End of the record of Walter Greaves
Greaves’ greatest distance in a day was 275 miles. His longest without sleep was 374 miles. The shortest day, 67 miles, finished early because he fell off and had to repair his bicycle.
His record was set to fall even as he reached Bradford town hall. Next day another amateur rider, Bernard Bennett, set off to ride 45,801 miles. The record fell twice more the same year, the second time to René Menzies - who matched the record at Alexandra Palace with Greaves beside him[13][14]
Cycling reported:
Bernard Bennett was reported to say that he was attempting the record just for fun. He set the new record figure of 45,801 miles and also setting a new world record of 100,000 miles in 642 days. As all this competition was going on in the United Kingdom, a year’s race had commenced between two widely separated contestants, Ossie Nicholson from Down Under who had already tasted success, and a newcomer, René Menzies, a 48-year-old Frenchman of Scottish descent. René rode in the UK and on the Continent, searching for the hotter weather… Many miles away, Nicholson had found better weather and financial support; at the end of his year he had collected an amazing 62,567 miles thus time tasting more than glory as he had also pedalled his way clear of beating the 100,000 miles record, this time in 532 days.[1]
Tommy Godwin set the record at 75,065 miles in 1939 with the support of a bicycle factory, a manager and pacers. He went on to ride 100,000 miles in 499 days.