Robert Marchand was born in 1911 and started cycling very early on. It was only when he reached the age of 22 that he stopped practicing his hobby; his coach advised him that given his body size and build, Marchand would never grow up or train to be a champion in any way.
For the next 53 years of Marchand’s life, he threw himself into active jobs – being a firefighter, a gardener, and even a lumberjack. It was only when he turned 75 that he decided to pick his bike up again.
Now, Marchand is 105 years old – and he’s still on his bike.
Just recently, he set a new record for the longest distance biked in an hour for his age group. Marchand rode 22.547 kilometers, or 14 miles, in 60 minutes.
Two years prior, he rode 26.927 kilometers, or 16.73 miles, but insisted, “I didn’t see the sign for the last 10 minutes [this year], otherwise I could have gone faster.”
People all over the world are dying to know how Marchand manages to pull this off at his age, and his response is always that he participates in these activities with “laughter” and “many friends.”
His daily routine is nothing supremely special or out of the ordinary.
The day begins with a 10-minute callisthenic routine and a brief session on his indoor, stationary bike before eating fruit and yogurt for breakfast, with a cup of green tea. He reads the paper, goes out to the market for food to make lunch, and drinks a glass of red wine each week.
Everyone wonders if Marchand will continue to attempt beating his previous records, but he always shakes his head. “I’m not here to break any record,” he insisted before the race this year. “I’m doing it to prove that at 105 years old you can still ride a bike.”
