Congratulations to Matthew Lefthand who set a new HWMR records in the following categories: Male 18-49, recumbent bike, non-drafting.

Some amazing facts about Matthew’s attempt: Out of the 168 hours available to ride in 7 days, Matthew rode only 98.35 hours, or 58.5% of the time. He averaged an incredible 24.4 mph while riding!

This is also a new Guinness World Record (non-age group record in the above categories).

This is also the farthest anyone has ridden on any 2-wheel bicycle – in a non-faired rider category.

Record: Highest Weekly Mileage Record 

Name: Matthew Lefthand 

Start: April 18th 2026 @ 7:59 AM MT 

Location start: Center, CO 

Equipment: Cruzbike V20c, ENVE wheels, Rudy Project Wing helmet, Conti Archetype tires, IGPSPORT computer and lights, Hyperthreads kits, WAHOO pedals, SRAM groupset, Cruzbike racecage, USWE hydration bladders, Bont Vaypour S shoes, and Intake nose band. 

Fuel: Primarily Formula 369 Endurance mix, secondarily Formula 369 Recovery mix, and coconut milk. Also, PB&J sandwiches and an assortment of dinners. 

Conditions ranged from 20F to 85F and winds ranged from 0 to 40mph. We had to fight the conditions all week. 

Finish: Goodland, KS on April 25th 2026 @ 7:50 AM MT 

Highest Weekly Mileage Record (HWMR) is 7 full days to ride as many miles as you can. Earlier this month (April 2026), Alex McCormack set a new upright record of 2,377.65 miles! He rode on average 18.5 hours a day and achieved an amazing outcome. 

This summary was completed 3 hours after my end time. A longer, more in-depth version will be found on my website at nolimitsleft.com in the near future. Please feel free to find me on socials @matthew.lefthand for more media coverage of this wild ride. 

Training for ultras has taught me a lot and with races like RAAM in my future plans, I thought to myself “I could do that, but with more rest or go farther.” 

Less than a week before we left, our other plans cancelled and we decided to take on this crazy challenge. Read that again. There were no months of planning or a big team. My wife and I said let’s do it and threw everything together in one week’s time. 

The plan fell to pieces after we started, as the weather turned to absolute chaos at the end of our week. After calling it quits on day 3 after 1,080 miles already accrued, we got on the phone the next morning with Maria Parker. Maria, a RAAM finisher and winner is also the co-owner of Cruzbike. She said, “Get on the bike and ride. We will find out more support.” 

The real issue with the weather was that we needed to move and my wife was my only support because we were supposed to be stationary (same start and end each day).

So, I got back on the bike for day 4 and a plan was formed to move with the weather. This included John and Laura Crawford driving 11+ hours to our rescue. They would bring another vehicle and more drivers to the team. 

We had to get out of the high wind country in the mountains. This meant fleeing to Kansas which had its own strong wind but less than the high mountains. 

After 4 days in the high mountains the crew chased me up, down, and then up Kansas again. We went like this: 

CO, KS, NE, CO, NE, KS, OK, TX, OK, KS 

Fun fact: because Kansas has a weird time-zone boundary on the west end, we went in and out of CDT and MDT a few times a day. Our phones and brains felt extra fuzzy. 

It was chaos while Jim and Maria Parker coordinated our routes for the day. We could not fight the wind in small loops or out-and-back, it was too strong, we had to use it when we could. This meant WAY more climbing than you should do on a week like this and WAY rougher roads at times. 

The Parkers did amazing. With the logistical nightmare we threw in their laps, they brought it home classy. 

It still meant some really hard days for me. It was hotter than anticipated. It was rougher roads for many miles. It was a busy highway. It was not ideal. 

On Thursday we were almost in a tornado. I am not kidding. Tornados actually spawned to the east of us, we later learned. 

I was riding south and turned north because the winds changed. We knew the wind was going to change back in about an hour but I was using what I could instead of fighting the head wind. 

As we traveled north, I saw a huge dust storm in the distance. All of a sudden our phones get dust storm warnings, shelter in place kind of thing. But, it’s about 30-40 miles north of us. 

As we are deciding what to do, my follower John and I get on the phone and decide to turn around. 

Sure enough the wind changed and we were cruising along back south again. Next thing I knew I saw the dust storm beside us in the distance. Where did that come from? I call my follower, John, and point it out to him. We agree that we should be ready to stop if we need to. It looks like it could be coming in fast.

My wife calls me. I get on the phone with her and merge the call. She says “STOP NOW AND GET IN THE CAR.” 

I didn’t ask questions, I knew it was coming. 

As soon as I stopped, it hit. The bike tried to take flight! I’m holding on to it thinking! “If it flies off, we are done for.” But I am also not sure if I can hold on to the bike. 

John gets to me and helps me fight the doors of the van and get inside. I have to wrestle a tumbleweed out of the back spokes (I’m pretty sure that tumbleweed is in Texas now from mid Kansas). Closing my door to get in the passenger seat is a whole body maneuver. 

By the time we were in the van it looked hellacious outside. 

These were the obstacles but we fought through them. Lost an hour of move time waiting out the storm, although I did get a little nap! 

Success isn’t about the smooth days. It’s about the days that go wrong and you still find a way through. Everyone can do well when things are good, but the real winners find out how to make a hard day work. 

Also, hard moments don’t define your life. Yesterday, I spent 4 hours on the roughest roads I have ever rode on. During it I wanted to quit so bad. I’m serious, 4 hours of nothing but a bad time. 

It’s gone, it’s over and now I feel amazing about the whole thing. 

Find a way to do the hard things, to embrace the suck and find success on the other side. As for me and my team. We are just getting started!