Grandad cycling to break cross-Canada record + video

Grandfather to nine grandchildren, Arvid Loewen, set out today (July 2) to tackle 6,040km of Canadian roads over the next 19 days in a bid to beat his own cross-Canada cycling world record.

The record is currently set - by Loewen himself back in 2011 - at 13 days, six hours, and 13 minutes. This bid looks set to be the Canadian's last before, he told Canadian newspaper the Winnipeg Sun, he gets "really, really old."

Loewen is a well seasoned long distance bike rider and has several incredibly long rides and record attempts to his name. On his website, grandpascan.com, he lists the record he is currently attempting to break alongside his 2008 age category Race Across America title, as well as his ill-fated 2015 9,000km trans-North America record attempt.

Most of the successful and unsuccessful record attempts Loewen has made over the last decade have been in aid of Mully Children's Family (MCF).

MCF is a children rescue mission in Kenya which is currently raising 2500 orphaned or abandoned children in a family-type environment.

This ride is no exception. Loewen has been associated with MCF for over a decade, beginning in 2005 when he transported three teenagers from the Canadian charity across Canada on a modified tandem bicycle.

That journey was a bid to spread the charity's name across Canada, and ultimately lead Loewen to quit his 31-year career in Furniture sales in 2006.

He's now looking to raise $100 for each child the charity helps, leading him to a goal of $250,000. 

Despite his decorated cycling career and long involvement with charitable work, the father-of-three is not satiated. The sheer magnitude of the challenge that lies ahead of him for the next 19 days became clear in his interview with the Winnipeg Sun.

“I need to cover 458 kilometres per day in order to be at the record pace,” he said. "I’m going to attempt to lower that record one more time before I get really, really old."

While age might seem like something the former vice-president of furniture chain Palliser should be racing against, for a grandfather-of-nine Loewen is still relatively young. At 59 years old, he's not young, but equally he isn't as old as plenty of other record breakers we've covered here on road.cc.

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This isn't even the craziest challenge the 59-year old has attempted.

Last year Loewen attempted to break the record for a north-south North America ride from Deadhorse, Alaska, to Key West, Florida; a journey of 9,000km.

That attempt didn't end well. On the seventh day of his record attempt, Loewen's rear wheel came off and immediately flipped him forwards breaking several ribs and collapsing one of his lungs in the process. The crash was caught on camera via the support car behind:

We hope this record attempt is more successful.

You can track Loewen's progress via his findmespot.com feed, you can also see regular updates and photos from his follow crew on his website.

Equally, you can also donate to MCF via their website.