Meet the 65 year old who races distances that make the Tour of Flanders look like a sprint: "There's no magic potions"

All cyclists are a little bit crazy. What they put their bodies through, day after day, over countless miles, is nothing short of extraordinary. Take for example this weekend, when the world’s best riders take on the Tour of Flanders, in 268km of brutal cobbled hills.

But Cycling Weekly recently spoke to a man whose story stands out, even in this world of extremes. To him, 268km is nothing.

Joe Barr, a former Commonwealth Games medallist and National Champion, is now in his 60s. And instead of winding down, the Northern Irishman has found new purpose and fulfilment in ultra-distance racing.

Barr has twice completed the grueling Race Across America, winning his age category once. He’s also won the Race Around Ireland twice and was crowned the 2023 World Ultra Cycling Champion. Add to that a string of world and Guinness World Records, and it’s clear he’s built a second career as impressive as his first.

"It's better because it's more enjoyable," he told Cycling Weekly’s Going Long podcast. "It's better because I was probably more successful at it and… on my own terms."

For Barr, the appeal of ultra racing has never been about the bike itself. Instead, it’s his fascination with the human body and how it performs under pressure that drives him.

"My interest in pushbike riding was probably bypassed by my interest in nutrition," he said. "I always was more interested in how the body worked than I was about the bike. I just had a good bike, always presented very well and blah blah blah. But I knew that that bike was not going anywhere without me to push it. So I was focused on 'how does this work?'"

His mindset is grounded in simplicity and structure, not quick fixes or gimmicks. "There's no magic potions," he said.

Sleep, too, is central to his performance. "The other big thing for me is that I was always – and still am – a great believer that sleep is a core piece of this whole thing. So I go to bed at 9.30 every night, and I will sleep soundly right until 8 o'clock in the morning," Barr said.

That discipline, he believes, is one of his great strengths. "You get into this model that's almost a bit regimented," he said. "So I always think that I would have made a great military guy, because I like the regimented timings and whatever."

Looking back, Barr sees his last 15 years in ultra-cycling as the most rewarding chapter of his life.

"The last 15 years of ultra has been just the most incredible journey. There's absolutely no way I could have sat 25 years ago and ever imagined that as a rider or as a person that I could actually achieve some of the stuff that I actually have achieved."

And yet, he’s not done yet. His next major goal is to set a Guinness World Record by riding the full length of Route 66 in what will be his 66th year.

"It's 100 years old next year," Barr said. "So the first highway ever in the US is 100 years old next year. It goes through eight states and it's just short of 2,500 miles long.

"We're going in June this year to recce the whole course and then next June we're going to do it. No one's managed to... it's a Guinness World Record… there's been a few attempts."