Womens Recumbent World Record – 12 Hour

I just “watched” (virtually) Maria Parker of Cruzbike set a new world record for a recumbent; I am actually a little confused on what exactly the record is was because claims abound and well…they tell me it is a new world record and I believe them. I know what it is now.

Jim, over at CyclingExperiences.com, live-blogged the whole thing keeping us Cruzbike enthusiasts on the edge of our seats all day with hourly updates (every time she crossed the start line).

According to his post Maria Parkers World Record she traveled an incredible 240.1 miles in 12 hours an amazing average of 20.08 mph.

As of this writing the record is not certified but it is certainly amazing!
Way to go Maria Parker!

And much thanks to Jim at CyclingExperiences for setting up shop in what sounds like a remote part of North Carolina to keep us all informed.
You can see his flickr photostream here

Oh yeah, and one of the interesting parts of this story, somewhere on lap #7 Maria suffered a minor crash because wind gusts and wheel covers don’t mix. They quickly changed to her back-up bike (her husband’s bike that was outfitted for her, which by the way is another really cool feature of the Cruzbike Silvio) and she only lost an estimated 3 minutes. She rode her husbands bike the rest of the way.

And the coolest thing, for me personally, is that she did all of this on a (specially outfitted but still) stock Silvio; just like mine.

For part of the time she had wheel covers true but for Lap 7-12 she had no wheel covers and questionable weather with wind gusts and all.

I am so impressed.