I don't remember the details, perhaps someone else knows them- but the story was that this particular rider did the 1200k PBP ride. To qualify for that, they did a 200k/300k/400k/600k series that year. And that was ALL THE CYCLING THEY DID that year. So maybe they were slower and hurt a bit extra, but they didn't fall over dead, either. Of course, another moral involved there is that your overall fitness can vary a bunch, and if you're already super-fit from running or something, you'll have a far easier time than some fat old man that tries the same thing.
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"be careful this rando stuff is addictive and dan's the 'pusher'."