At the risk of duplicating earlier threads my understanding of the Godwin year record is that he was riding to Cycling (now Cycling Weekly)'s rules and verification. The Year was specified by Cycling as a calendar year. The reason for specifying the year in advance was presumably so that a verification process could be put in place in advance. In Godwin's case that process appears to have continued throughout his 100,000 mile record. So he was not riding to UMCA rules but he does appear, if the Cycling verification is accepted, to have ridden more than 77,000 miles in a period of 365 consecutive days. Whether you describe that as a 'record' obviously depends on how you define that term but, and this is a matter of opinion, it seems just as appropriate (or perhaps just as inappropriate....) to compare a UMCA HAMR with Godwin's higher number as it is to compare it with his 1939 total.
I have no wish to 'diminish' Kurt's ride, which I would interpret as the initial UMCA HAMR, nor would I wish to diminish Godwin's records, all of which seem extraordinary.
As for the current record attempts, setting aside the definition of the most relevant record, it seems that a dedicated supporting vehicle and crew is a common factor that had a hugely significant effect on both Godwin's and Kurt's rides that seem absent from the current attempts. Without that I think Steve in particular will struggle to get close to the 220 miles a day he'll need for most of the rest this attempt. But good luck to him anyway. I hope at least he's enjoying most of the cycling.
