Amongst the reformulations and restatements, there are some insightful gems to be found.
Oh absolutely, I wasn't kidding.
Just going back what Wow was saying [and this is not addressed to Wow] - you know, I sometimes think that it's us here on the internet, that like to marry the authenticity of the challenge to our man Steve from MK, as if it's all his precious challenge and somehow if others take up the challenge they are kind of imposters and not really to be respected. We will respect them, but actually....almost kind of begrudgingly, like through gritted teeth. I really think that the feeling likely to be more prevalent here than it is in Steve's mind. I really wonder if he cares that much actually.
He's a curious animal, we all are in our own ways, and he's a very different kind of individual to me, way different, I have little in common with him, he's way too out there for me as regards cycling, far too dedicated and single minded than I would ever want to be, but I really don't think he does bitterness or acrimony that well. That others have come along in the wake of his enthusiasm probably gives him more satisfaction than we might to acknowledge.
I think it was Richie Benaud who, when asked who the world's top batsman was, said that at any one time, you can't separate the top 6. On the day in question, it could simply come down to a matter of luck who does well and who doesn't. When it comes down to the 6 top distance cyclists in history, Steve is there amongst them, currently standing at number 4. He would easily have beaten Bernard Bennett other than for the bad luck of breaking his leg. I don't think that any of us doubts that he would have got well past 70,000 miles given a decent run of luck.
None of that takes away from Kurt's achievement. He was brilliant. In the early days I felt that his lack of proper preparation would let him down - how many bikes did he have broken at one time? He got away with it and played a blinder. Since early November he hasn't had a day under a Godwin until the record was pretty much in the bag. That is massively impressive when he had already had 10 months on the road. I'm not certain how many miles broken bikes cost him. It may not have been that many, but I think if he had given the attention to kit that Steve did he might have knocked a bit more time off the record.
Of course, a record like this isn't a single day. It's a whole bloody year. It represents 2.5% of Steve's time on this planet to date, 2% of Kurt's. Only very dedicated people even contemplate tackling it. I can't see Kurt ever doing this again if someone should break his record (Bruce? Steve?) in the next year or two. He's got other stuff to do with his life and he's not going to crack it when he's knocking 60. It's a really tough call on Steve, though, should he not break the record after all this effort. But, as they say, that's life.
Edit: I'll add that it has been a massive privilege for the past year following these two Titans battling it out in their own different ways. My grandchildren are too young to appreciate being told about this, but they will know all about it in due course. I suspect that Steve will, in his usual modest manner, wonder what all the fuss is about.
