By Maria Cook
Later this month, Noblesville resident Dave Schweikert will attempt to set a world record by riding his bicycle around a Carmel roundabout at East Main Street and River Road for 24 consecutive hours.
The ride will begin at 7 p.m. Sept. 20 and is planned to conclude at 7 p.m. Sept. 21. Schweikert said the ride will raise funds for World Bicycle Relief, an international nonprofit that distributes bicycles to aid in poverty relief.
“They provide specially designed bicycles, mostly in Africa. They go to students, teachers, health care workers, farmers,” Schweikert said. “One great example is, there’s a 12-year-old girl who lives in a little village, and the closest clean water is a couple of miles away, so it takes a couple hours to go get water. Now, she has a specially designed bike called a Buffalo Bike. She can save over 30 minutes. It lets her stay in school, rather than having to spend all her time helping the family, so she can further her education.”
Several of World Bicycle Relief’s specially designed bikes will be on display at a donations tent near the roundabout where Schweikert will ride. The road will remain open to traffic throughout Schweikert’s ride, with only the inner lane being closed to vehicle traffic, for his safety.
Schweikert has participated in endurance biking for approximately 12 years but said riding laps for 24 hours straight will be mentally challenging.
“Earlier this year, I did a 24-hour ride, on my own, from Indianapolis to southern Indiana and back, so I’ve done a 24-hour ride, but the mental load of doing laps is something else,” he said. “But one of the messages I tell people is, your mind is really what holds you back, and if I can do it, anybody can. I really believe that.”
