Congratulations to Károly Mindum for his new WUCA World Record  on Oct 7, 2022

Summary – Károly Mindum HWMR

Planning

For the location of the record attempt, I looked for a route with suitable road conditions and a low traffic. I chose Drávaszerdahely village in the south of Baranya county as the ’base’ – there I could sleep, eat, change my clothes and store technical equipment. On the nearby roads I could collect the kilometers while cycling.

Technical equipment

The type of the bicycle that I used: Cannondale Synapse, with endurance carbon frame, Sram 11-speed shifters, compact chainset, made more comfortable with the handlebars. The rides were recorded with a Garmin1030 computer, which made live tracking possible.

The record attempt

I started the record attempt at 11 AM on the 1st of October in Drávaszerdahely. I planned the daily rides to include a longer resting period each day, which began before midnight. This made the tracking of kilometers simpler. On the first day the weather was rainy but calm, and I was still well-rested, so I made the biggest progress on this day. In the next 2 days the rain stopped, but the wind was very strong, sometimes even stormy, which made the cycling difficult. On the fourth day I started to have eye inflammation because of the wind, which obstructed my sight, so I had to stop multiple times. My crew tried to heal it with creams and eye drops, but that proved to be only a short-time solution. I was considering giving up. Luckily I decided to continue and try to achieve as much as possible despite the frequent breaks I needed to take. At this point the weather was a lot more convenient and sunny, but the mornings were still 5-6 Celsius cold, so I had to dress warm until the temperature rose above 20 Celsius during the day.

The result

In spite of all the hardships, I could ride the distance of 2212 kilometers.

I would like to thank my crew, who helped, healed, fed and supported me during the whole week. They collected and tracked the distance data, filled in the form and informed the followers in the social media about the status of the record attempt. I received a lot of support, cheer, positivity and motivation from them, which gave me strength. On the last day at the end of the record attempt my friends and fellow sportsmen congratulated my with champagne in Drávaszerdahely

Conclusion

I have participated in ultratriathlon races for a long time, I also completed the Deca-Ironman competition. This was my first multiple day long bicycle race. Unfortunately my inflamed eyes made it more difficult, and I also needed to accept that at the age of 64 my physical performance is not as it once has been. Despite all of this, I am very grateful and happy, it is good to remember these 7 days, and I am already looking for the next challenges!