Canadian 'bike weirdo' breaks 2 world records on her penny farthing

CBC

a day ago

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People who ride penny farthings are weirdos, says Lizanne Wilmot — and she's the fastest weirdo of them all.
On New Year's Eve, the Canadian-born cyclist broke the world record for fastest speed on a penny farthing when she hit 41.709 kilometres per hour at the Tasmanian Christmas Carnival in Burnie, Australia, claiming the women's title and beating the men's record, too.
Two days prior, at the same event, she broke the women's world record for fastest one kilometre on a penny farthing at one minute and 52.750 seconds.
Both rides were hell on her hamstrings, she says, but cruising to victory on her bespoke Victorian-style bicycle was pure joy.
"When you're on the penny farthing, you can't help but to smile the entire time," Wilmot told As It Happens guest host Megan Williams.
Guinness World Records certified Wilmot's titles this month.
A thriving penny farthing community
Wilmot, a championship-winning track cyclist and spatial scientist from Brampton, Ont., has plenty of experience riding an ordinary bike. But once she took her first whirl on a penny farthing, she says she was hooked.
"It's almost like I've de-evolved," she said.
The old-timey bike, also known as a high-wheeler, has a massive front wheel, which the rider sits astride, putting them more than a metre above the ground.
They largely fell out of favour in the 1880s with the advent of the modern bicycle.
But the quaint style of cycling never disappeared entirely, and Wilmot says there's a thriving penny-farthing scene in Australia, where she's been living since she was 18.
"We're bike weirdos," she said. "All you have to do is show interest and you're instantly welcomed, which that's another thing that just makes being around the penny community that much better than being around a regular bike community."
A bespoke bike named Tiny
The other thing that makes a penny farthing better than a standard bike, she says, is the experience of riding it out in the world.
"When you're riding a regular bike, you're kind of out there, you're going fast, you're not really taking things in," she said.
"But when you are on a penny, you almost have to slow down and interact with more people, and it just brings you joy."
Wilmot rides a custom, 1.2-metre tall penny farthing, built by Australia's Dan Bolwell, a.k.a. "Penny Farthing Dan."
She calls it Tiny because it's about 30 centimetres shorter than the average penny farthing.
She was astride Tiny when she broke both world records. On Dec. 29, she rode one kilometre 30 seconds faster than the previous record holder, the U.K.'s Julie Woodward.
"I was head down, butt up, like just peddling the legs as fast as I could," she said. "I knew that I was going fast, but I didn't know I was breaking the record by that much."
On New Year's Eve, when she claimed the record for fastest speed on a penny farthing in the women's category, she also beat Guy Banham's men's record by 0.149 seconds, making her the fastest in the world.
She said it was "blowing a gale" that day at the track near Australia's Bass Strait.
"Having a bit of a tailwind, I was able to do that second run and just absolutely blow it out of the park," she said.
Wilmot is already eyeing her next competitive challenge. But, in the meantime, she'll keep riding Tiny off the racetracks, fielding stares, questions and comments from curious passersby.
She's so used to it, she says, that she's developed scripted responses.