic Arney are still riding as well, and the pair are currently in Italy.
The rules of the race allow the riders to travel either east to west or west to east o their route, which helps to explain why the riders are in such varying locations. They now have just 44 days to reach London before the start of the games, and barring any unforeseen problems, it appears that they should all make it.
