The Story of My 24-Hour World Record Attempt on Zwift

On April 19, 2025, at 6am MT, I took the first of 92,160 pedal strokes. The goal was to achieve the greatest virtual distance cycling ever officially recorded in 24 hours. With months of work behind me, a team of in-person and virtual supporters, and an iron will, I set off.

While the main goal was to complete the longest ride in 24 hours, there were a few records on the way to the 24-hour mark that I could potentially break. The final count? Fourteen potential world records.

Two of these records were previously standing Guinness World Records:

• ‘Greatest Virtual Distance on a Static Cycle in 12 hours (male)’
• ‘Greatest Virtual Distance on a Static Cycling in 24 hours (male)’

Additionally, the World Ultra Cycling Association (WUCA) had outlined the process for their own virtual cycling records, but no one had gone through the process. These WUCA records will be submitted to Guinness through their standing relationship for the other 12 records which are titled something to the effect of ‘Greatest (fastest time achieved for distance categories) Virtual Distance Covered by Standard Bicycle (WUCA) (male)’ for the following: 100km, 200km, 300km, 500km, 1000km, 100mi, 200mi, 300mi, 500mi, 6hr, 12hr, and 24hr.

WUCA Requirements

Why were the WUCA records unset? First of all, there are many cyclists who give no value to indoor cycling, at least not in comparison to outdoor cycling. Additionally, fairly and equitably estimating how far someone has gone indoors is a massively challenging task. Programs like Zwift go to great lengths to factor in details of speed based on real-life circumstances, but cyclists know that, for a variety of reasons, Zwift is not perfectly estimating one’s individualized distance and speed.

Due to these constraints, WUCA created a process to estimate the speed and distance of cyclists riding indoors based on that rider’s own outdoor performance. This is the route I took for the 12 WUCA records. I completed an outdoor test ride that measured my coefficient of aerodynamic drag (CdA). After this test, WUCA observed my speed at a given power output on the bike, and estimated my final outcome during the 24 hours based on this CdA. WUCA also measured how much time I spent in the time trial (TT) aero position vs. other positions during the attempt, because position on the bike massively affects speed!

The Day by the Numbers 

Out of the 24 hours, I spent 23h 53m 42s pedaling. With only 6m 18s off the bike the entire day, paired with my average cadence of 64 rpm (many cyclists aim for 80+ rpm), it’s fair to say I was on the grindstone the whole day. Of this continual pedal time, I spent 33m 10s standing. I was in the TT aero position for 23h 20m 32s, the day’s ultimate test. While many are accurate when stating that indoor riding is not the same as outdoor riding, this record-breaking ride has its own legs to stand on by the time spent in the aero position alone. 

Nutrition

As for fueling, I am grateful for Formula 369. I am dedicated to my own research and only use products I trust and believe in, and this nutrition formula is one I believe in wholeheartedly. For a long time, the school of thought among endurance athletes was that 90g of carbs was the maximum hourly intake. Then it was updated to 120g, and others have measured elite athletes taking in 150g.

During the 24 hours, I consumed 168g of sugar (1:1 maltodextrin to fructose) and 9g of complex carbs each hour. I consumed 800 calories per hour of Formula 369’s High Protein Recovery Mix and coconut milk, totaling 19.2k calories consumed during the 24 hours.

While that sounds massive, and it is, it still left me in a large deficit from the 23,584 KJ burned from a 273W average power + resting energy. Yes, while eating 800 calories an hour, I burned 982.8 calories from active energy going straight to the pedals!

In addition to the calories, I needed water and electrolytes. I estimate that more than 25L of water were consumed. That is 50lbs (22.68kg) of water! The nutrition mix itself weighed in at just over 10lbs (4.54kg).

Speaking of weight, I added 6.9lbs (3.13kg) to my body over the course of the 24 hours, which means I sweated or expelled more than 50lbs (22.68kg) during this time. I was also taking a minimum of 1000mg of salt each hour and consumed 600mg of caffeine in the final 10 hours.

Maybe that’s more than you wanted to know, but I find it fascinating.

Equipment

As required by WUCA, I rode the same bike used during the outdoor aerodynamic test. I was on the brand new Ventum Tempus – a truly record-breaking bike. The Tempus was hooked up to a Wahoo KICKR Move and had a Rotor INspider hub-based power meter. Both the Wahoo trainer and Rotor INspider were calibrated on site by representatives of the companies, and this calibration was witnessed by two independent individuals.

The Rotor power meter was used as my primary power source for my Zwift connection and bike computer, but when others were riding around me during the day, my bike computer lost connection with the power meter several times. I documented this via video showing my bike computer reporting different power than my Zwift connection. For this reason, WUCA will be provided the Zwift FIT file and the Garmin FIT file to access all required data points.

I’m incredibly grateful to Cycling Upgrades, who sponsored the remaining bike components and ensured it all came together.

Zwift Community

While the WUCA portion of the attempt was individualized in terms of effort, the Zwift-specific components were not possible without community support. I relied on many wonderful groups on Zwift, especially Dads Inside Riding Trainers (DIRT), DWGZ, DRAFT, Wahoo, and Bravery Motivation Teamwork Respect (BMTR).

I recruited individual cyclists to help form a group that could keep up the required speed for the day. I am beyond grateful for everyone who showed up for me on Zwift. Throughout the day, the group size was 25-60 riders. For some extended periods of time we were averaging 28.5 mph and the energy was electric! I am in love with the dynamic that Zwift creates and the group cohesion that it brings to indoor cycling. 

Charitable Aspect

When my wife, Bailey, and I decided to attempt these records, we brainstormed ways to make the most of the day. Many similar events successfully make it about more than the person completing the attempt, because after all, that person lives in a community of people in various situations. This is certainly true for me. Bailey worked with me on creating this for two months, and this work often became a part-time (and some weeks a full-time) job to pull everything together.

When I thought about a charitable cause to spotlight, breast cancer was an obvious choice because of my mom’s recent diagnosis. During our preparation for this attempt, my mom began chemotherapy treatment and has continued treatments and surgeries scheduled throughout the upcoming year. To set up a donation that could benefit her and others going through something similar was very appealing to me. The outcome was huge! The monetary donations received will allow her to pay for treatment costs that are not covered by insurance, without financing them – a huge burden lifted.

Once again, I am amazed by the cycling community and the generosity of others. Thank you to Drip Swag for the donation of event t-shirts and branded tumblers to help incentivize and simultaneously commemorate the day. 

Media & Livestream

In addition to the charitable aspect, we hoped to livestream the event. Having to film the entirety of the event for Guinness and WUCA anyway, we thought we might as well make the most of it. We quickly realized that we may have bit off more than we could chew, but Bailey made it happen and connected all the dots. Huge thanks to JT Telford and BrainStoke for aiding in this endeavor.

While watching me pedal the bike nonstop for 24 hours might have been interesting to some, we thought it would be fun to invite others to be part of mini podcast interviews. Each guest had some personal connection to me, as well as something of value to share with those tuning in. Dr. Vince at Infinity Seat discussed the magic powers of his saddles, and Tyler Pearce (VC Adventure Time) talked about the madness of the effort and how eating changes everything. This was such a special aspect for me, not just because it was fun to hear everyone talk about the tenacity of the attempt, but to hear from cyclists and sponsors for whom I have great respect. Thank you to all who shared their time with us. Others interviewed include: Marko Baloh, Hayden Pucker, Magnus Kulset, Nathan Guerra, Korby Van Valkenburg, Eric Ellis, Dale and ArLene Johnson, Chris “Hoppo” Hopkinson, Nathan Guerra, and Peter Bradbury. 

As far as media production, Bailey’s right-hand man was JT Telford. His roles included video, producing, audio, and podcast hosting. He set up and tested the night before, worked tirelessly to bring it all together, and apart from me probably burned more calories on site being here, there, and everywhere. From BrainStoke, Tom Telford and Preston Neiderhauser hosted and interviewed podcast guests. Kevin Day, a cycling legend himself, was willing to help fill gaps and work on photo and video elements. Kevin even hopped on a Zwift Ride next to me for the last hour or so, his first ever virtual miles. I’m grateful to be a BrainStoke Ambassador and work with these individuals.

Here are the livestream recordings, broken up into 3 parts:

Crew

While indoor cycling takes less crew effort than outdoor rides, I still had a few crew members helping throughout the day. Bailey, in addition to orchestrating all of the above-described media, was my main crewmember. She made my bottles, handed them to me, adjusted fans, helped with nature breaks, and provided motivation and wellness checks. My cousin, Amber Maynard, aided Bailey in making bottles. Additionally, Pat Casey, who is my bike fitter at Peak State Fit, helped apply wax to my chain after more than 400 miles. (Maybe it was time?)

Individual Preparations

During my winter training from 2024-2025 I decided to focus on ultracycling races, specifically 24-hour races. As with most things in my life, I did my own research to learn what this would require. Fueling seemed to be the biggest hurdle, and I had previously experienced a nutrition challenge during Hoodoo 500 in August of 2024. The challenge of fueling is exacerbated when you aim to maintain a fast average speed – eating any food at 24-27 mph in a TT position is a challenge. I found that others had done liquid-only diets; efficient for sure, but challenging on the gut.

I immediately began to practice. I knew that if I could master this piece, then I could perform very well at these 24-hour events. Around the same time, I did a 24-hour Zwift ride in December where Nick DeHaan and I rode all the roads in Zwift. After traveling every road, I continued riding for 24 hours, averaging 266 watts. Afterward, I realized that if I had done the effort with Constance, the fastest robopacer in Zwift, I could potentially go further than anyone had ever gone. This is when Peter Bradbury from Zwift Headquarters and I began talking about a world record project.

Zwift

Peter did some research to find the longest Zwift rides and we found the Guinness World Records. Around the same time, I learned that WUCA had virtual record rules but no completions of these records. I began talking with Larry Oslund, WUCA Records Chair, to learn what attempting these records would look like. 

We mapped out a plan and I knew it was possible. I continued my gut training and prepared for my 24-hour outdoor race in Sebring, Florida in February 2025. I met with Peter via video call for the first time, the day before the Sebring race, to discuss how the record attempt could take place within Zwift. At Sebring, I successfully managed a liquid-only diet. The heat and the wind of the day partially defeated me, but with 576 miles (927 km) done in 24 hours, it was the furthest an American had ever gone outdoors. 

The Space

Through a growing relationship between BrainStoke and ENVE, we asked ENVE to host us at their headquarters for the attempt. (This was convenient as the attempt was required to take place in a public space that was open to anyone throughout the duration of the event, and ENVE is located just a few miles from my home.) They graciously said yes and we began to plan the specifics of the day. We needed space, internet, cameras, laptops, food, cameras, audio mixers, banners, and lots of cords. Honestly, it was a big ask and ENVE was very kind to let us utilize their gorgeous space.

The Struggle

Let’s talk about the struggle. After having such a successful outcome at Sebring, Bailey and I had a few sit down conversations about whether or not we wanted to commit our time, energy, money, and life to pursuing cycling. I could continue to pursue cycling as a hobby/interest, but the door was open to go after something bigger than personal fulfillment. We both understood that doing this meant going all in. After discussing pros and cons, we decided it was worth a try. With such amazing potential, how could we not see where it could take us?

So, I rewrote my cycling season and decided that now was as good a time as any to go for the virtual cycling record. This was originally decided within the context of a fairly stable home life that could afford for us to put time and money into pursuing this.

However, life changes.

Not long after deciding to go all in and beginning to make changes to do so, my mom was diagnosed with breast cancer (we are very close and she helps watch our children part of the week while my wife and I work). We also learned that Bailey’s work would be changing with unsure outcomes, and even today we are still taking it day-by-day and adapting accordingly.

They say, “If it were easy, everyone would do it,” but we weren’t expecting it to get hard this quickly. On top of the time it took to plan for the attempt, I knew that the training required would also constitute part-time and sometimes full-time shifts on the bike. There were many days that Bailey and I were close to breakdown; stretched thin and barely holding it together. Relying on one another, we always re-centered and did what we needed to.

Even with all the prep work, there was still a lot that needed to fall into place on the day-of. The streaming alone was its own massive challenge. My wife had been studying how to operate the stream for multiple weeks and had created amazing graphics for the stream, but to make it actually work took half a day and into the late evening hours the day before. So, the media team showed up already in a partial sleep and energy deficit. 

I have learned with trial and error that the taper cannot be too big, or I lose the benefits of the high volume training. Some of my best performances have been in heavy weeks. So, prior to the attempt, I rode less time but with fairly normal intensity and I only reduced my training load a week and a half out from the event. I also get extremely stir crazy during a taper, because I have way more energy than I know what to do with and I can’t use it! I know that I’m supposed to sit around but my body is so busy. I try not to ruin the prep and just keep myself busy doing other things. Even on the day before, many were telling me you should just be sitting somewhere with your feet up; however, I did have to set up my bike station, which had to be locked in for the task at hand.

I am very happy with the setup I chose. In the ENVE lunchroom, I was in a corner with many surrounding windows viewing the outside and I faced those windows instead of the room. This gave me a good view during the day, although I did spend most of the time looking at Zwift as I had to manage the group dynamics. Looking away from the room also gave me the benefit of putting on some music and tuning out the people around me. While it was not a party atmosphere the whole time, we did have independent witnesses, the media team, and many visitors throughout the day. It was good to not be caught up in the room with everyone. Also, I could see people as they came and went, but they could not come straight up and talk to me, allowing me to monitor how many people were interacting with me at a time.

The pressure of performing in front of so many people is intimidating. Most of my performance pressures prior to this did not include an expectation of doing something truly remarkable. Even at Sebring, I was an unknown entity to many, so there really wasn’t anyone expecting anything special from me. When you go for a World Record, promote it nonstop for the weeks leading into it, and put yourself on display, the pressure is high. While that can be motivational, I know that many can also find it debilitating. That day, it was both for me. Being able to mobilize the energy that I receive from those who believe in me and who want me to succeed has always been helpful. I will say though, this type of energy is most useful in the less demanding times. During the real dark moments, I find that I need more to keep pushing forward. The fear of failure or letting everyone down, was combated by going back to my purpose and grounding myself in reality. I thought of mantras such as, 

• “You’ve done the work.” 
• “You are going to do your best and you can’t do any more.”
• “Worrying about doing more than you can do is not going to help.” 
• “You either have it or you don’t. There is nothing you can do about it now.” 
• “The work has been done, now it’s time to let it happen.”
• “You can only get in your own way at this point.”

As I focused on the task at hand and let the event energy float away from my mind, I was confronted by the wall of effort ahead. I was determined to keep a very hard pace for 24 hours with limited breaks and to do it in one static TT position to make the WUCA outcome as good as possible. 

While on Zwift, position does not matter. In the real world, it matters a lot. I love the world of Zwift and will continue to use it as my main training device because of its versatility and community. However, it does not perfectly capture a rider’s capability because of individual factors such as position. In order to account for this, WUCA chose to have their records measured by their own calculation, not by Zwift. The main factor in this calculation is the CdA described previously. I knew going in that, despite being on Zwift, I needed to spend as much time as I could in the TT position. This was by far the hardest part of the day. I wanted to get up and move around so badly. I wanted to stretch and not stay static. 

Working with Pat Casey at Peak State Fit has unlocked so much more potential. He has helped me find a position that really works for both comfort and power. I highly recommend him for a professional fitting. My setup on the new Ventum Tempus is extremely comfortable for hours on end. However, I don’t know if there is a way to be comfortable in the same position for 24 hours – it’s basically torture. I almost talked myself out of it many times. In fact, the last several hours I started to do the math of how much distance I would lose to just sit up the rest of the time. It wasn’t a huge sacrifice. If I sat up for two hours I would only lose around 4.6 miles. But it was just my mind trying to talk myself into giving up the position. Two thoughts crossed my mind. 

First, when you go down one road it’s hard to get back to the previous one. In ultra events, I’ve found it’s hard to come back from a lull. If I broke position, I knew it was most likely going to be beyond impossible to go back to it as strong as I was before. It’s not a matter of rest, nothing was going to get better. I wasn’t going to get enough break time to make it feel better. I was just going to show my mind there was an easier way. Taking a break was only going to give my quitting side more power. No, I could not back down, even a little. 

Second thought: in a world where I optimized everything as much as I could to be as fast as I could, why would I choose to give up speed now? I literally made choices to make myself a few seconds faster over the course of the whole event. So giving up 4+ miles? That logic didn’t make any sense.

In addition to battling the position and pressure of the day, I also had to overcome one of my major blocks. In previous ultra events, I have hated when people asked me, “How are you doing?” This was severe enough to the point that during Sebring it took me 10 minutes to bounce back after my wife asked how I was doing during a brief break. I spent the whole next lap thinking about how I was not doing okay and trying to climb out of the hole. At this attempt, there was no escaping it. Everyone who came and greeted me, immediately asked how I was doing. Ignoring it as a real question and interpreting it as their care or interest in me was helpful. I reminded myself that they meant good and avoided thinking about my real response, and instead immediately said, “I’m good.” I’ll be one of the first, as a mental health counselor, to say that one should not always rely on these techniques, but the context and goal of the day required these tools. I’m a big fan of using a tool analogy to help myself and others realize you have to use different tools for different jobs. This is equally true for projects in the mind.

Learning to balance interacting with others and not using too much energy on it was interesting. The effort was very high, but the point of being able to do it for 24 hours meant it had to be easy enough for me. So, most of the time I was comfortable and I had to be, for many hours. If it was uncomfortable in the first few hours, how would that have worked? I could not let this comfort go too far into making me use energy on other tasks.

Another interesting and unique challenge of the day was the many milestones. There were many records to overcome and each of them were their own success, but they were not the main goal. In fact, I chose to not even reflect on the fact that I was a WR holder until the last 20 minutes. At times these carrots were motivating, but at other times they were daunting. It sort of felt like a never ending list of things to do. However, it was rewarding that each of them became a bigger and bigger win.

The last struggle I will focus on is not letting up even a hair. I felt and knew that if I even came down a little on watts, it would be that much harder to talk myself into going back up. While negative splitting a marathon or shorter race is the way to go the fastest, I am not convinced it is the way for ultra. In fact, if you just think about the growing calorie and body deficit, it doesn’t make any sense to go fastest and hardest when you are so far behind on energy. It seems to me more like a war of attrition and you only truly win if you give in as little as possible.

Closing Thanks

If there’s more to the story, I will need to capture it in our post-event interview with BrainStoke. I want to end this document with many thanks. The biggest thanks goes to Bailey for her work which may outweigh my own going in, day of, and after. JT Telford from BrainStoke was the right-hand man of a Lefthand production. The rest of the crew from BrainStoke were stellar – thanks Tom, Preston, and Kevin. 

The main event sponsors were a pleasure to work with and I hope to continue representing such amazing brands. ENVE, thanks for your excellent wheels and use of space (the rear disc wheel is the fast version used by Tadej and me). Thank you Neil and Jason for your help. It would not have been as spectacular without you. Thanks to Wahoo for providing a reliable and consistent trainer that could withstand 24 hours of pure torture! The same goes for Rotor, the primary recording meter of the attempt and the oval ring that worked perfectly with my style and capability. 

Lastly, but in some ways the most successful partnership, a huge thanks to all at Zwift and especially Peter Bradbury. We did it Peter! What was a brainchild became a reality in more ways than we dreamed. Zwift is such an amazing platform and I am grateful to be a user and will sing its praises everywhere I can. Thanks for your support during this endeavor. To have a special robopacer (same as Constance in metrics, but branded by name and chat for the event) was incredible. The help managing fake accounts to simultaneously make this a legitimate effort and not get out of hand – just thank you, thank you, thank you. 

This time last year, I don’t think I knew about WUCA. Now, it has been a pleasure to win their North American Ultra Distance Championship in 2024, start my World Cup bid at Bike Sebring, and now set world records. Thank you to the records chair Larry Oslund for working closely on this with me and refining the new process for others to follow. 

The day after I finished, I made a video about not resting on my laurels. I have a lot more in me this season and in the future. But damn, this one feels good.

The Aftermath

The aftermath, what I’m calling the short-term recovery, is an event all on its own. It has been 8-12 hours of ups and down. This time I felt really good for 3-4 hours but after 5 hours I had a serious sugar crash and felt terrible – the first time I have thought, “Maybe I should go get a medical check.” Luckily, food righted the ship. So, here is what short-term recovery has looked like for me: 

• Eat as much solid food as I could tolerate. It seems that I can stomach 2-3k calories right after.
• Sleep for 2 hours, or really as long as I can before I wake with a strong hunger sensation.
• Then, it’s back to eating as much as I possibly can. 
• I repeat this one more time to sleep, eat, and sleep. 
• After that final sleep I generally am in a good spot, but then it’s long-term recovery time.