Italy's Vittorio Innocente has set a new world record in underwater cycling, pedalling his specially adapted bike to a depth of 65 metres in the sea near Genoa.The new mark bettered Innocente's own record of 60m, set three years ago.
The 62-year-old scuba diver was expected to set the record in a televised event on Wednesday but it had to be called off because Innocente damaged an eardrum in his last test on Monday.
But a Guinness Book of Records judge from London authenticated the record on Wednesday after vetting eye witness accounts and checking the computerised depth gauge on Innocente's modified mountain bike.
Innocente said he was sorry he was unable to repeat his Monday feat because of doctor's orders but happy to have taken his mark up a notch.
He thanked a team of local scuba divers who helped him get onto his bike as well as the Carabinieri police who oversaw his effort.
Innocente was lowered into the calm waters of Portofino's maritime reserve at about midday Monday.
He mounted his vehicle at a depth of 28m and started out along a 110m underwater slope, dodging mud pools and rocks.
Nine minutes later he reached the 65m mark. ''It was tough because I ran into more mud than I expected,'' he said. ''I had to click up a gear to make pedalling easier''.
Apart from raising money for cancer research, Innocente is on a self-appointed mission to prove that mountain bikes can go anywhere.
He has already cycled over glaciers, deserts and mountains from Alaska to Kenya. Then, about seven years ago, he decided to continue the mission by uniting his two passions - scuba-diving and cycling.
Since then Innocente has been honing his technique and gradually pushing up the record for undersea cycling.
Needless to say, he dominates the sport.
To make sure he stays on the seabed his bike is weighed down with about 35 kilos of ballast and its tyres are pumped up with water instead of air. The 'Nautilus' also has fins and spoilers to help him drive it through the water.
Born in Milan, Innocente learned to swim as a child in the 'Navigli,' the now polluted canals that run into the southern and eastern part of the city.
One of his first achievements as an underwater cyclist - which also earned him a mention in the Guinness record book - was to cover a kilometre along the bed of a canal in just 13 minutes.
In 2001 he also set the speed record for underwater cycling when he pedalled 1,200 metres in a swimming pool at an average speed of 87 cm/second.
Innocente says he first got the idea for the sport 25 years ago when he was leading a party of German tourists in a scuba diving expedition off the island of Elba.
When one of the party found an old bicycle on the seabed, Innocente climbed into the saddle for a joke and tried to ride it.
Source : ansa.it
