Congratulations to Gerry Eddlemon who set the 80+ age group 7-day TT in these categories: Male, upright bike, drafting allowed.
Rider G.K. Eddlemon’s Narrative Summary for Dec. 6, 2025 WUCA HWMR Record Attempt
137th WUCA/UMCA Record (pending certification)!
Note to reader: I’ve yet to recheck my arithmetic for total number of records, but I believe this is the correct figure. And yes, some of these records were set in some of our smallest states, others in some of our larger states, e.g., Alaska and Florida, and in the One-Week Time Trial (HWMR). If we throw out the short ways across the smallest states and provinces (DL, RI, Prince Edward Island), that leaves 129 WUCA/UMCA records.
Name of Rider: Gerald K. “Gerry” Eddlemon
Start date and time:
December 6, 2025 at 6:06:00 PM local (EST) time. Larry: I started my Garmin 540 at 6:01 PM but last minute confusion/adjustments/mess-ups caused me to delay until 6:06 PM (or as I remember 2 minutes later at 6:08 PM, but my communications/liaison officer kid sister insists it was 6:06 PM).
Exact Start Location:
2264 Crowned Eagle Circle, Vero Beach, Florida
Conditions: Daytime temperatures generally in the 70s F. Often cool, blustery with moderate to gusty winds day and night. Wind chills at night in the 40’s to low 50’s making the 13-Hr nights pretty miserable as the temperatures dropped through out the night. Road surface quite good as my three different courses were in relatively new subdivisions except for a busy connecting road. At night elaborate Christmas light displays by many home owners helped to break up the depressive monotony. Adversely, there was far more traffic than anticipated, much of it delivery trucks, yard and other maintenance trucks, sometimes spraying unpleasant-smelling chemicals, and children riding bicycles and miniature vehicles most unpredictably. These often caused bottle-necks hampering my progress.
Why attempt these records?
I was all too aware that at 80 years of age, my times and distances were likely to be slower and shorter than even four or five years earlier and certainly shorter than some of the younger elite cyclists were capable of. In the event, I was stunned at just how my performances would suffer from old age, and interrupted and inadequate training due to multiple family illnesses, injuries and other non-cycling challenge Even so, I wanted to ride well over 1000 miles in seven days/168 hours. Moreover, one of my goals this year of 2025 was a top-ten finish in the WUCA World Cup. Pending certification by WUCA, this HWMR TT garnered me enough points to temporarily place me in a tie for fourth place.
Another reason: extending myself further and further to see what I can do with the opportunities and admittedly limited talent God seems to have given me after I believed, after 20 years or so ago, to be all washed-up as an athlete after a serious knee injury. I’ll certainly never be in the same league as any number of younger outstanding ultracyclists, but I’m nevertheless delighted at how far a fairly ordinary and aging athlete can manage to push himself on a bike.
And yet another reason: demonstrating to the public what even older folks can accomplish on what is perhaps the most efficient machine for transportation ever invented – the bicycle. Most people who inquire about what in the world I’m doing are surprised, if not sometimes downright flabbergasted, to learn not only that I’m riding hundreds of miles in a single day, but that I’m often as old or even much older than they. Just maybe some of them will be encouraged to get off the couch, out of the house, out of the car, and see the world from a bike.
And quite frankly, a chance to add to my list of successful WUCA record attempts – 137+/-1 confirmed WUCA/UMCA records (one of which was actually a tie), most of them open-class – 141 if one counts my speed-hiking records in the Great Smoky Mountains National Park and a Tennessee Senior Olympics 20-km cycling record (imagine that — an ultracyclist winning and setting a record in a 12-mile race!). For some time I had been saying that maybe I’ll go for an even hundred if I live long enough, and I was dead serious about that latter condition – “if I live long enough.” But no longer! Pending certification by the WUCA, this HWMR TT attempt should yield a total of 137 WUCA records over my 19-year ultracycling career (note: nearly one third of those records were set as “age-class” records). By no stretch of the imagination did I consider this a possibility when I first tested myself at a WUCA record attempt across my home state of Tennessee some 19 years ago.
Equipment: I started and rode the first 100 miles or so with my 2004 titanium Litespeed Teramo with a Rivet saddle, Profile Design Legacy aerobars, Sidi clipless cycling shoes, SpeedPlay pedals, Cane Creek bar-end shifters, HED 50 mm aero wheels, and Shimano Ultegra 10-speed transmission. This bike, manufactured in Ooltewah, TN about 80 miles down the road from my home, has been my mount of choice for more than 130 of my 137 WUCA records, and most of the races leading to my only overall UltraMarathon World Cup championship in 2010, my six overall World UltraCycling Association Six-Hour Challenge championships and multiple age class North American 12 and 24-Hr Championships. t was my first modern road bike. The frame now has nearly 95,000 miles on it. I doubt there is any other single bike in the world ridden for so many records and championships.
After about 100 miles, I switched to one of my back-up bikes, a brand new Taiwanese-built titanium Motobecane Century Ti with a no-name saddle, Syntace aerobars, flat pedals and a Shimano 105 group set. I made a major mistake no experienced cyclist would ever make: I rode on that infernal saddle maybe 80 or 90 miles or so, but although I had at least a couple hundred miles of training on it (none more than 50 – 60 miles), it really messed painfully with my derrière. Considering all the challenges of multiple falls by both me and my wife, both of us with very sore heads and bruises, and now a quite painful derrière, I very nearly quit the attempt. But . . . the very day I left Knoxville, TN for Vero Beach, I had received two Infinity Seats developed by Dr. Vince Martel of California. Although I knew I should never ride on a new saddle, and the damage was already done to my bottom, I had thrown the “Adventure” model of the Infinity seat in my kit bag. Who knows, I might get a chance to try it out after the HWMR TT? Now, in desperation and very nearly ready to quit, I thought, “What have I got to lose. So I threw that new Infinity Seat on my seat post (actually the seat post mount itself took a lot of fiddling to mount the Seat) without looking at instructions for properly positioning the seat – because I was in a hurry! I know it sounds nearly impossible but my painful bottom almost immediately felt considerable relief. More importantly, I was able to ride most of the next 700 miles or so on that amazing new Seat.
By the way, I found the flat pedals and Adidas 5-10 cycling shoes to be as efficient as my clipless pedals and shoes for this kind of long, old-man slow cycling – and more comfortable.
Food and Drink: Water, including sparkling water, Coca Cola (diet and full-strength mix) chocolate milk, a few Endurolyte pills, magnesium, a pediatric electrolyte solution, yogurt smoothies, bananas; cookies, candy corn (don’t laugh), peanut and banana sandwiches. Every day I had at least one delicious, sit-down meal of real food provided by my talented and beautiful sister (and opera soprano!) and brother-in-law, Dr. and Captain, USA, Martin Smith.
Best Part: The loving support of my wonderful sister Cindy and brother-in-law Marty Smith. And of course I’m pleased that, pending certification, I set one more WUCA record. Next best part – finishing.
Hardest Part: Preparations for the record attempts including fitting in training, logistics, and family matters under trying circumstances (Aka, the Department of Life, and sometimes Death, Happens While One Was Making Other Plans). Several non-ultracycling related crises left me with little time to do my own personal preparations, including training and tapering.
Even more challenging was what happened in the first two days of the ride. The “no-name” saddle really tore up my derrière in just the first day and a half. It was so bad I had just about made up my mind to abandon the attempt. And while my ailing wife, 750 miles away, was experiencing two falls one of which sent her to the ER, I was falling four times. I lost considerable time trying to decide how best to return to my wife in Oak Ridge, TN and whether I should check in to the local Vero Beach ER for a potential concussion after falling and hitting my head painfully hard (cut my almost new aero helmet). I finally got word that my wife was OK, and my other three falls only resulted in being shook up a bit and a nice big bruise on my left hip . . . and my precious candy corn and cookies dumped all over the road and in the recently sprayed grass. I ate some of the spilled peanut butter pretzels anyway) 🙁
Unusual Happenings:
During maybe my 500th lap, a couple flagged me down to ask what I was training for. I didn’t at all mind stopping to speak with someone, any one for simple diversion from the boredom and misery. I told them I was going for the WUCA HWMR TT record in my age class. Turns out the woman was a former cyclist selected for the US Olympic Cycling team who was unfortunately gravely injured by a car before departing for the Olympics. She’s made a terrific come-back thank Heavens! Even though I lost six or seven minutes with them, it was well worth it – a real morale boost.
Acknowledgements: My sincere thanks to my sister Cindy Smith and my brother-in-law Marty Smith for supporting me during this record attempt. Without outstanding volunteers like these, I would never have been able to attempt my very first record crossing of Tennessee some 19 years ago, nor any of the 137 WUCA records since.
And finally, as good King Harry V declared (at least as Shakespeare has it) on learning that he and his little band of brothers had, almost miraculously, won the Battle of Agincourt against overwhelming odds – “I thank God, and not my own strength for it.”
Dedication: I dedicate these record attempts to my wonderful and much loved Mother, Germaine Eddlemon, Father, Col. Joe Eddlemon, USMC, Step-Mother Lois Reiniche, and my old Tennessee Volunteers Track and XC Coach, Chuck Rohe. All four passed away in recent years.
Exact Finish Location:
Near my sister’s home at 2264 Crowned Eagle Circle, Vero Beach, FL
Exact Finish Times or Distances:
Start time: 6:06:00 AM, EDST, Dec. 6, 2025
Finish time: 6:06:00 PM EST, Dec. 13, 2025
Distance: a disappointing to say the least, 938 miles in seven days.