George Hood’s last attempt at setting a Guinness World Record earned him write-ups in USA Today, Sports Illustrated and even a mention on “Saturday Night Live.”

Hood said his next attempt, on Tuesday, should generate even more publicity, with a documentary film crew shooting his attempt to break the 82-hour Guinness World Record for riding a stationary bike.

“Make no mistake about it,” said the 49-year Aurora resident, “come next Saturday night, there will be one record holder for the spin cycling marathon, and you’re talking to him.”

The Chicago Drug Enforcement Administration agent would have broken the record set by Brian Overkaer of Denmark by almost 10 hours in January if it were not for record-keeping errors. Hood blames it on confusion in his log book.

“It was a misunderstanding of the time format we were using, military time and stop-watch time,” Hood said.

His attempt on Tuesday will be at the same location as the first one, Five Seasons Sports Club in Burr Ridge.

“We’re making this quite the production,” Hood said, adding a film crew will use six cameras and his bike will be on a raised platform to make him more visible for filming.
This time Hood will use the same “pit crew” he used in January, led by Preston Bokos, owner of a Westmont bike shop, Urban Tri-Gear.

Bokos said the crew’s job is to manage the ride, from keeping him supplied with liquid and changing batteries in clocks and timers to making sure Hood maintains 12 mph at all times, which is a Guinness rule.

“We have to make sure that he’s on target to maintain his 12 mph because the further we get into the event, his eyes will start playing tricks on him. So we need to make sure he’s on task for his goal,” Bokos said.

Staying up for four days straight without any sleep is hard enough, but doing it while riding a stationary bike at a constant speed is a true test of endurance. Hood said he had hallucinations during the later hours of the January attempt.

“I was seeing shadows, things that aren’t really there,” he said. “When I take a break, I have to be very careful to not go too long and get into a dream state, because it’s very difficult to come out of.”