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Aaron Bleakley is celebrating a very speedy practice run at Blenheim’s Athletic Park last week, ahead of his world record attempt later this year.
The 50-year-old cyclist is preparing to ride 50 km in an hour, in August at an indoor velodrome in Invercargill.
That would break the record for 50 to 54-year-olds of 48.034 km, and also the overall New Zealand record of 49.184 km.
Anthony Phelps/Stuff
Bleakley has lots of supporters at his trial run at Athletic Park on Saturday.
In Bleakley’s practice run on Saturday, in gusty conditions on the outdoor track, he was pleased to have managed 44.185 km, which he calculated was the equivalent to 49 km in an indoor velodrome.
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“I’m stoked with the distance, even though the distance is not a proper representation of the ability,” Bleakley said.
The weather conditions had a huge impact on his speed on Saturday, he said.
Anthony Phelps/Stuff
Sweat drips from the nose of Aaron Bleakley as he pushes himself towards the world record.
The temperature and wind needed to be right for optimal performance on an outdoor track, and unfortunately on Saturday that was not the case.
“The wind got really terrible, like the weather definitely disrupted things. But there’s a reason why it was a practice and that’s why the indoor speeds are always faster and the distances are longer,” Bleakley said.
The one-hour record was a cycling test that asked cyclists to cover the longest distance they can within 60 minutes.
Anthony Phelps/Stuff
Bleakley battles gusty conditions at the Blenheim track on Saturday.
“My target is 50 km,” Bleakley said.
One of Bleakley’s motivations in beating the record was to inspire young cyclists at the Cuddon Cycling Club, who he said were “magnificent” in supporting him.
“We’ve got a really good bunch of juniors, and it was quite a good team-building exercise for them, to help support and maybe inspire some of the kids to do it,” Bleakley said.
Anthony Phelps/Stuff
Aaron Bleakley is stoked with his practice run result of 44.185 km in an hour.
Bleakley had been cycling from the age of 8, starting with mountainbike racing. It was in August last year he decided to challenge the hour record.
After a complicated start to training last year, which included broken ribs and Covid, Bleakley said he thought he was only performing at about 90% of his total fitness ability over the weekend.
“I know for sure that there’s way more in the tank.”
Bleakley said he would be focusing the next few months on fitness training, so he can go even faster come record day in August.
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