There are many, many things to say about this, and there is nothing that is necessary beyond the following: at the age of 100, Robert Marchand—citizen of France, former inhabitant of Venezuela and former Canadian lumberjack—has just ridden a bike 15.1 miles. In an hour. That sets a new record because it establishes a new over-100 age category for the International Cycling Union (ICU).
Among the many peripheral facts and observations concerning this event:
- Marchand held a steady pace throughout the record-setting ride.
- After he finished, he announced that he could have gone faster but “didn’t want to.”
- One reason he didn’t push himself is that he has been told to keep his pulse below 110, a rule he adheres to religiously (although he recently let it climb to 134 during a hill climb).
- He told a reporter for the UCI he “would be very surprised if I had [a] heart attack.”
- His had his first electrocardiograph last week.
- He biked as a teenage, enjoyed it, stopped, then returned to cycling at the age of 78.
- He retired at 89.
- His doctors attended his performance at the ICU velodrome in Aigle, Switzerland, which seems ridiculous because if a 100-year-old man has a problem and hits the ground going 15 miles an hour, it’s all over.
- One of the doctors explained that Marchand does regular exercise and has the body of a 70-75 year old, which is high praise if you are 100.
- A decade ago, when he was just shy of 90, he finished the 600-km Bordeaux-Paris race in 36 hours.
- He has a mountain pass named after him.
- He is the world’s most interesting man.
- We have all officially run out of excuses.
