Rob Lee passing Devils Dyke (photo: Rory Hitchens)

It’s official (unofficially), Rob Lee’s time 20h 55m 51s secures him the pleasure of being the latest South Downs Way Double record breaker.

Rob had announced that he would attempt an assault on the record time held by Neil Newell (22h 20m 25s) during the month of May. To make it even more challenging, as if the 202 mile ride needed to be, he would attempt to be the first person to break the record ‘unsupported’. Meaning he had to carry everything he would need on his person/bike, open gates himself, and receive no outside mechanical or moral support.

At 11.40pm on Tuesday evening, unannounced, Rob set off from Winchester to tackle the ride. We received word of his challenge only when he was a good 9 hours into it, but thanks to live GPS system developed by Neil Newell, the BM community were able to track his progress right up to his eventual record-breaking finish. If you missed it all, you can see it here. He didn’t just carry everything he needed, he didn’t leave anything behind either – Neil tells us that Rob had a backpack full of empty energy bar and gel wrappers upon arrival in Winchester…

Rob, we presume, is still recovering from his tremendous effort, but on behalf of everybody, BM would like to congratulate Rob on his amazing ride. When he gets some feeling back in his legs we’ll get a few words and thoughts from him, but for now, here’s a photo of him in action. Nice one Rob.