This 82-Year-Old Just Cycled His Millionth Mile

Russ Mantle has recorded his mileage for nearly 70 years since he got his first bike in 1952.

An 82-year-old cyclist from the UK just passed his millionth mile during a ride from his home to a nearby cafe.

Russ Mantle took the 5mile trip to a cafe in London on Thursday to hit his big record — but he wants to double it.

“It is just another milestone to pass a million and then on to 1.1, 1.2, and so on,” Mantle told Reuters. “I should probably finish up close to 2 million by the time I die when I am 100.”

Mantle has recorded his mileage since he got his first bike in 1952 — about 67 years ago.

“I have always recorded things, look at that log. Naturally, my brain tells me to record things, even my accidents. I have always done it, and at my job, I was keen on figures and I could convert from metric to English measurement quickly,” Mantle said.

Mantle made note of every ride he took in his diaries, including short trips to work, local races, and pedaling through the mountains of Europe and America.

“People admire what I am doing, particularly in America,” Mantle said.

He said he’s not able to ride as much as he’d like to due to his age, but still rides 25 to 30 miles every other day

“I just go on and on and on and no different, I just pass through that amount and keep going. I am not going to stop. I will naturally do less as I get older,” Mantle said.

Members of Mantle’s bicycling club hope his enthusiasm for biking encourages others to get on a bike and start riding.

“We really hope he inspires more people to cycle, so one of our missions is to get a million more people on bikes,” said Nikola Marshall, director of UK Cycling. “Lots of people have a bike in the shed or in the garage they maybe haven't ridden for a while. We really hope that hearing Russ' story and he has cycled all the way to 82 will make people get back on their bikes.”