a note about world records

General
1

savagec1@msu.edu writes:
>My name is Chris Savage and I’m working with a man named Lars
>Clausen who is soon to embark on a Guiness World Record ™
>setting unicycle ride from Neah Bay in the northwest tip of
>Washington State to the Statue of Liberty in New York City, nearly
>5,000 miles!
Just a note: My brother and I have been interested in such a record for
over a year. John finally contacted Guiness (they are terrible) and
discovered that to set an official record, we’d have to cover a distance
over about 4,000mi in a time of about 60 days so that our avg daily ride
came to at least 75mi. There is some confusion on this bc the record
actually appeared to go down (if you look in older GBWRs and newer
editions). Apparently the criteria changed, and now it seems that the
major criterion is not total distance but total distance where avg daily
distance meets or exceeds that of the previous record holder.
Our ride may take place in a few years but is on hold bc John just
sprained his ankle and bc I am unsure when I can take off that much time.
By the way, John rode across some of southern Europe last summer along
with a lovely group, averaging about 65miles a day (including 4 days off).
I have ridden 80miles in a day.
>
>Lars is a Lutheran pastor and is doing this in part to raise $5 million
>for Alaska’s Seward Peninsula Lutheran Ministry Endowment Fund.
>This Fund will benefit the Inupiat people of Alaska (a native group).
>The name of this project is ONE WHEEL - MANY SPOKES.
This is great, and I wish him well. I will do my part to help.
>
>I’m writing to you to invite you to participate in this exciting and
>worthwhile event in any way you find appropriate. Some ideas:
>
>1. Join Lars by riding with him for a while.
Love to
>
>2. Spread the word to your unicycling friends and associates.
Definitely
>
>3. Follow Lars’ trip on his website (http://www.onewheel.org)
> through his “Rider’s Journal”.
of course
>
>4. Follow his trip by signing up for his email mailing list by sending
> an email to lars@soulscapers.com. If you do this, please let
> him know how you found out about it!
>5. Make a financial contribution to ONE WHEEL - MANY
> SPOKES.
ok
>
>6. Organize a unicycle-related fundraiser for the Endowment Fund.
>7. Be a host site for Lars and his family as they pass through your
> area.
love to – brooklyn, ny
>
>8. <insert your terrific idea here!>
I may take him up on some of the other ones, too, but I can say yes now to
the ones I added notes to.
>
>If you are interested in more information, please visit Lars’ website
>or send me an email. On the website you’ll find his itinerary,
>information about the Endowment Fund and frequent updates
>about the project as it develops. We hope to hear from you soon!
>
>Kind Regards,
>Chris Savage
>savagec1@msu.edu

David Stone
Co-founder, Unatics of NY
1st Sunday / 3rd Saturday
@ Central Park Bandshell
1:30 start time after 11/1/01

2

On Fri, 08 Feb 2002 00:36:02 -0500, “David Stone” <dstone@packer.edu>
wrote:

>discovered that to set an official record, we’d have to cover a distance
>over about 4,000mi in a time of about 60 days so that our avg daily ride
>came to at least 75mi. There is some confusion on this
What confuses me is that “about 4,000” divided by “about 60” is about
67, which has little overlap with “at least 75”.
But maybe calculus is not the only tool/lnowledge required.

Klaas Bil

“To trigger/fool/saturate/overload Echelon, the following has been picked automagically from a database:”
“SUAEWICS, Fortezza, Virii”

3

klaasbil_remove_the_spamkiller_@xs4all.nl writes:
>On Fri, 08 Feb 2002 00:36:02 -0500, “David Stone” <dstone@packer.edu>
>wrote:
>
>>discovered that to set an official record, we’d have to cover a distance
>>over about 4,000mi in a time of about 60 days so that our avg daily ride
>>came to at least 75mi. There is some confusion on this
>What confuses me is that “about 4,000” divided by “about 60” is about
>67, which has little overlap with “at least 75”.
>But maybe calculus is not the only tool/lnowledge required.
Oops-- meant about 50 days.

The ride that Lars is planning is nowhere near that vicinity. It’s a
planned distance of about 4500 miles in 102 riding days. Guiness will not
recognize that as a distance record if they use the criteria quoted to my
brother, John.

John suggested I check out the ONE WHEEL MANY SPOKES website. It’s nicely
done but makes quite clear that this well-intentioned man has little
experience with distance riding. His entry of Feb 7 indicates he has never
tried a Coker, tho it hints he wants to use one for the ride. He made no
mention of training for the ride or having previously ridden long
distances except for a bike ride across the US which he made 15 years ago.

David
Co-founder, Unatics of NY
1st Sunday / 3rd Saturday
@ Central Park Bandshell
1:30 start time after 11/1/01