Alan Stewart, Kickbike in hand and dressed in Skins – the brand of the specialists in compression garments – wore long sleeves in the hope of saving his arms from the punishing Australian sun that would soon rise.

Adam Connelly – not only a great bloke, good cyclist and an exceptionally talented musician, with torch in hand did a once over of the track to check for glass and discarded bottles from any party-goers the night before.

After some fiddling with Alan’s front carbon wheel, brake adjusting and slapping of blood-thirsty mosquitos, Alan set off on his 12 hour adventure – looping over 168 turns of the 1.44km track.

Due to heavy rain and flooding the day before, the cycle track featured large puddles of water and mud which eventually gave Alan’s white Skins top the ‘camoflage’ look.

As day broke the mozzie population retired – much to the relief of the Australian Footbike Association Officials who were present to regulate and witness the event.

Food intake for Alan during the morning hours consisted of figs and water. Then moved on to more substantial nutrition in the way of Cadel Evan’s Long Distance Bars, bananas, Powerade, a tomato sandwich on multigrain bread, and lots and lots of water.

Just after lunch the wind picked up cruelly, dropping Alan’s average and throwing Jacaranda leaves all over the place – mostly into the areas where you don’t need them – the eyes and mouth!

Alan was encouraged throughout the day by cyclists from the Balmoral Cycle Club, including Adam Connelly, Mark Van Horssen of Redlands Kitchens, Tamara Harrison of the Balmoral Women’s Cycling Team, Kevin Menz from Park Bikes, Peter Dick from the much sought-after Dolan Bikes, Bruce Cook from Kickbike Australia, Brad Cassidy and Michael Keogh from Queensland Rail, old-time footbiker Graham Jenner (who took much delight in splashing water over everyone when they came near him on his Hybrid Bicycle), Pam Jenner, Deb Stewart, Lyn Armstrong (official glasses cleaner!), Bob and Rosslyn Nipperess (Rosslyn, thank you for massaging Alan’s calves during his short break), Barry and Christine Walden from BinCare Australia, James Thompson, and all of the members of the public who stopped to watch and cheer. Your support and encouragement were much appreciated – and helped to stop Alan going stir-crazy after over 168 loops of the cycle track.

Alan set the following new Australian records:

Century (100km) – 4hrs 9mins (previous record 4hrs 15mins)
Imperial Century (160.9km) – 7hrs 15mins 19secs (previous record 7hrs 58mins 4secs)
Double Century (200km) – 9hrs 28mins
10 hour Record – 210km
12 hour Record – 241.33km (previous record 210km)
Longest distance of an Australian Footbiker in a day – 241.33km (previous record 210km)

Alan says he took his inspiration to try the 12 hour odyssey from Kickbike legends Alpo Kuusisto and Mario Reijne’s 24hour rides. Alan has a new-found respect for their mental and physical stamina, and is awe-struck that they were able to maintain such fast paces over a full 24 hours.

Applause!  Applause!  Cheer!  Cheer!

After an infinite amount of replacement tyres and tubes, and 6 pairs of shoes, today Alan celebrates his 1000th consecutive ride in a row. As a celebration he completed a 100km ride this morning (gee! I can think of lots of other celebration alternatives!)

In between a crazy work schedule Alan managed to complete each day of riding anywhere from 10km to 100miles by getting up at 3am on some days or scooting along at 11.30pm on some nights just to meet his quota.

Alan obviously needed to be strategic in his schedule to avoid overtraining, by incorporating ‘easy’ days after hard workouts.

Congratulations Alan – and here’s to a further 1000 consecutive days of riding!

Occupation: Branch Manager for a Banking Corporation

Age: hmmmm… isn’t it impolite to ask a lady’s age???

Records:
Former holder of the:
1km Australian Sprint Distance
2.5km Australian Sprint Distance

Rides:
Kickbike’s Sport G4 – red (because Lyn tells us that red goes faster)

Training Regime:
1 hard kickbike per week
2 cross training sessions per week.

Lyn juggles her training around a busy worklife, waking early to train with friend and footbiking athlete, Megan Heta. She is currently training for the Great Brisbane Bike Ride – cruising through another 50km.

Lyn has gained much recognition for her efficient kicking style, and often receives compliments about how easy she makes footbiking appear. She has also been recognized for her supportive and welcoming nature, and the comradery she builds with other footbike athletes.

Thanks Lyn, you’re a great ambassador for the sport of Footbiking!

Name

Occupation: Marketing Consultant (online and offline)

Age: Ooooh – ancient!

Records:
Current holder of the:
Fastest Century (165km) Footbike Distance
Fastest Australian 100km Footbike Distance
Fastest Australian 50km Footbike Distance
Fastest Ascent (Mt Coot-tha)
Fastest Australasian Scooter Descent (clocking 94kph)
Australian Men’s 1km Sprint Championships
Australian Men’s 2.5km Time Trial Championships… (boy, this is getting tedious!)

Rides:
Millenium Kickbike with a Mavic Helium Wheel

Training Regime:
Daily footbike rides, covering all distances from sprint sessions through to 100km.
Daily weight training.

With a life-time of exercise behind him, Alan’s natural sporting ability has transferred to the sport of Footbiking. He currently has completed over 680 consecutive training days on his Kickbike, and dutifully trains whether there be rain, hail or shine – althought on one ride late at night during near-cyclonic conditions, we did expect to find both Alan and his Kickbike floating out in the Bay near where his training circuit is. Fortunately, both rider and bike returned safely, with tall tales of near misses with falling trees and flying debris.

Alan is currently focusing on the upcoming Sprint Championships in November, and has already secured his position on the Australian Team at the  International Footbike Championships in Italy in 2010.

Thanks for being such an inspiration (to youngies and oldies, alike), Alan. Your contributions to, and support of the sport of Footbiking is much appreciated.

Occupation: Chartered Quantity Surveyor and Associate Director of TSL Project Services Pty Ltd (sponsor of the 2008 TSL Footbike Sprint Championships in Brisbane)

Age: Well… let’s just say she’s in the Open Category of the Footbike Races!

Records:
Current holder of the Longest Distance (60km) under race conditions in Australia
Current holder of the Open Women’s 1km Sprint
Current holder of the Open Women’s 2.5km Sprint

Rides: The new Sports Max Kickbike

Training Regime:
Training Sessions several times a week with a Personal Trainer as well as regular long distance rides.

Tracey has done exceptionally well in her Footbike Career. After taking up Kickbiking only 11 months ago she already holds three Australian Footbike Records.

Tracey manages to juggle her role as Footbike Enthusiast with running a successful National Company of Quantity Surveyors, being a published author (with another book on the way) and mother to two gorgeous girls (who we were considering putting wheels on and making the Footbike Mascots!).

Tracey is grateful for the support of her family, with husband, Steve who is new to the sport of Footbiking and made his debut a 60km ride from Brisbane City to the Gold Coast on a Kickbike (congrats to Steve!), and Tracey’s girls who cheer their mum on in her Footbiking efforts, and manage to bring a smile to everyone’s face when they accompany mum to each of the events.

Tracey is currently training for the upcoming sprint championships in November, and has the long-term goal of competing at the International Scooter Championships in Italy in 2010 in her sights.

Good work Tracey – and we expect to hear more from you in the future.