FASTEST YET

Evening Post, Volume CXXVIII, Issue 132, 1 December 1939, Page 5

FASTEST YET

LONG CYCLE RIDE

AUCKLAND TO WELLINGTON

[ Not content to rest after his forme* Auckland to Wellington cycling, record had been broken by a rival, L. G. Lukey, the well-known Canterbury cyclist, determined to regain the honour. Yesterday afternoon, just before 12.30.0'c10ck, he arrived, at the General Post Office, triumphant, but not so weary as might have been expected, having covered the. distance between, the two citie* in the amazing time of 31hours 58 minutes—^considerably bettering the previous ■ record of 35 hours 8 minutes established some months ago by O. Barnard, of New Plymouth/ Cycling through rain for the greater part of the journey, and held up by a puncture near Otaki in the morning, Lukey heveftheless fulfilled every expectation 'of those who. knew his true, form. At the end of the long ride he was" cheerful and happy, and, apart 'from reddened, wind-lashed eyes and blistered hands, seemed little the worse for the experience.

"I think I was more knocked up driving a car to Auckland in a hurry than I was through coming iiown on ; a cycle this time," he' said with a smile just after his arrival.

A delay to replace a punctured tube; damaged by a stray piece of wite, was the most eventful incident of the ride. For the first 180 miles, said Lukey, he did not get off the bicycle, but after that long, unbroken ride he had a bit' fof a meal to see him through the night. The Taranaki roads were not to his liking, 'and the. wind was tricky / at times. ■■'''■'.■"■'■■'■'■

i One of those accompanied Lukey in the official car said that. in , the, early hours .of the morning the : wind was very strong, with gusts estimated up to 60 miles an hour, and at times the rider could hardly keep his machineon its course. Lukey reached Waitara. in the excellent time of 14| hours, but struck the worst of the weather after that. The climb over Paekakariki, which was necessary to make the new record compare with the previous efforts, was no setback to Lukey • who managed it with easeLukey's marathon cycle rides in both North and South Islands are well known to all followers of the sporti but he sprang to prominence several, years ago in some sensational feats of barrow-pushing, which caught on here after some freak efforts on' the other side of the Tasman. His companion on these trips; ahd tjie occupant of the a barrow, was J. C. Schofield, of WeV lington, and the two men completed the distance from Auckland to Wellington, with Lukey pushing the barrow, in 31 days. Not satisfied with that, they tackled the 400-mile jour r ney from Bluff to Christchurch, with complete success,