Veteran Invercargill cyclist Peter Grandiek has broken the 'world best' record for the one hour track record in the 80-84 year-old age bracket in Invercargill.
Grandiek's distance of 29.187km beat the previous mark of 28.388km, set last year by Sidney Schuman, 84, in London.
Grandiek, 83, had previously beaten Schuman's record, at the SIT Velodrome in Invercargill in February. While the ride was a New Zealand record, it wasn't officially recognised as a world best record.
Invercargill man Peter Grandiek during his world record attempt on Thursday.
With UCI officials in Invercargill for the Oceania Track Cycling Championships, Grandiek made an official attempt on Thursday.
READ MORE: Grandiek attempts 'world best' record
Grandiek said the support of a small, but vocal home crowd helped him.
"It was tough. An hour is a long time," he said.
"The home support helped. I could hear them and it just made me think that I have to do it. Everything feels good, although the legs feel a bit tired."
Grandiek wasn't sure if he had broken the record until the last five minutes.
"I didn't realise until the last minutes, when I had ridden 100 laps," he said.
"I thought I still had to do 13 more laps to break it and that is hard, and then I put my head down and I then looked up and realised I had done 115 laps and broken it."
Grandiek hopes to continue riding now that he has achieved the record.
"I will ride in the Southland champs, and then if selected I will ride in the New Zealand age-group champs in the 85 plus age-group," he said.
The Invercargill cyclist has quiet plans to celebrate his achievement.
"I think I will have something to eat and go to sleep," he said.
"I will see what the family wants to do, but I won't go up town or anything like that. I might come down and watch the Oceania champs tonight."
The Oceania Track Cycling Championships run from October 8 to 11 at the SIT Velodrome in Invercargill.
Photo and article courtesy Stuff