After Bob Sanders record breaking ride across the USA as the oldest man or person to do this he had considerable administration to complete to satisfy the Guinness World Records organisation that his ride was verifiable. Before setting off there were plenty of rules to follow but collating all the data after several weeks cycling at the end was still quite daunting. Trying to help I reached out to anyone else who’d resolved the issue and found a lady called Lynnea Salvo. She had six of her own world records for long distance cycling as a ‘senior’. Such a collection is quite amazing.

Whilst I’m corresponding with Lynn, Bob was alternatively resolving his needs but I struck up a ‘conversation’ with Lynn. She followed my blog and enjoyed my rides and exchanged her own experience in Europe. In fact she’d actually produced a short film of her ride from up above the Arctic Circle to bottom of Europe in Spain. This ride was another Guinness World Record on a new Continent and over 4,300 miles for a female of her age.

It was a long expedition across 12 countries and one that she seemingly ate up with little physical discomfort. However long distance rides become so much easier and focussed if you plan to visit specific places on your journey. In Lynn’s case it was to do with peace.

In 1970 she lost her brother, John, in the Vietnam war. A tragic loss and one of so many. With this bereavement never far from her mind over the decades often her rides would focus on the pursuit of peace. On this ride she stopped at various sites as she headed south that were important over the years in, amongst other things, documenting Soviet or Nazi occupation and the fortitude and resistance of the peoples they ultimately failed to constrain.

So embedded here is a link to Lynn’s ride: ‘Pearls Of Peace’. It’s a beautifully crafted chronicle of her pilgrimage and one that I found engrossing. I hope you’ll watch it and if you do you’ll become inspired by her achievement and hopefully more reflective in these times of continuing and bloody global strife.