robert marchand a diminutive frenchman who once was told he would never excel in cycling only to set world records as a centenarian has died he was 109marchand who until recently was still riding his exercise bike 20 minutes a day died overnight at the care home where he lived outside paris the facilitys director told the associated press on saturdaymarchand born in 1911 in the northern french city of amiens traveled extensively as a young man working as a truck driver in venezuela in the late 1940s and then as a lumberjack in canada he had also been a firefighterback in france in the 1960s marchand worked various jobs that left him with no time for sports but he eventually took up his bike again when he was 68 years old and began a series of cycling featsmarchand just 152 meters 5feet tall and weighing 52 kilograms 115 pounds cycled from paris to moscow in 1992 and set the record for someone over the age of 100 riding 100 kilometers 62 milesas a young man marchand once was told by a coach to give up cycling because his small size would prevent him from achieving anythingmarchand proved that prediction wrong several times including in january 2017 when in a skintight yellow and violet jersey he set a world record in the 105plus age category created especially for the tireless veteran by riding 2254 kilometers 14 miles in one hour on the boards of the velodrome national near parisim now waiting for a rival he said at the timethree years before marchand had covered 2692 kilometers 1673 miles in one hour to better his own world record in the over100s categorymarchand a longtime supporter of the french communist party was able to take care of himself until recently living in a small apartment but in september he went through a bout of depression lost weight and his family decided he would be better off in a care homeuntil last week he was really in a better form hadjiretou timera the director of les acacias residence in mitrymory told the ap in addition to his physiotherapy he kept pedaling 20 minutes a day on his exercise bike we were all really impressed he achieved things we could nottimera said marchands family had been informed friday that he appeared to have weakened and that he was arriving at the end of the race she saidmarchand celebrated his 109th birthday last november timera described him as a goodhumored bon vivant who loved eating chocolate and drinking his glass of wineaccording to his coach and good friend gerard mistler the secret behind marchands longevity related to his healthy lifestyle eating a lot of fruits and vegetables no smoking and exercising on a daily basismistler told the ap during an interview a few years ago that marchand never pushed his limits went to bed at 9 pm and woke up at 6 am to stay fit marchand rode every day on his home