No Easy Ride

Despite Gearing Up For The Toughest Bike Race In The World, Endurance Cyclist James Golding Knows It Will Be Nothing Compared To The Ordeal He’s Already Overcome

James Golding doesn’t look like your typical clean-cut bike rider. In a sport where the elite operators tend to be whip-thin and small boned – think Bradley Wiggins or Chris Froome – Golding stands 6ft 4, with broad shoulders and hands like a navvy. Viewed shirtless, his abdomen is enough of a mess to be a little disquieting. The puncture wounds dotting his ribs, belly and arms are complemented by two large scars – one circular and dark, the other long and jagged – stretching from below his navel to just beneath his sternum.

A thoughtful talker and frequent smiler, the ultra-endurance specialist makes for pleasant company. Yet in common with many athletes who push the limits of human capability, he shows hints of darkness, too. The odd frown, a piercing gaze – it’s pretty obvious that James Golding has seen some shit.

From Rugby, in The Midlands, Golding is unique in the world of competitive ultraendurance cycling. Not only is he the current seven-day distance world record holder, managing 1,766 miles in a week (over 250 miles per day) in June 2017; he is also a walking, riding miracle.

Eleven years ago, at the age of 28, he was diagnosed with a very rare abdominal cancer. The tumour eventually swelled to enormous proportions, with a diameter of 11.5cm at its peak. Golding pulled through and took up cycling for catharsis, only to suffer the heartbreak of relapse in 2011.

But with the years of surgery and chemo now thankfully left behind, his sights are set on the infamous Race Across America (known as RAAM). Men’s Fitness caught up with Golding a few days after he completed Race Across the West, one of RAAM’s qualifying events.