Ultracyclist Joe Barr, 66, of Northern Ireland, traveled all 2,448 miles of Route 66 from Santa Monica to Chicago in slightly over 10 1/2 days, which is a provisional record.
According to Cycling Weekly, Barr finished the trek last Friday in 10 days, 12 hours, 3 minutes, which included 21,000 meters of climbing.
My calculations show Barr averaged 9.7 mph under his own power, two-thirds of the way across the country.
He slept around four hours a night and rode an average of more than 200 miles a day, trailed by a faithful support crew that included his wife, performance nutritionist Jill Mooney. She told Cycling Weekly after the attempt: “We’ve faced heat and altitude in Race Across America, but Route 66 brought unrelenting extreme heat in Arizona and New Mexico and extreme humidity through Oklahoma and Missouri.
“It was challenging to manage the balance between core temperature, hydration electrolytes, and fuel. Add the constant vibration from a 100-year-old road and you’ll get a sense of the performance Joe has delivered.”
Barr himself added: “Route 66 delivered everything a route of this caliber should – extreme heat, altitude, and challenging road conditions. In the early days it had me on the ropes but I got stronger as I adjusted to race conditions. The support from the team and from the Route 66 community was incredible. To pull this off before I turned 67 years old, in the centennial year of Route 66 – I couldn’t ask for more.”
Guinness will certify whether Barr’s effort indeed was a world record.
Here are a few images from shortly after Barr crossing the finish line at Navy Pier in Chicago.
And here’s a few minutes of footage from just before and just after Barr finished his trek.
During an interview with WKU Public Radio not far from the finish line, Barr said he even cycled on dirt-road portions of Route 66 that “slow you down for sure.”
“I’ve been on a race nutritional program that’s been my life for the last two years getting prepared for this event, and I’m going to have some really nice ice cream and hopefully a really cool beer,” he said.
(Image of Joe Barr via BarrUltra)