Robert Marchand set a cycling world record Wednesday when when the oldest known cyclist bicycled 22 kilometers (14 miles) in an hour in France. It's the farthest anyone in the 105-and-above category — created just for him — has gone in an hour.
Marchand joked that he could have gone faster, but he didn’t see the sign for the last 10 minutes, The Associated Press reported. The 105-year-old also stated his time might have been better if he hadn’t become a vegetarian last month to protest the inhumane treatment of animals.
Marchand was told almost a century ago that he would never be able to achieve anything on a bicycle, but he continues to prove that coach and others wrong. Fans chanted his name as he finished his ride, then gave him a standing ovation before camera crews mobbed him, the AP reported.
“He is very small, but his heart is very big,” physiologist Professor Veronique Billat told CNN. “His VO2 max oxygen consumption is the same as a man half his age who doesn’t do any sports.”
Marchand lives alone in an apartment in Paris, but he has many friends and an optimistic spirit. After being told he couldn’t become a champion cyclist because of his small size at age 22, he became a firefighter and later worked as a gardener and a lumberjack in Canada, CNN reported. He took up cycling again at age 68.
Before the event in France, Marchand said, “I’m not here to break any record. I’m doing it to prove that at 105 years old you can still ride a bike,” CNN reported.
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