I have been searching for 24 hour distance record and so far I have only found a non-official or “supposed” record of 186 miles. Does anybody know if an officicial guinness world record has been set and by whom?
I would count that 186 miles to be more accurate than anything guinness has.
Sam ‘Redwelly’ Wakeling currently holds this record.
He set it a couple of years ago at Aberystwyth University.
You can read about it here.
I don’t think it’s been broken, but I may be wrong.
Is there a record for a 24 hour road ride? I am interested to know what is the longest distance ridden on actual roads, as opposed to doing laps on a track.
One wheel many spokes
Read “One wheel many spokes”. Lars Clausen tells his story in his book.
If there was such a record, Guinness would not accept it because the distance is less accurate than a measured lap according to them. Ken wanted to do a road ride for his short-standing 24 hour world record but had to do the laps to be acknowledged by Guinness.
From memory the records have been:
Lars Clausen: 324km (Current record for a road ride).
Ken Looi: 378km (On a 450m+ circular track)
Sam Wakeling: 454km (On a circular track)
If you do break the record on a road ride, Guinness may not accept it but the IUF may if you send proper documentation. I reckon if you break the record by 10m on a road ride, then accuracy may be an issue. But if you break it by 10km, then even by the lowest approximations you probably have broken the record. In my opinion, if one were to break the record on road, then a stipulation such as starting and finishing heights above sea level be more or less the same, should be added, since one can do a predominantly downhill ride.
We are looking at standardising all these records and rules in the current IUF World Records Committee, because previous records have followed different rules and standards.
These standards will be published towards the end of the year on the IUF website, along with a database of records.
For now, if you want a reasonably standardised record attempt, you should contact Guinness. Bear in mind that even their records aren’t perfect. They did not require Lars Clausen to do it on a circuit/lap course, whereas both Sam and I were required to do the 24hr record on a circuit.
Ken Looi
Chairperson
IUF World Record Committee
Thanks for the info Sid and the other respondents.
I am planning a longish ride, hopefully it will be less than 24 hours in duration. It will not be a record but I was curious to know if I was being overly ambitious.
That 186 is probably coming from me taking a passage, possibly from memory, from Jack Wiley’s The Unicycle Book. Information based on a promotional cross-country tour by Steve McPeak in 1968 or so, where there was probably no objective verification of the distance. 
Still, it was used as a starting point for Lars Clausen to set his own record; making sure he went beyond that mark.
Let me know where you can find a 450+ km course that’s predominantly downhill. 
I wonder if they added that requirement because Lars went first, and set the Guinness mark? Probably we’ll never know though; since Guinness has been inconsistent over the years.
That depends how much you like abusing your body. 
Whereas guys like Ken Looi enjoy to do solo 24-hour MUni rides with mountain bikers, some of us, much as we may respect them, consider it some pretty heavy-duty masochism. 
Okay, enough with the smilies…
i would be very interested too:p
Yup, I guess any 450km course that has many downhills will have a fair few uphills too. So, its either a fairly flat course or a circuit. Of course, wind can make a one an advantage on road course.
MT High (Matt, I think). More than happy to be crew, if you need crew (I can’t drive but more than happy to help out with other stuff).
A bit of a threadjack…what makes a ride ONE single ride? Usually its 24 hours. For example if you ride 100miles in 24 hours, you would done a 100miler. What if I were to do a double century but that took me more than 24 hours? Would that be considered one single ride (making it a double century ride) or two rides? Would the length of the breaks taken or the percentage of time spent not riding be the difference between the ride being considered a single ride or a two day unicycle tour?
I think it is sleep or long rest similar to sleep. Getting off the unicycle does not count as ending the ride, as you can get back on and keep going. If you were to get off and fall asleep then it is like the next ride is a different ride, in my opinion. Sleep does not end a 24 hour race- just eats into the time.
That doesn’t mean people should take stimulants to try and break distance records- sleep is good for you so get plenty of it.
Most riders would not feel like doing a second century immediately after 100 miles of unicycling, so good on you if you can do it!
The cut off point for a 24 hour record is definitely 24 hours, and that is a good way of limiting most single rides.
I think I’m gonna go do some training this summer on the track near my home, I’m gonna be riding for 24Hours non-stop and beat the record:) I looked in the World Record book yesterday and I calculated Ken Looi’s average speed for his record and it was only like 16km/h. I know that riding for 24 hours must be really hard, but I thought that it can easily be beaten just by riding at around 22km/h(my average speed). I’m pretty sure it would be hard to stay at 22km/h for 24 hours though… I think I’ll try it though:p
Wow, looks like a lot of people have their eyes on this record. I thought I was closer to alone.
jaco_flans, don’t forget, Ken’s record was broken by Sam Wakeling, now it’s at 454km. You’ll have to hold your average of 22 for about 21 hours of the 24.
Have you ridden a century before? I definitely need to do at least one this summer, we should get a bunch of people out for one if you’re down.
I’ve never ridden a century before. But I might go to the “Lac Saint-Jean” this summer and do it on my uni. I did it a few years ago on a b*ke and it’s about 80kms per day. If you want to do a century this summer on our unis I’d be in for sure!
Remember, Sam broke Ken’s record. Sam average 18.9kph for 24 hrs. Good luck, but that is a sick average speed for even a couple hours, let alone 24 hrs.
Like folks have said, ride a hard 100k (try to keep over 20kph) to get an idea of how hard it is. It’s hard.
I’m really happy every time I see people thinking about trying this record. It has stood still for too long!
I would go a bit further than Steve. I’d say you should definitely try to do a 150 mile day ride before planning doing the 24hr record. At least this is what I did which made me feel it was worth attempting the big one. I did a 150 mile point-to-point road ride in about 14 hours and felt reasonable afterwards. It is easier to keep up an average speed on a track than the road.
I think Guinness definitely have the right policy on requiring a measured circuit for this record. Otherwise there are too many variables - hills, wind direction etc. Going round and round can be tedious, but it is the most fair. It also makes it easy for people to support you - which is fundamental to a 24hr record ride. No friends, no success. Know friends, know success. (sorry!).
Also, aerodynamics are important. Getting a low riding position will give you extra free miles. I look forward to seeing the first unicyclist to wear a time trial aero helmet.
Good luck
Sam
P.s. From the logs of my laps I worked out I did 2 hours of stops. So my average riding speed was actually 20.61 kph.
I second what Sam said. A record is only worthy of being a record if people want it.
We’re looking at incorporating many of the Guinness guidelines into the new IUF standards…currently in the committee stage but expect further announcements later this year. It will do away with any inconsistencies (both Guinness and IUF records), and hopefully encourage more people to attempt records.
I think it could be pushed over 500km, but the most critical thing would be body position- if you are not comfortable you will suffer after about 8hrs. Also, as Sam said, make sure you’ve done at least 150miles before you attempt it, or you won’t have the experience to know if you can pull it off- it’s not easy to have so many people counting laps and supporting you and then letting them down.
Circuit courses are more accurate and will cancel out things like wind and elevation gain. It is also more accurate in terms of measurement. Although it has yet to be discussed on the IUF WR committee- it’s likely to be a standard that will be incorporated I think.
You missed it. Unicon III, 1987 in Tokyo (were you even born yet?). The late Floyd Beattie (from Ohio) used one on the track, and probably also used it in his 100 mile race against Takayuke Koike after the convention. Floyd had held the 100 mile record earlier.
And just because Ashrita Furman wants a record, doesn’t mean anybody else wants it.
Okay, for those of you who don’t know who he is, he holds records like underwater pogo-sticking, running a marathon while balancing stuff on his head, somersaulting, etc. Some of them included unicycles.