Live coverage as James MacDonald makes attempt on 24 hour distance record

At midday today, 48-year-old James MacDonald embarked on an attempt to break the world record for furthest distance ridden on a velodrome in 24 hours. You can track his progress via a YouTube live stream. While the footage might get a bit repetitive, there’s speed, power and heart-rate data and it lets you know whether he’s ahead of or behind schedule.

The record is currently held by Austrian ultracylist Christoph Strasser, who covered  941.873 kilometres at the Velodrome Suisse in 2017.

That entailed 3,767 laps of the 250 metre track at an average speed of 39.42 kilometres an hour. At the time of writing, MacDonald is ahead of schedule – but with almost 23 hours still to go, that probably doesn’t yet tell us all that much.

MacDonald is making his attempt at Newport's Geraint Thomas National Velodrome in Wales.

"It's about trying to see what your limits are," he told Reuters.

"I thought I would try something a bit harder and see if it's possible. It's about understanding your capabilities. I'm rubbish at ball sports, and can't run, but I can ride a bike. The 24-hour record is the ultimate thing to achieve."

In September 2017, MacDonald set the record for cycling from John O'Groats to Land's End and back again, covering the 2,711km distance in five days, 18 hours and 3 minutes.

He plans to complete the 24 hour attempt without stopping.

"Stopping is the worst thing you can do for your average speed, stopping is just terrible," he said.

"We will try to make sure there are no stops. It's a balance between hydration and having to go to the toilet. If we manage it correctly I shouldn't have to stop. But we might not get it perfect. But we'll keep it to the absolute minimum."

Strasser stopped just once, after 20 hours and for just three minutes.

MacDonald added: "I've ridden 24 hours non stop before but when you're on the road you have little breaks when you're rolling downhill, you can sit up. But on the track there is very little variety. Unfortunately it's a never-ending road.

"That's when the crew will be so vital. Not only will they be able to tell me what's happening to my body, how fast I'm going, etc, they'll keep me entertained.

"We'll be playing music, and talking and that's really important, being in contact with the crew."