And riding at night on a tartan track? Surely that’s not a regular occurance?
I’m pretty sure I don’t know his sister. Because I don’t know who it is. The face looks like Bill Gilbertson! But I’ve never seen the T-shirt before, and I assume it is not him.
They guy appears to be on a track, so maybe it’s a photo from a record attempt someone sent in. The photo is pretty dim, so it’s hard for me to even make out the unicycle.
No unicycle records, eh? I think Guinness needs to hear more from us. We need to get that World Records Committee up and running, and get a dialog going with Guinness so they don’t ignore us in the future…
That is what I thought too, but Bill has too much fashion sense to wear those godawful black socks.
Unless maybe he was trying to embarass Gilby.
I really don’t like the way the Guinness Book has gone. It used to be a compendium of every record they had. Now it’s a picturebook with the ‘flashiest’ and ‘most amazing’ records. You’ve got to have a genetic defect or be willing to endanger your life in some way to get into it now. I much preferred the pre-hardcover editions that were just paperbacks full of records.
In the 2005 book (at least here in the US), Guinness included the existing hour record (as of 2004) of some guy that did less than 10 miles back in the 90’s.
Guinness never officially recognized Stefan Gauler’s 2000 record of 13.8 miles on a 26er, so that has never appeared in the books.
They seem to pick & choose various records for each new year’s book, just like the records they choose to publish on their web site. They say they have too many records to compile in one publication.
Guinness seems to be very reliant upon the respective governing bodies when it comes to sports records. It appears from all accounts that they never consult with the IUF when deciding whether to recognize a record. I agree the IUF should take the lead on that and educate them. And there have been prior threads on that.
From the FAQ on the Guinness website:
"Why is my record not in the book? "
Each year we receive approximately 65,000 enquiries from around the world from people who want to set or break records. Many are successful and their details are added to our database of records.
However, we can only publish around 4,000 records in the book each year, as it would be impossible to publish entries on all records and record-holders. An editorial decision therefore has to be made as to which records will be included.
If your record hasn’t been selected for publication on this occasion, there’s a chance that it may be included in future editions, dependent upon the requirements of the book-buying public and the managing editor’s discretion. It may also appear in this website.
I have the answer, he is in the Guiness Book of World Records 2001.
This is exactly what it says, has the same picture aswell.
Longest Backward Unicycle
Steve Gordon (USA) rode a unicycle backward for 68 miles at Southwestern Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, USA, on June 24, 1999.
The picture is exactly the same, except the one in the 2001 book is the back of him. (picture coming soon)
That sounds right. In the picture it does look like he’s riding backwards.
Yeah when I saw that picture I remebered when I actually got the book back in 2000 (the 2001 edition is the one I bought, for some reason it always comes out a year early) I remebered seeing a unicyclist, and I wasn’t riding back then so I was just amazed about how big the unicycle was. Then when I saw that picture that is in this thread, I immediatly dug up the Guiness 2001 and there it was under the Bicycles and Motorcycles section.
I just noticed there are more unicycle records.
They include:
Smallest Unicycle
8 inch high, wheel diameter of .71 in. Ridden by Peter Rosendahl (Sweden) in 1988.
Tallest Unicycle (this was broken by Sem but this was from 2001)
101 ft. 9in. high. Ridden by Steve McPeak in 1980
Fastest Unicyclists (as of 2001)
Peter Rosendahl sprint record for 100 metres. from a standing start of 12.11 sec. (18.47 m.p.h.) in 1994.
Takayuki Koike from Japan set a record for 100 miles of 6 hrs. 44 min. 21.84 in August 1987.
I’m sure most of those records have been broken. Does anyone know if any of the newer Guiness books include any unicycling feats?
I believe the 2004 and 2005 versions have Amy Shields’ record of 208 jump rope skips in a minute on a unicycle. Guiness’ website lists Alex Toms for highest drop on a unicycle and longest rail grind. I can’t think of any other records they list offhand.
I’m pretty sure Peter Rosendahl broke his own smallest unicycle record just recently.
yeah it sucks… i wanted to be in the book haha. instead they have a bike trials rider champion, (not even doing anything cool mind you) who the hell wants to see that? and he shares the record anyways
MERCYME has it right. I emailed the Guinness folks when the thread appeared and below is their response which finally arrived today.
The unicyclist on the inside cover of the Guinness World Records Book
2006 is Steve Gordon (USA).
He rode backwards on a unicycle for a distance of 109.4 km (68 miles) at
Southwestern Missouri State University, Springfield, Missouri, USA on 24
June 1999.
Kind Regards,
Pamela Schoenhofer
TV Production Assistant GWR
I’m not sure which is more impressive, going backwards for 68 miles or going backwards on a Coker.
and why is he wearing sunglasses at night? i think hes tryiong to conceal his identity… FESS UP GILBY!!!
ROLF
Alas Steve Gordon is no longer with us, and I’m pretty sure Peter Rosendahl went out and broke that record a year or so afterward. Or maybe it was Steve breaking an older record by Rosendahl?
Found a record!
This is a little off topic, but there is One (yes, still pretty measly, and not a very good one at that) unicycling record on page 29 of the 2006 edition:
UNICYCLE RIDE ACROSS AUSTRALIA
From June 30 to August 20, 1985, Hanspeter Beck (Australia) unicycled a total of 3,876.1 miles (6.237.96 km) from Port Hedland, Western Australia, to Melbourne Victoria, in 51 days, 23 hr and 25 minutes.
What country? There appear to be many different versions, even within the same language.
I’ve got the U.S. version. Once again, Pg. 29, right underneath the middle of a picture of a car.
Thanx for the ‘heads-up!’.
(And welcome to the forum.)
Even more off-topic, I nearly fell off my seat when I thought Unibiker had posted again. But anyway, welcome to the board Uniker.
Yeah, no sign of any new unicycle records in the printed Guinness Book this year, hopefully next year. It seems like there are far fewer printed records in the later versions than my last edition (circa 1992).
I did get a call from the Guinness Publishers in NZ about putting my name forward for interviews on Guinness World Records day a few weeks back.
Ken