He's riding in place at high speed to raise donations for the YMCA

For exercise, I ride a stationary bike 30 minutes a day, six days a week, if I'm lucky and my schedule and stamina, such as it is, work out all right. Many weeks it's less than six days a week.

I consider it a good day if I finish the program, don't get my pants leg caught in the pedal, don't get too terribly bored by the television programs I watch while I exercise and, most important of all, don't fall off the bike.

I've never actually done that last, mind you, but always figure that given as naturally clumsy as I am, that is at least a good possibility.

According to the gauge on the bike - an old but still serviceable Schwinn - my 30 minutes on the bike is at a speed that works out to about 5.8 miles, albeit in one place.

Philosophically, this is perfect exercise for a journalist - I go like crazy but I never get anywhere.

The half hour might not sound like much of a workout, but were it not for that bike, my exercise would consist primarily of walking from the couch in the family room to the refrigerator in the kitchen and back again.

Then there's George Hood, about whom you read in Friday's Sun.

He's a retired DEA agent who at one time held the world record for cycling on a spin bike, and he wants to reclaim it.

To that end, he has a goal of riding for more than 132 straight hours, which he will do as a fundraiser for the Heritage YMCA at the Fry Family YMCA on 95th Street. The fundraiser is called Spin for Kids, and Hood hopes to make $50,000 for the YMCA.

I figure that, at in excess of 132 hours, he will cycle at one time not all that much less than I can do in an entire year.

Granted, he will get to take some very short breaks from time to time - breaks that are allowable under the rules established for setting a record in cycling - but if you're going to pedal for that long a period, you've got to stop sometime.

To be sure, I don't stop during my 30 minutes - unless the phone rings - but I have to admit there are times that I'd like to.

Hood is going to begin his title quest at 8:30 p.m. today and is expected to finish by 9 a.m. May 11, which will include his breaks and whatever time he goes over the 132 hours he is seeking.

Residents are invited to go down to the YMCA and watch him at any time during the event, which will include opening ceremonies, demonstrations, and health and wellness lectures.

Hood told Sun reporter Mike Mitchell he expects to break the record, but that it is with the realization that someone in the future will go after it.

Perhaps that fellow from Tasmania who broke Hood's record the first time will try to get it back after Hood takes it from him.

One thing I know for sure is that both Hood and the Tasmanian cyclist are truly safe from me.

That is unless they both decide they can't go longer than 29 minutes.

For more information on Spin for Kids, call 630-904-9595 or visit www.ridegeorg eride.org.

Contact Tim West at west@scn1.com or 630-416-5290.