kickblogger's Journal

Kickbike U.S. crossing completed - 11/22/01
It was 8 years ago today that Dan Nielsen completed his record setting journey across the U.S. on a Kickbike. According to my calculations, he started kicking that day at about 3:24 A.M. in Valdosta, Georgia. In Harald Fricker's report of the last day of the ride, he said Dan went through Waycross, GA (62 miles from Valdosta) at around 10:00 A.M. At that point, Dan had about 64 miles to go. Dan reached the Atlantic Ocean at Jekyll Island Historic District at 4:57 PM, a little after sunset.

He kicked 126 miles that day, the longest distance he had kicked in a day in the entire trip, except for the 138 miles he rode the first day of the trip (11/1/01).

Stats for the last day of the trip: 126 miles in 13:33 at an average speed of 9.3 mph (including any rest breaks).

Stats for the entire trip: 2378 miles in 21 days, 9 hours, 57 minutes. Average daily mileage: 108.09 or 111.04, depending on whether you divide 2378 miles by 22 days or 21.415 days (9:57 is about .415 days).

In July 2005, Jim Delzer (the first person to ride across the U.S. on a Kickbike) attempted to break Dan Nielsen's U.S. crossing world record, but he was unsuccessful.

The account of Nielsen's record setting trip is still available at http://tinyurl.com/5gwkhy and an article on the trip in the Vail Daily newspaper is available at http://tinyurl.com/6ja8qm

tags: footbike, scooter, world record, Kickbike

2001 U.S. crossing start
I've written about it here before (see my posts last November), but just wanted to acknowledge again that Dan Nielsen began crossing the U.S. on a Kickbike 8 years ago today. The first day (11/1/01), he kicked 138 miles, and he went on to kick 100+ miles 17 more times in the next 21 days. The only times he kicked less than 100 miles during the trip were on 11/4 (74 miles), 11/6 (94 miles), 11/17 (98 miles) and 11/20 (95 miles).

tags: kickbike, footbike, kickscooter, world record

Colorado Kickbike/footbike State Championship
The first Kickbike (footbike) competition ever held in North America took place 10 years ago, on September 12, 1999. The name of the race was "Colorado Super-Kick 8k State Championship" or "Colorado Kickbike [8k] State Championship."

According to the race report, which is still online at http://www.racingunderground.com/kickres99.html ,the race was 4 laps of a "mile and a quarter" track at the Mountain View Motorsports Park in Mead, CO [now known as the Continental Divide Race Park].

It's not clear whether the race was really 5 miles or if it was 8 kilometers. Four laps of a 1.25 mile course is 5 miles, which is 8,046.72 meters. Perhaps the last lap was shortened by 46.72 meters (51.09 yards) and the race was 8k (8,000 meters). Or maybe the race was actually 5 miles and the race director called it 8 kilometers.

At any rate, Dan Nielsen won the race with a time of 18:38, setting a new U.S. kickscooter/footbike record for the 8 kilometer (and/or 5 mile) distance. That record stood for 6 years, until Gary Schmitt broke it on 9/24/05. Gary and Bob Dymond rode their Kickbikes on a course in Max, Indiana - the course was measured and certified by a U.S. Cycling Federation official, and the official timed both of them as they crossed the 8k and 5 mile marks on the course. Gary's 8k time was 18:25.15 and his 5 mile time was 18:29.65. Bob's times for 8k/5 miles were 19:31.25/19:36.03.

On 7/25/07, Gary smashed his U.S. 8k/5 mile records in a time trial on the same Max, IN course. His 8k time was 17:32.83 and his 5 mile time was 17:39.61.

Six out of the seven competitors in the 9/12/99 race still hold either age group or single age records for 8k (or 5 miles):

Dan Nielsen: 18:38, age 35-39, age 37
Mike Moher: 19:07, age 38
Keith Harper: 19:11, age 30-34, age 30
Pablo Vigil: 21:14, age 45-49, age 47
Peter Bryant: 21:34, age 46
Herb Seres: 22:06, age 58

The only one of the seven who doesn't have an 8k/5 mile age group or single age record is Michael Hagen - he had the "misfortune" of being the same age as Dan Nielsen (37).

Bob Dymond's times in 2005 are still the 8k/5 mile records for someone 56 years old.

Several weeks ago, according to the journal section of http://kickitmarketing.blogspot.com , Christopher and Sarah Cox were timed on a 5 mile section of a course in Utah. Chris's time (on August 22) was 19:08, and Sarah's time (on August 25) was 21:18. Not sure who timed them, how the 5-mile course was measured, or what the course profile was. If these times had been in an official race, Sarah would have set a U.S. women's 5 mile footbike record and Chris would have set the U.S. record for someone 35 years old. Chris's time of 19:08 might also be the 4th fastest 5 miler in the U.S. (depending on whether Mike Moher's time of 19:07 on 9/12/99 was for 8k or 5 miles).

tags: footbike, Kickbike

U.S. and world records for 24 hour footbike rides
About a year ago, I posted Alpo Kuusisto's report of his world record breaking 24-hour ride on a Kickbike scooter that took place on August 30-31, 2002. That report is available here at http://kickblogger.livejournal.com/13474.html

It was originally posted on the Kickbike USA Yahoo group in early September 2002, and it appeared later on Antti Lehtinen's kick news page (http://potku.fi/kn/).

Alpo kicked 519 kilometers (322.5 miles) in that 24 hour period, starting at 9 A.M. (local time) on 8/30/02 and ending at 9 A.M. on 8/31/02.

The previous 24-hour record had been 450.448 kilometers (279.895 miles), set in 1996 by Dutch kicker Gerrit-Jan Beldman.

During the 24 hour ride, Alpo also broke the 15 hour record of 344.917 km (215.32 miles) that had been set by Dutch kicker Rudy Van Bork in 1991, when he (Alpo) kicked 355.5 km (220.9 miles). And in that same ride, Alpo also set or broke the 20 hour record when he kicked 451 km. (280.24 miles).

The records set by Alpo that day in 2002 are regarded by some as "unofficial" world records.

On 6/14/08, Mario Reijne broke Gerrit-Jan Beldman's Dutch 24-hr record by about 11 km when he kicked 461.361 km (286.68 miles). Mario also set new records for 10 hours (203.857 km), 15 hours (295.056 km) and 20 hours (386.256 km) during the 24 hour ride.

Because the course Mario kicked on was measured more exactly and was flatter than the course Alpo kicked on, some think that Mario has the official world record for 24 hours. He definitely does have the Dutch record.

Only a few U.S. kickers have attempted to set a record for most distance kicked in 24 hours. Dan Nielsen and Jim Delzer kicked over 100 miles in a day numerous times, but all of these rides took place in multi-day Colorado crossings (Nielsen in 1999 and 2001) or U.S. crossings (Nielsen and Delzer in 2001). Jim's best was 138.29 miles. Dan's best was 178 miles (but there was a slight overall elevation loss during that ride). His second best was 174 miles, which included an elevation gain of 3,000 feet. That was considered the longest one day kick in the U.S. until I kicked 201.2 miles in June 2004. See http://kickblogger.livejournal.com/5350.html for a complete report of that ride.

The fourth longest one-day kick (150 miles) happened in May 2004. Alex Bekkerman rode that far on a course on Long Island, NY. He was attempting to break Nielsen's record (174 miles) and was also trying to be the first to kick 200 miles in one day.

None of the one-day rides by these four kickers was or is considered to be an "official" U.S. record. I think my 201.2 mile ride is the closest to being official, in that I rode 40 laps of a 5 mile, almost flat course. I also measured the circumference of my Kickbike's front wheel as exactly as possible, and inputted this wheel size (in millimeters) in the cyclometer I used during the ride. Wind wasn't a factor since the course I rode on required me to ride north, south, east and west - if I had a tailwind when riding in one direction, I had a headwind when riding that same road in the other direction.

Jeff (aka "Spartacus") Oakie is now in training to try to break the U.S. 24-hour record and/or set an "official" record. It looks like he's also set his sights on breaking Mario Reijne's record. His "tweets" on his training are available at http://www.twitter.com/footbikeusa

tags: footbike, Kickbike

100 kilometer Kickike ride on 8/26/01
The following was posted to the Kickbike USA Yahoo group on August 28, 2001. It is a report of my circa 100 kilometer Kickbike ride that took place 8 years ago, on 8/26/01. At the time that was the longest distance I had kicked.

[start of report of 8/26/01 ride]

Sunday, I reached another milestone on my Kickbike. Kicked just over 63 miles (about a mile farther than 100 kilometers) in about 6 hours and 49 minutes. Started at 1:40 PM and didn't get back until 8:30. Had to kick the last several miles in darkness, mostly on sidewalks (didn't have any lights or reflectors front or rear, so didn't want to risk being out on the road in traffic) with mostly street lights as the only illumination. Could have taken a shorter route to get back home once it really started getting dark, but was determined to reach and surpass the 100 km distance.

Some of the roads on the route I took I had not driven or ridden on before. Several of them, I discovered, turned out to be not the best for kickbiking; probably won't ever kick them again. I had to slow down numerous times to avoid bumps, holes and cracks. Couldn't avoid every single one, however, and scraped the bottom of the frame slightly several times (I have a lowering kit installed). Even though there is an increased chance that the frame will contact the road (if the road surface is uneven) with lowering kit installed, I don't plan to remove the kit - it's just so much easier kicking and switching feet with the lowered footboard. You just have to be really alert to what's up ahead at all times.

Two Powerbars, several liters of Gatorade/Powerade and several liters of water kept me going throughout the trip. When my back and legs started tightening up while I was kicking in the middle to late stages of the trip, I found that it was relieved somewhat by doing some stretches while I was still coasting and standing on the platform. That's one of the great things about Kickbikes - you have freedom of movement and can stretch out your legs and back while you're still riding, and the kicking motion itself tends to keep these muscles from tightening up. Today, I do feel some fatigue, but hardly feel any muscle soreness or stiffness at all, just slight tenderness in one calf muscle.

Now, kicking 100 miles doesn't seem totally out of reach. It certainly will be much more difficult, mentally and physically, to kick 100 miles than 100 kilometers, but I think I will eventually be able to do it. That's one of my goals right now, anyway.

John in NH

P.S. Anyone else have Kickbike distance goals they have reached or are working toward?

[end of message]

tags: footbike, Kickbike, metric century, 100 kilometers, kick scooter

Kickbike ultra kicks in mid-late August
In the past 8 years, a lot of long distance Kickbike rides have taken place in mid- to late-August.

On August 20, 2003, Jim Hansen kicked twice as far as he had ever kicked before when he rode his Millenium Racer 127 miles from Nashua, NH, to Falmouth, MA, in 11 hours 23 minutes. His report of the ride is in the archived messages of the Kickbike USA Yahoo group.

On August 22, 2001, at 1 A.M. Mountain Daylight Time, Dan Nielsen began kicking across Colorado, starting at the Utah/Colorado border. He stopped for the day at 9:20 P.M. at his home in Beaver Creek, after having kicked 174 miles, with an elevation gain of about 3,000 feet. This broke Jim Delzer's one day distance record of 138.29 miles (set during Jim's first ever U.S. crossing in May-July 2001) and it was considered to be the 24 hour U.S. distance record it was broken in late June 2004.

On August 23, 2001, Dan kicked 114 miles from Beaver Creek to just outside of Denver. At the time, Dan considered this the toughest kick he had ever experienced. He had to kick up to and over Vail Pass (ca. 11,000 feet) and then up to and over Loveland Pass (11,992 feet). Plus there were some tough, long climbs leading into Denver. The elevation gain in that day's ride was about 8,000 feet. It took Dan 14 hours to complete the 114 mile kick.

On August 24-25, 2001, Dan kicked 178 miles, starting in the morning just outside Denver and finishing at the Kansas border at 1:19 A.M. on 8/25. The total time for the Colorado crossing was 72 hours, 19 minutes. Total distance was 466 miles. This broke his 1999 Colorado crossing record (kicked on a slightly different 529 mile course) of 176 hours, 56 minutes. The 178 miles he kicked that day was not considered the (then) 24 hour distance record because there was a slight overall elevation loss on the route from Denver to the Kansas border.

The daily reports of Dan's 2001 Colorado crossing are in the archives of the Kickbike USA Yahoo group (message #473, 477, 481, 482, 484, 485, and 486) and the kickbiking Yahoo group (message #359, 360, 361, 365, 366 and 367).

On August 24, 2007, Richard Myers rode a modified Millennium Racer 71 miles on his 71st birthday, mostly on bike paths, starting near his home in Xenia, OH. He announced his intention to do the kick in message #8709 (posted 8/22/07) in the Kickbike USA group. In message # 8717, he reported he had completed the ride. And he gave a full report of the kick in message #8725, which includes links to photos taken during the ride and also a link to a page with information on his other ultra endurance exploits over the years, including racewalking 100 miles in less than 24 hours when he was 41 years old and skating 60-plus miles and then biking 60-plus miles on some of his birthdays when he was in his 60's!

Happy 73rd birthday Richard Myers! That 71 mile kick 2 years ago on your 71st birthday (8/24/07) was awesome!

tags: ultramarathon, footbike, Kickbike, scooter, kickscooter, cycling

Footbike world records broken in Sankt Wendel Germany?
Depending on IKSA certification, it looks as if quite a few 10 kilometer and marathon footbike world records that were (or may have been) set at the Eurocup event in Verrayes-Rapy, Italy two months ago were broken at the Sankt Wendel, Germany Eurocup event held last weekend.

Kai Immonen of Finland missed breaking his own (pending) 10 km world record by about 1.5 seconds when he won the 10 km event in 19:03.945.

Here are the new (pending) 10 kilometer world records:
Men's Veteran (age 45+): Mario Cecchetti (Italy) - 19:53.874 (his previous WR was 20:32.298)
Men's Junior (age 16-17): Tobias Dropmann (Germany) - 21:15.432 (old record was ???)
Men's Cadet (age 14-15): Paul Dahlke (Germany) - 20:57.560 (old record was 27.59.313)

Women's Senior (age 18-44): Rosanne Reijne (Netherlands) - 21:48.784 (her previous WR was 23:20.074)
Women's Veteran: Ivana Dvorakova (Czech) - 23:42.44 (her previous WR was 25:55.911)
Women's Cadet: Maxime Reijne (Netherlands) - 22:01.444 (breaks her previous WR of 23:48.511)

In the marathon event (42.195 kilometers or 26.21875 miles), Kai Immonen of Finland kicked the second fastest marathon ever - 1:20:26.479, missing Alpo Kuusisto's world record by about 23 seconds. The length of the track was 5960 meters. Since 7 laps of the track was only 41.72 kilometers, the racers needed to kick an extra 475 meters at the beginning in order for the total distance to be 42.195 kilometers.

Here are the new (pending) world records for the marathon distance:

Men's Veteran: Wolfgang Seibel (Germany)- 1:29:38.359 (previous record was 1:31:04.598 set by Mario Reijne)
Women's Senior: Martina Smitkova (Czech) - 1:39:50.523 (this smashes Rosanne Reijne's WR time of 1:42:37.978). Rosanne came in second in 1:44:02.617.
Women's Veteran: Ivana Dvorakova (Czech) - 1:50:26.666 (it is not clear whether this is a new world record. It does beat Ivana's time in the Verrayes-Rapy, Italy event - 1:53:09.175)

tags: footbike, scooter, kickscooter, Kickbike, world records

U.S. footbike records
I've created an Excel spreadsheet file that lists U.S. footbike records I am aware of, and I've posted it to the files section of several Yahoo groups - Kickbike USA, kickbiking, and USA footbiking.

If you are a member of any of these groups, you should be able to find the file by going to the group home page, clicking on the "files" link, scrolling down until you see "US FB records" or "US footbike records" and clicking on the file.

The list includes official (and semiofficial :-)) records at distances ranging from 1 kilometer to 200 miles (321.87 km), broken down by division/class. It also includes the U.S. crossing record, the Colorado crossing record, and the 24 hour record.
Many of the divisions are either age group divisions in 5-year increments (e.g., age 40-44, 55-59, etc.) or single age divisions (e.g., age 33, age 58, etc.). Some of the divisions are ones that are recognized by the International Kicksled and Scooter Association (IKSA) - e.g. Veteran (age 45 and older) and Senior (age 18-44).

If someone is listed as having a record in the "open" division, that means the person has the U.S. record regardless of age (that is, no one in the U.S. has kicked a faster time at that distance).

You may notice that some records have a question mark or "maybe" next to them. Richard Van Camp is a U.S. citizen that is (or was) living in Finland. He has the fastest marathon time (42.195 km or 26.21875 miles), but it is not clear (a) what his fastest time is, (b) when he recorded that time, or (c) how old he was when he kicked his fastest time (or how old he was when he kicked any official marathons).

Because it is unclear when Richard VC competed in official marathons and how old he was when the marathons were held, I'm not sure if either Christopher Cox or Mat Greensides has an age group or single age record at the marathon distance. I believe Richard Van Camp competed in footbike races between 2002 and 2006. According to a race report I saw on the web, he was born in 1970, so he could have been anywhere from 31 to 35 when he competed in footbike marathon races. Thus, it's not clear whether Chris Cox's or Mat Greenside's times in the Utah Valley Marathon on 6/13/09 are age group and/or single age U.S. marathon records. That's why I put question marks (or "maybe") next to their records.

If you can't access the Excel file in any of the Yahoo groups, let me know (I will e-mail it to you).

tags: footbike, Kickbike, footbiking, U.S. records, marathon, 8k, 1k, IKSA, scooter, kickscooter, American record

55 on my 55th
Several years ago, a member of the Kickbike USA Yahoo group (Richard____ from Ohio) reported that he rode his Kickbike 71 miles on his 71st birthday. He'd been an endurance athlete (inlineskating, walking, cycling, etc.) for many years and was still into racing human powered vehicles (i.e., recumbent bicycles with fairings).

He'd recently found out about and bought a Kickbike. At some point, he thought of riding it 71 miles on his 71st birthday (or it might have been 72/73 miles on his 72nd or 73rd b-day - I'll have to look it up). He had gone the distance of his age numerous times before - either on skates or other types of human powered transport. Although it had been a struggle, Richard did complete his 71 (or 72 or 73) mile ride that day.

Anyway, I thought it would be cool to do something similar on my birthday. At first, I thought of riding 55 miles on my bicycle or Kickbike. But the weather didn't look promising. The forecast was about the same as it had been for most days of the last several weeks - cloudy, humid, with a good chance of rain. I didn't relish the thought of being far away from home riding in a downpour, so several 50-60 mile routes I'd kicked/ridden before were out of the question.

Then I thought Why not ride on the 5 mile course you've ridden long distances on before? It's only a mile away. You can take bring the bike/Kickbike with you in the car, park the car at a dead end section of the course, and ride either the bike or Kickbike for how many laps you want to. If it starts to rain hard, you can quickly ride to the car and get out of the rain.

That's what I ended up doing. Loaded the Xootr Swift folding bike and the Kickbike Millennium Racer in the car, bought 2 bottles of Powerade and several bags of ice, and drove over to a dead end section of the 5 mile course.

But instead of riding 55 miles, I decided to ride 55 kilometers. I wanted to complete the ride as quickly as possible, before the traffic picked up when the Nascar race at the New Hampshire Motor Speedway was finished. Also wanted to try to complete the ride before it rained.

The first lap I rode on the Xootr Swift. I then decided to ride 50 kilometers on the bike and the last 5 km on the Kickbike. I stopped at the car to record stats of the ride and drink Powerade after lap 1, 2, and 3. Then rode lap 4 and 5 without stopping in between laps. After lap 5, I I thought there was a chance I could reach 30 miles in 2 hours (including rest stops), so after a quick drink of Powerade, I hammered the next lap at reached the 30 mile mark 2 hours after I started (1:45:10 not counting rest stops). Started again and stopped when I reached the 50 km mark (31.07 miles) at 2:05 elapsed time (1:49:05 on the bike).

I'd had enough of hammering laps on the bike and kicked the remaining 5k (actually it was more like 4 miles) at a medium pace on the Kickbike, finishing just as it was beginning to rain.

Maybe I'll make this an annual event - riding or kicking at least the number of miles (or kilometers) equal to my age on my birthday.

Utah Valley Marathon footbike records
I've just updated the "Kick Scooter Records" table in the database section of the Kickbike USA Yahoo group. Almost all the Utah Valley Marathon footbike competitors now have either a U.S. age group or single age record.

Gary Schmitt's time is a U.S. record for age 57 and in the 55-59 age group. It's also a U.S. record in the men's veteran division (age 45+).

Depending on how old Richard Van Camp was when he raced at the marathon distance, Christopher Cox may be the U.S. record holder in the 35-39 age group and/or may be the age 35 U.S. record holder.

Mat Greensides may be the age 31 record holder (depending on whether RVC raced a faster marathon at age 31).

Jeff Oakie is the U.S. record holder at age 45 and in the 45-49 age group.

Brandy Waddoups has the record at age 28 and in the 25-29 age group.

Sarah Cox has the U.S. record in the women's "Open" category and 30-35 age group, and at age 33. If we go by IKSA's classes/divisions, she has the U.S. record in the women's senior division.

Trent Bluth has the age 18 and 15-19 age group record. Rick Bluth has the age 50 record.

Liza Hyatt is now the women's U.S. record holder at age 46 and in the 45-49 age group. And she has the record in the women's veteran (45+) class if we go by IKSA's divisions.

A UVM competitor that doesn't have a U.S. record is Robert Nachtrieb. He is 56 years old and has the _second_ fastest marathon time for an American that age (Gary Schmitt has the fastest age 56 time at 1:37:09).

tags: Utah Valley Marathon, marathon, 42.195, footbike, Kickbike, kickscooter, scooter, American record, running, cycling, road race

200 mile Kickbike ride - 5 years ago
Without looking it up, I wasn't sure what day in 2004 I had started and completed my 201.2 mile (323.8 km) kick, but I knew I started the kick on the first day of summer and ended it the next morning.

Yesterday, I rode one of my Kickbikes on the same 5 mile course I used for the 200 mile ride - this time kicking only 1 lap instead of 40 laps. (Later, I looked up the ride - the report is in the archives of this blog - and I confirmed that I completed it around 3:25 A.M on June 21, 2004).

The course is not quite the same as it was 5 years ago. Back then, the starting and ending point was at a dead end of a road - closed to through traffic. A few months after I had completed the ride, the road was extended to another road and it became open to traffic (there's now lots of traffic on the road).

Every so often since 2004, I've thought about going for the next milestone - either 400 kilometers (248.549 miles) or 250 miles (402.336 kilometers).

In 2004, I had the motivation and drive to be the first to kick 200 miles in the U.S., mostly because someone (Alex Bekkerman) announced he wanted to be the first to do so. That woke me out of my slumber and pushed me into serious training.

I don't (currently) have the same motivation to be the first to kick 250 miles (or 400 km) in the U.S. But if someone announced he or she wanted to be the first, and was in serious training to do so, maybe that would get me motivated to beat them to it.

It appears Dan Nielsen and Jim Delzer (and Alex B.) have "retired" from ultra long distance kicks. Is there anyone else out there (either a footbiker or an ultramarathon runner or cyclist or inline skater) who wants to be the first (in the U.S.) to ride a footbike or human powered kickscooter 250 miles in 24 hours?

Eurocup Italy footbike records update
Peter Hummers' post on his Scooter Sport blog - http://scootersport.wordpress.com - had a link to the report of the footbike Eurocup event in Verrayes-Rapy, Italy that was held last weekend. I had looked at the report last Monday, but it now has some new information on the records set at the event.

Although IKSA hasn't said whether the records are official yet, it appears that those who won their respective class in the 10k race now have world records.

Here's an updated list of 10k winners by class, from the event website (see http://tinyurl.com/nydg32 ):

Men's senior (age 18-44): Kai Immonen, 19:02.421
Men's veteran (age 45+): Marco Cecchetti, 20:32.298
Men's cadet (age 13-15): Michele Rigoni, 27:59.313
Women's senior: Rosanne Reijne, 23:20.074
Women's veteran: Ivana Dvorakova, 25:55.911
Women's cadet: Maxime Reijne, 23:48.511

In a previous post, I said I thought the previous record for the women's marathon was held by Finland's Jaana Mononen (1:48:23.18). The web page says that Hermien Koers of the Netherlands set the previous record (1:46:04) at the 2008 World Championships. However, it also states that the distance of the 2008 WC marathon race was 42 kilometers, which is 195 meters short of the official marathon distance used in last weekend's race. At any rate, Rosanne Reijne now has the world record at 1:42:37.978.

The other world records set (pending IKSA certification) are as follows:

Men's veteran: Mario Reijne, 1:31:04.598
[note: the web page lists Marco Cecchetti as the men's veteran class winner and new world record holder. This is an error - Cecchetti was second in the veteran class at 1:31:05.448] The previous Men's veteran record (at 42k, not 42.195k) was Wolfgang Seibel's 1:35:06, set at the 2008 World Championships.

Women's cadet (age 13-15) and junior (age 16-17): Maxime Reijne, 1:45:38.712

So it appears that three members of the Reijne family - Mario and his daughters Roseanne and Maxime - set footbike world records last weekend!

tags: footbike, Kickbike, kickscooter, scooter, world record, marathon

Fast times in Rapy, Italy footbike event
The link to the report of the footbike Eurocup event held in Rapy, Italy, last weekend is available at www.iksaworld.com.

The marathon (42.195 k or ca. 26.22 miles) and 10k races took place on a certified 2000 meter course, and all races were chip timed.

Kai Immonen (who, it appears, was the _only_ competitor in the event from Finland) finished the marathon in 1:21:58.225. This may be the fastest official marathon since Alpo Kuusisto's 1:21.29 on August 18, 2001. (Alpo still holds the world record at 1:20:03, set in August 1999 in Solvalla, Finland). Immonen's closest competitor, Igor Ricci, finished over 4:10 behind him (Ricci's time was 1:26:08.341).

Immonen also won the 10k event in a fast time of 19:02.421 (is this another world record?) Igor Ricci came in second, more than 53 seconds behind Immonen. Immonen's average speed over 10k was 31.528 kph (19.59 mph).

The big news, however, is that Rosanne Reijne of the Netherlands, who is only 18 years old, appears to have smashed the women's world record for the marathon distance. I believe the previous best was Jaane Mononen's 1:48:23.18, set in the 2006 World Championships in Finland. Reijne's time was 1:42:37.978! And her 14 or 15 year old sister, Maxime, was second fastest overall in the marathon, and fastest in the women's cadet division, with a time of 1:45:38.712. That has got to be a world record for the cadet division!

The Reijne sisters may have also set world records in the 10k race - Rosanne's time was 23:20.074, and Maxime's time was 23:48.511. In the senior division (age 18-44?), Rosanne's closest competitor finished over 2 minutes behind her.

IKSA will have to determine whether any of these times are official world records, but I bet at least some of them are!

Tags: Rosanne Reijne, Maxime Reijne, Kai Immonen, world record, Rapy Italy, footbike, Eurocup, Kickbike, marathon, 10k, 10 kilometers, Alpo Kuusisto

Utah Valley Marathon footbike marathon results
The results of the footbike division of Saturday's Utah Valley Marathon are posted at http://kickitmarketing.blogspot.com. They aren't up yet at the results page of the official UVM site (www.utahvalleymarathon.com).

I am pretty sure Gary Schmitt's time of 1:36:20.8 is his best ever at the marathon distance (26.21875 miles or 42.195 kilometers). His previous best was 1:37:09, set on August 17, 2008, at the Scooter/Footbike World Championships in the Netherlands.

Only one American, Richard Van Camp, has kicked a faster marathon, and he is 20 years younger than Gary. Gary's time on Saturday is an American record for someone over 40 and may very well be a world record for someone Gary's age (57). It is also undoubtedly the fastest official marathon kicked on U.S. soil (Richard Van Camp's faster marathons were kicked in races in Europe).

Ten people rode kickscooters/footbikes in the Utah Valley Marathon. The first woman to finish was Sarah Cox, in a time of 1:56:54.6. She is probably the first American woman to compete in an official footbike race on a certified course (at any distance). If so, she now holds the American record at the marathon distance.

Others in the race may now hold the American record for their age group or age. I'd need to know their ages in order to determine that.

I'm going to add Gary's and Sarah's times to my kickscooter/footbike records database, and I'll add others' times too, if they are now holders of U.S. age group or single age records.

The database is currently housed in the Kickbike USA Yahoo group, but I may copy the info into an Excel file and make the file available.

Good to hear about a footbike competition in the U.S. again! The last official race (other than time trials at 1 kilometer and 8 kilometers) was held in September 1999 - the Colorado State Kickbike Championships in Mead, Colorado.

tags: Kickbike, footbike, Gary Schmitt, Sarah Cox, marathon, world record, American record, kickscooter, scooter, Utah Valley Marathon, Scooter World Champtionships, Footbike World Championships

Jim Delzer's Kickbike U.S. crossing in 2001
On May 31, 2001, Jim Delzer kicked 138.29 miles on his Kickbike Sport Classic human-powered kick scooter. It was the third day of his crossing of the U.S. on a Kickbike. No one had ever ridden a kick scooter across the U.S. before, and Jim was attempting to be the first person to do it. He had kicked about 123 miles the first day of the ride (May 29), starting in Long Beach, Washington. And he had kicked 90.68 miles the second day of the ride (May 30).

The 20 mph headwinds he encountered much of the third day of the trip slowed him down considerably; it took him over 14 hours to kick the 138 miles.

Jim completed his trip July 3, 2001, becoming the first person to ride a kick scooter across the U.S. The 138.29 miles he kicked on May 31 was the longest distance he rode in one day during the entire trip, and, for a while, it was the U.S. record for most distance kicked in one day.

The daily highlights of Jim's Kickbike crossing of the U.S. are available at http://www.bntmedia.com/jim/kickbike.htm

Daily reports of Jim's ride (with more information than the highlights reported in the latter web site) were posted on the kickbiking Yahoo group (and the KickbikeUSA Yahoo group).

Even if you are not a member of the kickbiking Yahoo group, you may be able to access the daily reports of the U.S. crossing posted to the group by Harald F., starting with message #247. Go to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kickbiking/messages/247 and you may see a list of group messages, starting with #247. The report of Day 1 is in message #256, day 2's report is in message #262, day 3's report is in message #266, etc.

If you are not a member of the kickbiking Yahoo group, and you can't access the messages containing the reports of Jim Delzer's Kickbike U.S. crossing, then consider joining the group by going to http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kickbiking

You should see a "join this group" link. Click on it, follow the instructions given, and you'll become a member of a group devoted to discussion of human powered kick scooters, footbikes, and "scooterbikes" (scooter/bicycle hybrids).

tags: Kickbike, Jim Delzer, footbike, scooter, scooterbike, U.S. crossing, kickscooter, kick scooter, Guinness world record, ultramarathon, cycling, 2001, Long Beach

Alex Bekkerman's 150 mile Kickbike ride
Below is what I just posted to the Kickbike USA Yahoo group. The message references archived posts from May 2004. If you want to read Alex's

reports, you'll have to send an e-mail to kickbikeusa-owner(at)yahoogroups.com and request to join the group (if you are not already a member).

[Start of message to Kickbike USA Yahoo group]
It was five years ago today that Alex Bekkerman rode his modified Millennium Racer 150 miles. He was attempting to be the first person to kick 200 miles in one day but decided to stop at 150 miles. The day before the attempt, he rode his bicycle with cycling friends from NYC to Montauk, Long Island (about 120 miles) at an average speed of 17.8 mph! He gave a report of the 150 mile Kickbike ride in message #4154:

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kickbikeusa/message/4154

His 150 miler (241.4 kilometers) is the 4th
longest distance kicked in one day in the U.S.

The week before his 150 mile kick, on 5/16/04, he had kicked 123 miles in the Montauk Century ride, in 9 hours 51 minutes - an average speed of close to 12.5 mph. Alex's report of that ride is at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/kickbikeusa/message
/4100

And 9 days before that, on 5/7/04, he had kicked 100 miles in Central Park, NYC.

There are several web pages devoted to Alex (aka scooterman):

http://www.njrandonneurs.com/scooter/scooter.html

http://www.njrandonneurs.com/scooter/bekkerman_alex.html

After his kick on 5/23/04 he went to compete in the first Scooter World Championships in the Czech Republic in June.

Not sure if he's still a scooter/footbike fanatic (he hasn't posted to this group in a long time), but in 2004 (and earlier) he certainly was.

Alex, if you're still out there, we'd love to hear from you again.

tags: Kickbike, footbike, scooter, Alex Bekkerman, Montauk Century, long distance, ultramarathon, cycling, RAAM, New York City, Long Island, scooterbike, kickscooter, World Championships

Current Mood: nostalgic

Dan Nielsen's 1999 crossing of Colorado on a Kickbike - Day 4 through Day 8 highlights
On Day 4 of the crossing of Colorado (April 30, 1999), Dan Nielsen woke up to "near whiteout" conditions and waited in his hotel room until 10 A.M., hoping the weather would improve. It didn't, but Dan decided to ride anyway. From Frisco, he headed south toward Breckenridge and Hoosier Pass on a bike path. The slush on the path was 6 inches deep, so he went on the road. The wind was blowing and he got really wet and cold. After several hours, he reached Breckenridge, only 11 miles from where he started. That was enough for the day, it would have been dangerous to try to head up Hoosier Pass in those conditions.

On Day 5 (May 1, 1999) kicked to the top of Hoosier Pass (11,541 ft.) descended into South Park, and headed east to kick up to Kenosha Pass (ca. 10,000 ft.). He then descended to the small town of Grant. He was frozen and went into a local bar to see if anyone could tell him where to rent a room for the night. A kind stranger let Dan use an old trailer with an electric heater - for $20. Total distance for the day: 51 miles.

Day 6 (May 2, 1999): It was so cold when Dan started out for the day, he had to wear all the clothing he had in his pack, including several layers of gloves. Kickbike USA representatives met up with him on Highway 285 as he was kicking toward Denver. He was frozen, but wasn't about to give up. In the afternoon, it warmed up a bit and Dan kicked 20 miles past Denver, stopping for the day in Watkins. Total distance for Day 6: 80 miles.

Day 7 (May 3, 1999): Good weather at the srart of the day. When Dan started kicking, he had a tailwind. But the winds picked up out of the south as the day wore on. He decided to kick east on Route 36 and face a severe crosswind, rather than follow I-70 south and deal with a brutal headwind. He stopped for the day in Joes. Distance for Day 7: 110 miles in 13 hours.

Day 8 (May 4, 1999): In the first part of the ride, while heading south, Dan had a tailwind. Then, turning east to kick to the Kansas border, he had to deal with a severe crosswind. In mid-afternoon, he reached Kanorado, Kansas, the end of his journey. Distance from Joes to the Kansas border - 62 miles. Total distance - 529 miles in 7 days, 8 hours, 56 minutes.

Read the Kickbike USA account of Dan's trip at http://tinyurl.com/c3gvsh and read the racingunderground.com account at http://tinyurl.com/cg3pjw

New Kickbike models now available in U.S.!
I just checked the Kickbikeamerica.com web site and found out that most of the newer Kickbike models are now available in the U.S! The Sport Max, Cross Max, Sport G4 and the Freeride are now available! It is going to be very hard to resist buying the Sport Max or even the Sport G4. Looks like the Race Max is not available. That's the one I really want, but the Sport Max has the same frame and possibly the same wheels (except for the tires). Another difference is the stem.

Although I love my Millennium Racer and X-C, I bet I would love the Sport Max (and Cross Msx) even more! I think I'd really like the Sport G4 a lot too, even though it isn't _that_ much better than the MR.

Hmmm, how long can I hold out before ordering one or more of the new models...

Dan Nielsen's 1999 Colorado crossing on a Kickbike - the first few days
I'll post links to the accounts of Dan's journey eventually, but here is some background information on Dan and highlights of the first several days of his ride across Colorado:

At the time, Dan was a four-time champion and course record holder of the Mt. Taylor Winter Quadrathlon (bike, run, ski and snowshoe to the top of Mt. Taylor, and snowshoe, ski, run, and bike back to the bottom). He was also the reigning Colorado State Snowshoe Champion and had competed in the 1998 Discovery Channel Eco-Challenge in Morocco as a member of Team Synergy.

Kickbike USA president Harald Fricker had told Dan that no one he knew of had ever ridden a Kickbike 100 miles, so Dan made it a goal to kick 100 miles at least one day of the Colorado crossing (he did it the first day of the trip).

On April 28, 1999 (the second day of the trip), Dan wanted to make it to his home in Beaver Creek. He started from Silt and kicked 73 miles that day, in rain and fighting strong headwinds much of the way, finally reaching his home in Beaver Creek.

On Day 3, April 29, 1999, Dan's plan was to kick to the top of Vail Pass (elevation close to 11,000 feet)and mostly coast down the other side, but the path to the top was sandy and/or covered with snow. And the headwinds were so strong that he needed to keep kicking on the descent from Vail Pass. It took him 10 hours to travel 39 miles - in snow, slush, and rain - to reach Frisco, CO.

More on Nielsen's 1999 Colorado crossing later....

First U.S. century kick - April 27, 1999
It was 10 years ago today, on April 27, 1999, that Dan Nielsen began his first Kickbike crossing of Colorado. He ended up kicking 103 miles the first day, starting at the Utah/Colorado border and ending in Silt, CO. As far as the president of Kickbike USA knew, no one had ever kicked 100 miles in one day on a Kickbike (and, most likely, any other kick scooter) in the United States before. Dan was the first.

I will write more about this later today or tomorrow.

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