In the early hours of Wednesday July 14th, Melbourne rider Bryan Taaffe set off from South Mole Lighthouse at Fremantle, aiming to break the unsupported recumbent record to Sydney. The record of 11d17hr8m had been set by well known long distance rider Peter Heal in 2009. His first day of riding saw him cover 385km to Southern Cross. Day 2 was a mammoth 538km to Balladonia Roadhouse, and after 453km on day 3, he crossed the border into South Australia on the 4th day, as he finished at Nundroo with 402km ridden. On days 5 and 6 Bryan rode 362km and 302km respectively, and despite a puncture and wet weather he managed 452km for day 7 to finish at Little Topar Roadhouse, 80km east of Broken Hill. Bitterly cold temperatures and rough roads saw Bryan's average speed fall on the first two days across New South Wales, but he still covered 379km and 306km for days 8 and 9. He was now at Dubbo, 400km from the finish line. Bryan now faced a huge climb to the top of the Blue Mountains, more cold weather, and headwinds, but he fought through for more than 18.5 hours to finally reach Bondi Beach. Bryan's final time for the ride was 9 days, 19 hours, and 30 minutes, an astonishing 45 hours and 38 minutes ahead of the previous record! Bryan made the record ride to raise money for youth mental health organisation Alive, and at time of writing has raised over $12,000- Perth to Sydney for Youth Mental Health (mycause.com.au) Congratulations to Bryan on his incredible achievement!
6 Comments
Ken Frank
7/27/2021 06:22:02 pm
Yeah!!!
Reply
David Eggleton
7/27/2021 07:49:09 pm
A truly astonishing result and achievement when you consider the harsh cold weather Bryan encountered on the last stage from Dubbo.
Reply
Aaron
7/31/2021 01:44:33 pm
Is it the unsupported recumbent record or just the cycling record? I.e. has anyone done it any faster on any other type of bike? If not then it is a cycling record.
Reply
RRAA
8/3/2021 10:50:34 am
Hi Aaron, there are several categories for the Perth-Sydney record, for supported or unsupported, and for recumbent or upright bikes. The current outright record (supported, on an upright bike) was set by Cristoph Strasser at 6d10hr58m in 2017.
Reply
8/4/2021 02:45:00 am
CONGRATULATIONS .... You rock. I hope to see you on the road again one day. What's the next challenge? I hope to see you on the road again one day and ride some much slower kms with you.
Reply
Phill. Leetham
8/7/2021 10:45:40 pm
When covid settles down, at your favourite watering hole in Fitzroy. A great achievement
Reply
Leave a Reply. |