Published 13:29 IST, May 4th 2020
'Unthinkable': Man completes all stages of Tour de France on stationary bicycle
Scotty Bensley took up a self-acclaimed challenge of completing all 21 stages of Tour De France of 3409km indoor and completed his "greatest journey".
Amid the unprecedented outbreak of deadly coronavirus, major cities are under lockdown and millions are confined to their homes. While most internet trends are now about backyard challenges for entertainment, Scotty Bensley took up a self-acclaimed challenge of completing all 21 stages of Tour De France of 3409km indoors. Bensley not only did the "unthinkable" but also completed his “greatest journey”. Since then, he has become an internet sensation with people across the globe lauding the “unreal effort” that he put in to complete the challenge.
According to reports, Bensley cycled every day from April 6 to April 28 to complete the painful task. It nearly took him at least 126 hours of cycling to complete his indoor Tour de France. While announcing the beginning of the challenge, Bensley had posted an image with his stationary bicycle wearing the entire gear and admitted he has “no clue” of what he was doing.
The caption read, “Genuinely have no clue what I am doing! But hey I got a yellow jersey and like Lance said “you need dumb focus” so it is with those inspirational words I will focus on the goal of not tearing both quads in my pursuit of the Indoor Tour de France - 3409 km”.
‘Done and dusted’
After the strenuous journey, Bensley emerged with flying colours and announced the completion of the challenge on Instagram with an image of him on the stationary bicycle outside his home with a bottle of champagne. According to reports, he had taken the bike on empty streets of the New York City to complete his final lap. Bensley has revealed that there were days when he was unable to sleep and even had to stuff towels in his bike shorts for extra cushion.
The pain even made him feel that his legs were going to fall off but it was the support of people that made him continue his own backyard challenge. The internet users who had showered Bensley with support magnified when the challenge was completed and thousands united to congratulate the man for an “epic challenge”
Bensley wrote, “The unthinkable !! 21 stages, 2095 miles and the greatest journey of my life done and dusted...To everyone who joined me along the way and got involved, you’re all legends! WE IN PARIS BABY.”
Updated 13:29 IST, May 4th 2020