After seven days, 19 hours and 5 minutes the new record was set. Late October extreme cyclist Guido Kunze clearly beat the official world record for crossing southern Australia by bicycle (4.200 km!). Almost 16 hours faster than the former record holder, Australia’s Richard Vollebreght, the 43-year-old from M?hlhausen in the German state of Thuringia had covered the vast distance.
Aside from his impressing will power and his outstanding fitness Kunze was able to perfectly rely on the performance of his high-tech equipment for the impressive – and successful – fight against the clock, against the elements and, last but not least, against his weaker self.
“There was not one single damage throughout the whole exercise”, said Kunze, who was supported and equipped for his record attempt by Paul Lange & Co., who are the official Shimano distributor in Germany and as such he was decked head to toe to bike and all with Shimano including the Di2 electronic shifting and Dura Ace wheelsets and shimano shoes.
The German commented on the electronic shifting on the long distance event. “The only minor flaw came regarding the initial plan to cover the whole distance without recharging the Di2 battery pack which had to be cancelled in order to not endanger the overall goal of breaking the record. Due to the mountainous profile and extremely windy conditions on the first days Kunze had to shift much more frequently than usual. “I am still quite sure that even so I could have covered the whole passage without charging the battery. But we decided we didn’t want to take even the slightest risk and so we changed the battery for the final 800 kilometers” explained Kunze who was quite impressed by the endurance of the Di2 battery. “After all, despite the much more than usual shifting operations at the beginning, the battery had already brilliantly performed for impressive 3.400 kilometers without charging – and was nowhere near empty at that time. Actually, I was very happy with the reliability of every single part of the components that worked perfectly without any damage or even the need to change any wear-parts.”
Kunze’s barely eight day long “business trip” were meant a new official “Guinness World Record” as well as promotion for “Polio Plus”, a charity initiative of the Rotary Clubs.
Link: Shimano Australia
