Former road race professional turned endurance rider Joe Barr has broken his own record for the 738-mile Malin-Mizen-Malin route.
He set out on Friday with the aim of breaking his own record of 48hrs 40mins and ended up taking more than four hours off his own previous marker set in November, 2017.
Barr had to contend with wet and windy conditions through much of his ride at the weekend but completed the journey down the island and back up again in a time of 44hrs 15mins.
He was some 4hrs 25mins faster than his own previous record and despite having turned 61 years he is showing no signs of slowing down.
While the record still has to be ratified by the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association, Barr’s support team is very experienced and the verification of the record should just be a rubber-stamping process.
Advertisement
It was an incredible achievement for him and one done with the backing of several sponsors including White’s Oats.
Related News
“The wind was so strong on the way down and the rain; for the first 200 miles I couldn’t even see the road,” he said of very challenging windy and wet conditions.
“The bike was aquaplaning everywhere and I had a couple of big moments, one in particular, where the road was covered in diesel oil and both wheels slid in the wrong direction and I just got away with it.”
He said he was delighted to get the record by such a significant margin after all the work his team had put in.
“I've been training really hard, I was riding seven or eight hours every single day,” he added of his own preparation.
"Sometimes you get a perfect day. On Saturday, it felt like one of those days, but I definitely started to run out of gas in the last quarter."
Topics
