This Couple Races 750-Miles On a Tandem Bike

Ann and John Jurczynski are in it for the long haul. This married couple is one of the fastest long-distance tandem bicycle teams in the world. They’ve competed together in events that require 50-plus hours of cycling with no sleep. How’s that for togetherness? We join the tireless duo as they train for and compete in Paris-Brest-Paris, a 750-mile race through the French countryside.

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[Music] ultra marathons cycling is any event that's 200 miles or more your ride hard and you ride long distances riding together it is realistically uncomfortable but misery was coming coolest place on the whole ride is gonna be about 90 degrees i'm andras in ski and I'm John Jasinski John and I will be married two years tomorrow and we ride a tandem bicycle together they won tandem bicycle is a bicycle built for two there are two positions on a tandem bicycle captain is in the front steering and braking the stoker is in the back fuelling the engine she's the power she's the navigator and the moral support got a right turn and point seven I tend to be a little better at the beginning and end of a ride and and gets me through my dull jum's in the middle John is really strong on the flats and the downhills and I tend to like up hills and get excited by up hills 800 feet of the climbing to go now we hit the hills we have ups and downs with one another on the bike because we're both pretty intense after you know being in a saddle for 12 plus hours you get a little cranky and so it's amazing we don't argue more than we do in 1984 I did my first bicycle race I saw this blond beauty on the bike warming up and I just kind of said to myself you know why can't I be with somebody like that I didn't know what was they until many years later in the fall of 2014 John asked me if I might want to ride in Paris pres Paris so we decided to get together and do some long rides and see how we would do together on the tandem I just fell in love with him immediately [Music] the event we're training for is Paris press Paris and that's 750 miles I think we're about as ready as we can be now we just need a little luck on our side and we hope to do it without sleeping last time we did it we did it in just under 52 hours this time we hope to do better than that the start is a little nerve-wracking if somebody bumps you the wrong way damages your bite be over working together our wave goes off at 5:15 p.m. we'll ride through that night through the next day through the next night and then hopefully finish before darkness the next day second and third-hand them so that energized this even though we're tired when we did paris press paris four years ago at 58 and 51 that was her ages then out of the hundred tandems that participated from all over the world we were first by 16 hours feeling good only 3540 miles left it's unusual maybe for us to be going as fast as we are but we're having a really good year especially for our AARP ages [Music] we live in the Honda Element with a tent attached I love the simplicity of getting up and taking care of yourself and being outdoors mostly we're gonna be living out of here for the next year or two until we get to all those events we wanted to do so far we've weathered the rain and the mosquitoes and it's been fun I know that both of us are doing whatever we can to keep each other safe physically and emotionally as a team and as lovers it's things I used to dream about you know being able to share these sort of things we're that kind of timeframe 750 miles so many things can go wrong [Applause] to finish the event is huge I mean most people who do it are happy with that and now it's even better because I get to do it with my lover my significant other my soulmate you know I love physical activity and I love the outdoors and and sodas and it's so much better going through life sharing these things [Music]