George Pilkington Mills
 |
|
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | George Pilkington Mills |
| Born | 8 January 1867 Paddington, Middlesex |
| Died | 8 November 1945 (aged 78) Shirley, Surrey |
| Team information | |
| Discipline | Road racing & Endurance |
| Role | Rider |
| Amateur team(s) | |
| Anfield CC | |
| North Road CC | |
| Major wins | |
| Land's End-John o' Groats record 6 times 1886–1895 North Road 24-hour time-trial (penny-farthing) Tandem-tricycle record for 50 miles |
|
George Pilkington Mills DSO (8 January 1867 – 8 November 1945) was the dominant English racing cyclist of his generation, and winner of the inaugural Bordeaux–Paris cycle race. He frequently rode from Land's End to John o' Groats, holding the world record time on six occasions between 1886 and 1895. He was a member of the Anfield and North Road cycling clubs. He later won races and broke records as a car racer and motorcycle rider.
The record from one end of Britain to the other is the longest place-to-place challenge recognised by the Road Records Association. Riders choose their own route but the distance then, before ferries shortened it, was about 900 miles. The first record was set by James Lennox of Dumfries, who took six days and 16 hours in 1885 while being paced by tandems. One of the pacers was George Paterson, who also rode a penny-farthing. He would pace Lennox from Carlisle to Lockerbie. The following year, Mills, who was 18, broke the record twice, once on a large-wheeled penny-farthing bicycle and once on a tricycle. He rode the bicycle in five days, 1 hour 45 minutes, the tricycle in 5 days 10 hours, an improvement of 29 1⁄2 hours. The record, on a penny-farthing, still stands. Mills was helped by other members of the Anfield Bicycle Club, who organised accommodation and food, and enrolled other cyclists to guide him.
The journalist and official Frederick Thomas Bidlake said:
In the summer Mills broke the Land's End-John o'Groats record, he also won the North Road 24-hour time-trial on a penny-farthing with 288 miles, set records on a bicycle for 50 miles and 24 hours (259 miles) and set a tandem-tricycle record for 50 miles.
In 1887, he won the North Road 24-hour on a tricycle. He rode 298 1⁄2 miles on a tandem with R. Tingley in the same year. In 1888 he improved the 100-mile tricycle record with 6h 58m 54s and the 50-mile record with 2h 53m 42s.
His obituary in The Bicycle said: "He was a pioneer long-distance record breaker, and had the distinction of competing in three 24-hour events in one week, and between the years 1885 and 1895 broke no fewer than 19 national records."
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Wikipedia