Who is the best cyclist for endurance?
 

Tittle says it all.

What are the criteria?

I vote Machka

As Machka says, if you want an actual good discussion - define best.

The one who finishes the ride they start.

Judge on the basis of bestiness.

There is this guy I know who does trainer sessions in the winter of 3, 4, and even sometimes 5 hours in duration.

I consider that a significant feat of endurance.

Is that what you had in mind?

Mike Hall, dude was a beast. Sadly, he went to that big race in the sky.

Kristof Allegaert

pretty funny question for this forum, I think the OP should have listed some candidates so we know what he's talking about.

Lael Wilcox has always impressed me, even though there are some faster endurance riders.

Well, there is the world record holder who rode an average of 237 miles a day for 365 days averaging 20+ mph. I don't know how much more of an endurance rider you can get. That same rider also holds the world record for the fewest number of days to ride 100,000 miles, accomplishing it in 423 days.

Amanda beat Tommy... by a lot. For pure endurance, it's hard to argue against the HAMR. Ride pretty fast for 10-15 hours/day, every day for a year. No rest days, no sick days, no bad weather days. That's endurance.

That and Tommy Godwin is dead. The incredibly low-effort OP did ask "who is..."

His record stood for a very long time though, until someone was smart enough, fast enough, and dedicated enough to destroy it. It's going to be tough to break this record again, that's for sure.

There are a lot of definitions of endurance cycling. Some people might even think that Tour de France riders are riding an unbelievable endurance challenge, the peak of endurance. And that's true by any reasonable definition of endurance. But then we have people on TABR or Tour Divide or similar rides going hard for 2-3 weeks straight, without being stopped for 18 hours a day. And the aspect of true self-sufficiency in those rides makes it something different than Ham'r, and difficult to compare.

It is a rubbish thread started by a new member who was looking for excuses to promote e-bikes in his discussion, evidenced in other threads he has started. Fortunately, this section has enough attachment to real long-distance events that don't include an electric or other power motor.

All the people listed, right up to Amanda and the tragic end for Mike, as well as the original annual distance holder, are totally justified, as are the winners of any the long distances we participate in, as well as those involved in racing, such as Tour de France, etc.

Ironically, none of them are likely to be readily identified by the person who started the thread.

Interestingly, the Summer Solstice in 1939 was June 21st (the longest day of the year) and on that day, Tommy Goodwin rode an 'unimaginable' 361 miles… which, may still be a record to this day and if so, that is pretty enduring.

There are a couple Seattle riders who I'd rank well up there. At least, I think they both ride with SIR although I might be mistaken about one of them ... he might be from a California club.

And there's one who rides with the BC Randonneurs.




I think you all know who I'm talking about. :)

Did he only ride in daylight? That isn't really a category that is tracked. The 12 hour records are approaching that number, 24 hour records have exceeded 500 miles for years. https://www.ultracycling.com/timed/
I couldn't believe someone had ridden 1200miles in 24 hours on a standard bike until I saw that he drafted a semi.

Not sure although he did apparently make use of lighting the old fashion way-- self generated as there were no batteries.

After seeing some of the many accomplishments, I'm tending toward Jure Robič as the leading candidate for all-time champ of endurance cycling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jure_Robič

He was amazing, but Christoph Strasser holds the RAAM record. I would be really curious how a RAMM solo winner would do on TABR. RAAM is fully supported.

Pretty sure he would beat all the other bikes, maybe even the velomobiles. He's faster and sleeps less. I'm sure he could figure out how to get stuff along the way like the TABR riders. Although I don't think the RAAM guys are interested in TABR. It's less competitive, and I rode with a guy who finished RAAM last year who said he would never ride TABR because it's too dangerous.

Hopefully they figure out how to make TABR less dangerous

Unfortunately Jure Robič died in a training crash. I wonder if he would still be winning

Nope! Amanda beat that as well - 402 miles in one day while smashing Goodwin's 100,000 mile record by 77 days. BTW: she doesn't hold the record for most miles in a day but she did beat Goodwin.

This guy should be in line for bragging rights!

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