Ken Webb is an English cyclist who at 42 claimed the world record for distance cycled in a year. He calculated that on 7 August 1972 he passed the set by another Briton, Tommy Godwin, and that he finished the year with . He rode on to claim the record for in 448 days. Both records appeared in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' but were later removed.

World endurance record for distance cycled in a single year

In 1911 the weekly magazine, ''

Cycling Cycling, also, when on a two-wheeled bicycle, called bicycling or biking, is the use of cycles for transport, recreation, exercise or sport. People engaged in cycling are referred to as "cyclists", "bicyclists", or "bikers". Apart from two ...

'' began a competition for the greatest distance cycled in a single year. The first holder was Marcel Planes of

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, with . The distance was untouched for more than 20 years. Then followed a succession of claims in the 1930s, including two by an Australian professional,

Ossie Nicholson Oserick Bernard "Ossie" Nicholson (1910 – 9 November 1965) was an Australian cyclist who twice held the World Endurance record for distance in a calendar year. Australian cycling career Nicholson was a professional cyclist in the years be ...

, one by a one-armed vegetarian named Walter Greaves and another by

Charles de Gaulle Charles André Joseph Marie de Gaulle (; ; (commonly abbreviated as CDG) 22 November 18909 November 1970) was a French army officer and statesman who led Free France against Nazi Germany in World War II and chaired the Provisional Government ...

's chauffeur,

René Menzies René Menzies (c. November 1889 – c. 1971) was a French long-distance cyclist who at 48 held a record for the greatest distance ridden on a bicycle in a year. He rode in 1937. He was decorated with the Croix de Guerre in the First World War ...

. In 1939 the distance leapt from by an Englishman, Bernard Bennett, to established by Tommy Godwin. In 2016, under the supervision of the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association (UMCA), Kurt Searvogel (US) broke Tommy Godwin's record by riding 76,076 miles in one year. On 14 May 2017 Amanda Coker broke Searvogel's UMCA and Guinness World record when she finished her year with 86,573.2 miles (139,326.34 km).

The ride

Ken Webb, from Gossops Green,

Sussex Sussex (), from the Old English (), is a historic county in South East England that was formerly an independent medieval Anglo-Saxon kingdom. It is bounded to the west by Hampshire, north by Surrey, northeast by Kent, south by the English ...

, intended to attempt the record when he retired after a working life that included 12 years with the

Fleet Air Arm The Fleet Air Arm (FAA) is one of the five fighting arms of the Royal Navy and is responsible for the delivery of naval air power both from land and at sea. The Fleet Air Arm operates the F-35 Lightning II for maritime strike, the AW159 Wil ...

. Unemployment as a project engineer at 42 advanced his plans. He set off from

Fleet Street Fleet Street is a major street mostly in the City of London. It runs west to east from Temple Bar at the boundary with the City of Westminster to Ludgate Circus at the site of the London Wall and the River Fleet from which the street was na ...

, London, then the heart of the British newspaper industry, at noon on 1 September 1971. Webb had little support from sponsors. By 10 November he had run out of money and took a job at

Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport (), also known as London Gatwick , is a major international airport near Crawley, West Sussex, England, south of Central London. In 2021, Gatwick was the third-busiest airport by total passenger traffic in the UK, after H ...

, near his home. He spoke of working there, riding a day after work and sleeping two or three hours a night. He averaged better than a day, sent witnessed postcards to ''Cyclings office to log his progress and used a different odometer each month to support the distance shown on the cards. Webb rode one day with Keith Bingham, a reporter from ''Cycling''. Bingham quoted Webb as saying: "People ask how it is that I account for a greater mileage between places than the road signs indicate. I tell them that I don't always ride straight from one place to the other, that sometimes I make detours - as you've seen this morning, Keith, when we went a few miles out of our way looking for the right road to Maldon. And what they don't seem to realise either is that when I arrive anywhere I might not seek anyone to sign a card until I've refreshed myself in a café, which is sometimes 30 minutes after stopping." He finished the year record £134 in debt after cashing his life insurance policies, using his redundancy payments and using his pension fund. He completed his ride outside

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a London royal residence and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and royal hospitality. It ...

after 448 days. He knew throughout his ride that he had doubters. He was followed at times by cyclists checking his riding and ''Cycling'' received calls asking what he had claimed. His distances appeared in the ''Guinness Book of Records'' but vanished from later editions.

After the ride

Webb insisted that he had ridden the distance, that he sent thousands of check cards to ''Cycling'', and that his 13 odometers had been sealed by their maker and returned for checking. He said he wrote to the editor of the ''Guinness Book of Records'' to ask why his name had been deleted but that he got no reply. He said:

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Ken English male cyclists 1929 births Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Sportspeople from Crawley