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105-Year-Old Cyclist Rides 14 Miles in an Hour En Route to a World Record
- jMyles 10y ago> he set a new record for the 105-plus age group wait, what? That's a thing? How many members of this "group" are there? How many attempts have ever been made?
- wcarron 10y agoThe age-group was created as a result of his attempt. He is the only one. It's preetty fuckin' baller of him. I bet this record is gonna stand for a while.
- Insanity 10y agoAbsolutely! I saw it on the news last night, and I must say I would not have guessed his age if it was not mentioned. His cardio is probably better than mine.. :D
- nrki 10y agoApparently his VO2 max is similar to that of a sedentary 50-year-old. http://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/news/105-year-old-cyclist-sets-hour-record-covering-22-547-km/ http://cyclingmagazine.ca/sections/news/105-year-old-cyclist...
- jMyles 10y agoAhh, roger. Kinda strange that the article doesn't mention that.
- kowdermeister 10y agoChallenge accepted, I'm 34 though :) I really hope I'll have his mental and physical abilities at least.
- basseq 10y agoIt's baller, but I wish they would focus on the fact that a 105-year-old is doing what he's doing, not focusing on a "record" that's a 1/1 attempt. Add enough caveats and everyone's a record-holder in something.
- TylerE 10y agoEvery record is a "1 of 1" until somebody does it.
- limaoscarjuliet 10y agoDo you have to be alive to participate?
- bru 10y agoAFAIK age groups are by 5 years. He held the record for the 100(-104) age group, now he holds it for the 105(-110) age group.
- Someone 10y agoTrue. Many sports use that scheme. For example: - athletics: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_masters_athletics https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_world_records_in_maste... - swimming: http://www.fina.org/content/masters-records http://www.fina.org/content/masters-records - cycling: http://www.uci.ch/mm/Document/News/News/16/60/58/20160502_MastersBestPerformances_Neutral.pdf http://www.uci.ch/mm/Document/News/News/16/60/58/20160502_Ma..., http://www.uci.ch/mm/Document/News/News/16/60/57/20160713_MastersBestPerformances_Neutral.pdf http://www.uci.ch/mm/Document/News/News/16/60/57/20160713_Ma... - cross-country skiing: http://www.world-masters-xc-skiing.com/en/rules-of-competition.html http://www.world-masters-xc-skiing.com/en/rules-of-competiti... (section 601. I can’t find world records here; maybe they do not keep them?) - rowing ergometer: http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/racing/records/world http://www.concept2.com/indoor-rowers/racing/records/world Concept2 uses 10-year ranges for ergometer records, likely because of the smaller competitor pool. Having age groups keeps older competitors interested in taking part in races.
- ploggingdev 10y agoMind blown. His diet that consists mainly of fruits and vegetables along with his lean body are likely major factors that contribute to his youth like health at 105.
- shortoncash 10y agoI think I saw a variation on this article that said he started cycling regularly when he was 68. Our city has been taking steps to make bicycle commuting more friendly, but they haven't gone far enough. I really hope we end this absurdity with having too many cars; they are ruining everywhere nice.
- aaron-lebo 10y agoIf he's been doing serious road biking since that age it's probably not something that he's doing on regular streets. Or, he's not just hopping on a bike and taking a leisurely ride down the street for groceries anyway.
- awfgylbcxhrey 10y agoWhat basis do you have for either of those claims? What sort of irregular streets do you think "serious" road bikers use, and why do you think serious road bikers don't also use a bike for shopping?
- aaron-lebo 10y agoNot sure why you decided to create a throwaway, but it's a valid question. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Marchand_(cyclist) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Marchand_(cyclist) Aged 35 he finished seventh in the Grand Prix des Nations in 1946.[3] He returned to cycling in 1978[2] and continued training after his 100th birthday. My point is that the guy has very clearly been training and seriously cycling for a long time. While you can do it on normal city streets, you are often served better to do that on dedicated bike paths or on the open road. You can reduce the impact of cars all you want and even make your city bike friendly but that's not going to change your ability to really train. It's not crazy to think that his health benefits are from this elevated level of training and not just leisurely cycling.
- neximo64 10y agoTheres also a marathon runner who runs at 100+ somewhere, quite amazing.
- Fnoord 10y ago> Theres also a marathon runner who runs at 100+ somewhere, quite amazing. Had to look that up [1] [2]. [1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/100-old-marathoner-finishes-race-235239203.html https://www.yahoo.com/news/100-old-marathoner-finishes-race-... [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauja_Singh https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fauja_Singh
- melling 10y agoThis guy ran a marathon under 3 hours at 70, and under 4 hours at 85. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Whitlock https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ed_Whitlock
- jwtadvice 10y agoThis guy is a cardio machine. Kudos to Ed for finding a passion like this in his life. I hope some film maker gets a chance to interview him, and to capture some footage of his feats.
- agumonkey 10y agoHell, I used to ride 20km a bit under 40min when 29, and I wasn't coasting ... that puts me just above that old man.
- paulcole 10y agoA sub 3 marathon is like 6 minutes 50-something seconds per mile. A 40 minute 20k is like a 3 minute 13 second mile. More like "basically double" not "just above." Unless my math is off someplace.
- Lio 10y agoYou don't stop cycling because you get old, you get old because you stop cycling! :)
- paulddraper 10y agoData fails to support your conjecture. Marchand is one of the oldest people on earth and he cycles. :)
- inopinatus 10y agoHe may be old, but he has not aged. NB: also requires sunscreen.
- Lio 10y ago> Data fails to support your conjecture. Really? Which data would that be then? Because at least some data seems to indicate inactivity (a lack of cycling) increases age related degeneration. :) http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2014.282863/full http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1113/jphysiol.2014.282...
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- jakekovoor 10y agoI am a 19 year-old and I don't even know how to cycle
- chadgeidel 10y agoNo time like the present to learn! I taught a friend in high school. She learned in about a day.
- rplnt 10y agoGood way to learn is to get a bicycle (borrow maybe?), remove pedals and cruise to build up confidence. Lower the seat, start at a flat ground and just push yourself (as kids do). Then you can move on a slight downhill to gain some speed and learn to operate the brakes. Once that becomes easy you can move onto pedaling.. which is cycling!
- f4rker 10y agothis is terrible advice
- E6300 10y agoWhat's so terrible about it?
- bluejekyll 10y agoActually, this is how I taught my son to ride with one of these skuut bikes: http://www.twowheelingtots.com/skuut/ http://www.twowheelingtots.com/skuut/
- jasonmp85 10y agoYou should see my three-year-old on his coaster bike. I can no longer keep up with him, even running. I haven't transitioned him to pedals yet, but I have to feel there's something to the idea that the balance is the hard part and once you're confident in that you can pedal while you do it. Edit: He became proficient with it slightly after his second birthday. He walked fairly late, too, after 16 months or so. I don't think he could have learned to pedal this early, but he's got the balance, steering, and speed control (braking and accelerating as needed) out of the way. Even knows how to ring a bell when passing people on jogging trails.
- smnplk 10y agoHe should be in a Shimano 105 groupset commercial :)
- hermiti 10y agoNice one.
- packetized 10y agoWell, he's riding an Origine Axxome 350 fitted with Ultegra, based on the photos - so 105 isn't that far off. Heh.
- natural_capital 10y agoClever.
- agentgt 10y agoI remember reading that there is a correlation with height and longevity [1]. He is only 5' tall. His height is probably easier on his heart. [1]: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071721/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1071721/
- hahamrfunnyguy 10y agoMakes sense. The heart wouldn't need to be as strong to circulate blood, and by extension not need to be as large or need as much nourishment either.
- Fnoord 10y agoHumans shrink in size as they grow older as well.
- rubicon33 10y agoWhat I don't understand about this theory, is, that you would then expect athletes of all sizes to die sooner... Certainly the heart of an athlete has gone a lifetime working harder than a non athlete... Maybe I'm misunderstanding something about the height/age correlation...
- steinystein 10y agoMy guess, is your misunderstanding lies in biology in general. There is no constant maximum heart effort per lifetime. The heart is a muscle, if muscles are not used they become weak, conversely when muscles are used they become stronger and can grow (see: weight lifting). Also there is more to staying alive than a heart that beats.
- nl 10y agoThat may make sense, but appears to be mostly wrong. The linked paper doesn't draw conclusions (it's just a survey paper), but does point to studies showing a positive correlation between cancer, rapid growth, and height.
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- hahamrfunnyguy 10y agoThat guy is in great shape! Hope I am still riding bikes at his age.
- pdxandi 10y agoI'd like to point out that he is riding upright on a standard road bike with virtually no aero equipment (except his loose skin suit). I imagine at his age a time trial position would destroy his back and neck after an hour (if he could even get in the position) so, to me, that makes his distance that much more impressive. I bet he could tack on 1-2 more miles if were fully decked out in TT equipment, maybe even more.
- xutopia 10y agoIn his post time-trial interview he did mention that his arms were hurting from the ride.
- Johnny555 10y agoAt 15mph, there's not that much to be gained by tucking into an aero position, I'd be surprised if he could go 10% faster (or farther) just by tucking into an aero position and wearing more aero equipment.
- mrob 10y agoIn my experience aerodynamics are noticeable even at 15mph. There's a calculator for estimating bicycle power at: http://www.cyclingpowerlab.com/PowerSpeedScenarios.aspx http://www.cyclingpowerlab.com/PowerSpeedScenarios.aspx Assuming Marchand (52kg) rode a UCI weight limit bike (6.8kg), and assuming he rode on the hoods for the whole hour (the position shown in the photos), and keeping all other assumptions default, his 14mph ride required about 69W of power. With the optimized aero bars setting, which is approximately the best aerodynamics possible using the relaxed post-2014 rules, the same power allows a speed of 15.15mph. Not quite 10% improvement but not far off.
- discreteevent 10y agoYes but it's worth noting that for a person of any age it's harder to generate the same power in a fully aero position because you are choking the engine!
- roystonvassey 10y agoOutliers (or, are they?) like this guy make me question my beliefs about nutrition and fitness. Two days back, my uncle (who is pushing 93) was telling my mom that he's NOW finding it a tad difficult to do his daily cycle rides of 10 kms. All his life he's smoked a cigar everyday, had a couple of glasses of Scotch and basically eaten whatever he's wished. And here I am, struggling with early metabolic syndrome despite eating low-carb, doing a fair bit of HIIT + lifting and feeling guilty every time I have a drink. Go Figure!
- gkya 10y agoWhere's your uncle? Our elderly relatives in countryside always outlive us the city-dwellers. I live in a very lucky part of my city where I'm both between two sizable forests and close to all means of commute, thus I breathe in the best air of the city. Most city-dwellers world-wide though, breathe in shit air. There's no London fog anymore, yes, but instead millions of cars, and tens of millions of people together. I think that plays an important role, to have good air around.
- roystonvassey 10y agoHe lives in a fairly traffic-dense urban locality. He did spend a large amount (~10-15 years) of his life living in the hills when he was in the civil services.
- andygates 10y agoCycling takes a long time, so it burns a lot of calories. It's no coincidence that a common club ride destination will be a nice cake shop and that half the riders will be skinny older guys. Get on a bike, son! :)
- roystonvassey 10y agoI do have one and I enjoy my daily commutes on it :) But, given the negligible effect it's had on my health, I want to refine my original comment to make it clear that I don't imply causation between cycling and burning calories. Clearly, I need to make additional changes.
- emptybits 10y agoFor those inspired by "old cyclists", I encourage you to look at the sport of randonneuring. TL;DR: randonneurs ride in timed, regulated road-coarse events that start at 200 km and work up to a traditional distance of 1200 km (and beyond). It's endurance cycling and ... the kicker ... it's full of "old" people (because they seem to have the wisdom and gumption to ride smart and long). In my local club, there are definitely young riders in their 20s and 30s but the most prolific riders are over 50 and the top two are gentlemen in their 70s. "Top" as measured by most events ridden in a year and most event mileage in a year. Their average speeds put young riders to shame more often than not. Slow and steady wins the race, for values of "race" greater than 200 km. ;-) There are local clubs all over the USA, Canada, Europe, and everywhere. Anyways, not everyone knows about the sport of randonneuring so I just wanted to share in the context of inspiration, no-age-limits cycling -- it dates back to the 1890s and I personally think its community and values are better than regular competitive road or mountain biking, having done all of the above. Ride safe.
- bazzargh 10y agoI heard about the Ardechoise cycling festival off the back of Robert Marchand's previous record - it's his club, they named a hill after him, etc - and got inspired to travel there and enter one of their Randonneur routes a couple of years ago. The festival has many different routes you can choose from, which overlap, and all of which are marked by the same yellow arrows on the road - which leads to fun times if you miss a turn. Mine was this one: http://www.ardechoise.com/Carte-interactive/Les-Gorges-Montagne-Ardechoise http://www.ardechoise.com/Carte-interactive/Les-Gorges-Monta... ... 608km, but over 4 days. As it turned out, I arrived at the top of the final hill before Saint-Félicien at the same time as a small peloton of riders and journalists surrounding an old man on an electric bike...it was Robert himself. Hope I can still be doing this at his age.