People, Profiles, Milestones

Speedy law prof goes for a world cycling record

By Public Affairs

When she’s not teaching law as a professor at Berkeley or carrying out her duties as associate law dean, Molly Shaffer Van Houweling is most likely on a bike, somewhere in the world, going for a record.

And on Sept. 12, she will try to break what’s called cycling’s iconic mark, the Union Cycliste Internationale Hour Record, at the Velodromo Bicentenario in Aguascalientes, Mexico.

Van Houweling will be only the second woman to try for the record since UCI rules changed in May 2014, the organization announced today. She holds the U.S. Hour Record and is a five-time UCI amateur road world champion.

The hour record is for the longest distance cycled in one hour on a bicycle from a stationary start. Her U.S. Hour Record, set last year in Los Angeles, was for a 44.173-kilometer ride; early in 2015, she bested that with a 45.637-kilometer ride in Mexico.

Her husband, Robert, is a cyclist, too, as well as an associate professor of political science at Berkeley.

Read more about Van Houweling in this Berkeley News profile.

Read the full UCI press release. UCI is the world governing body for cycling recognized by the International Olympic Committee, according to the Swiss-based organization’s website.