Photo : Rob van wieringen

We all know the ICE VTX is the trike you ride if you want to go fast. When it’s being ridden by someone like Jochem Leemans from Nieuw Vennep in the Netherlands, truly great things can happen.

Not only is Jochem and his VTX now the fastest trike rider in the world over a distance of 100km, he is also the fastest over 100miles in the WUCA (World Ultra Cycling Association) trike outdoor track solo male category in July 2021 at the Sport Park Herungerberg Track, Venlo in the Netherlands.

What makes the achievement even more amazing is that he broke the records with the use of only one arm following a BMX accident in 2004 and he now suffers with muscular dystrophy.

The official record times are: 

Distance: 100km. Time: 2hrs 24mins 58s - Average speed 25.72 mph
Distance: 100m. Time: 3hrs 54mins 41s - Average speed 25.57 mph
Location: Outdoor track Venlo, Netherlands. 723.5m. Date: 15.7.2021

Fantastic achievement Jochem and good luck for the future and whatever you have planned next

More about Jochem:

My name is Jochem Leemans, I live in Nieuw Vennep with my girlfriend Joyce. I had a BMX accident in 2004 that left me unable to use my left arm. I have constant pain in my left arm and for this I have a neurostimulator in my lower back that delivers electric pulses to reduce pain. This is how I came in contact with recumbent bicycles. First on a two-wheeler but three years ago muscular dystrophy affected my fingers of my left hand. Because of this I couldn’t take the risk of riding a two-wheeler.

Sport is very important for my health. I have less pain if I cycle every day at a heart rate of 140 for 1 hour. To do this well, I had help from Sport Assistance in Breda. After a lot of testing it turned out that I had good sporting values and we started with a training schedule for the World Championship. I changed what I ate and had to follow a strict diet to get enough nutrients.

Training was outside and twice a week in the home trainer. During the period that lasted 1.5 years to 2 years, the Covid 19 pandemic became worse and I decided to move my goal from the world championship to a record attempt. Arnold Ligtvoet has played a very important role in helping with regulations regarding the record attempt. I spend at least 3 hours a day on the bike with serval training forms like durations and interval training.

Three weeks before the record attempt, I went to the French Alps for two weeks to sleep and train at altitude. After the altitude internship I had to make the attempt within a week.

I used a ICE VTX for the record attempt and this went very well, it is a great bike and I like it a lot. The hardest part of everything was the training in the winter a lot of hours in the home trainer. The second hardest part were the days before the attempt and checking the weather app every hour.

On the day itself; it was very Dutch weather, a lot of rain and cold, strange in July. During the attempt I had two flat tires, this was very stressful and on one lap I saw a dog on the track, first I thought I was dreaming but luckily one of the crew grabbed the dog.

The last hour was the hardest part because I was really cold from the rain but I had a lot of support from people pulling me through. Without all the help of the volunteers my trainer and most importantly the support of my girlfriend Joyce this would never have been possible!

Breaking the record in Venlo was good because the track was around a BMX track, so my two worlds meet each other. When riding a BMX something bad happened, but now I break world records around the very same track.

Since achieving two new world records, another very important goal is to catch up time with my girlfriend and friends. The second goal is to enjoy cycling again and not just look at the time of the Garmin.

Officail results can be found at:

https://ultracycling.com/archive/record/100-km-outdoor-track-record-jochem-leemans-2021-07-15/

https://ultracycling.com/archive/record/100-mile-outdoor-track-record-jochem-leemans-2021-07-15/

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