The Hour *** spoilers ***

Pross

OnYourRight wrote:

The 24-hour record. Now that’s old-school. I’d love to see a return to that kind of folly. Who can beat Tommy Godwin’s one-year record?

No-one will ever get close to that Godwin record.

Paul 8v

Wasn't it about 200 miles a day or something?

keef_zip

http://www.thepedalclub.org/archives/go ... odwin.html

tonyf34

I wonder how far Beryl Burton would have gone in her pomp, having destroyed the 12 hour road record for men and women (277miles) she was the first woman to go under an hour for 25 miles and her 53 mins 21s achieved at the age of 39 stood for 20 years
Equally adept on the track I reckon 'the Peril' with a modern day bike would have done a low 40s hour run with ease..even the greats Jeannie Longo/Marianne Vos would have struggled to compete with her

tonyf34

Burton was more than handy at road races winning the world champs twice and runner up once..not too shabby for a rank amateur and mother. She was especially good on the hilly stuff, she would have burned the likes of VOS off and didn't need 3 or 4 team mates to hide behind. Her only let down was explosive speed in the sprints.
She was and still is IMO the greatest ever female time triallest and UK track rider, her endurance and power (she used to ride 60/13 regularly) would have been ideally suited to doing an hour record. For her this would have been a relatively short sprint by comparison to her other exploits..
Yes speculation but there are superhumans that come along once in a lifetime BB was one of these, just a shame that we don't have someone like this now whom would tear the cycling scene apart.

As for Jens, I expect him to beat the record, by how much I don't know..as Boardman said in the past, a few big names have come and said they'll do it but having tested to see where they were they then dropped the notion so they don't look silly so he's not going to do it if he and his team think he's going to fall short by some way.

Wiggo is apparently going to give it a go next year as well..I hope it does give it a crack we'll see where's he's at leading up to 2016

inseine

Riders had toyed with the idea but the recent rule change makes it much more attainable. The top guys should break it reasonibily easily.

Bo Duke

I wouldn't be surprised to see it jump to 53-55kms fairly quickly.

inseine

OnYourRight wrote:

inseine wrote:

Riders had toyed with the idea but the recent rule change makes it much more attainable. The top guys should break it reasonibily easily.

And yet they haven’t just walked up and done it while it’s there for the taking. Only Jens Voigt is doing that, and he’s a man who’s not afraid of trying and being found wanting. I have a feeling it’s not a cakewalk even with the new rules.

It's only 'been there for the taking' for a few weeks though, so maybe they will be queuing up to have a go.
Wasn't Cancellara all set for a go with the old rules and had to change his plans?
Boardman was a great rider but his form was very much on the wane when he set the athletes record.

inseine

A interesting graph. The HPV record is now over 90km !

tonyf34

In 1996 Boardman using the superman position set the record at 56.375km but the UCI deemed that to be in the 'best human effort' catergory and remains so despite the UCI changing the rules yet again which allows the now recognised flat back TT position, aero frame/forks and disc wheels etc.

They should have said 700C wire wheels & drop bars then efforts can be compared rather than like F1 where the best is usually ordained by the technology.
Boardman did 49.441 km in 2000, using drops/wire wheels and a CF frame. Ondřej Sosenka used the same type of set up but was busted twice for drugs cheating before and after his record and verification has always being contentious.

I think Jens will beat the existing 'record' but as it isn't remotely like for like unless he beats boardman's 56.375km he isn't the record holder despite whatever the UCI might say.

pinno

If the UCI had not changed the rules, we wouldn't be here licking our lips about a new hour record.
The hour is an odd thing when you think about it - a moment in a cyclists career, timing in or around the UCI calender, changes in technology, there's no money in it (directly)...
Given no changes to the rules, how many people would have attempted to break CB's record?

FWIW - I hope Jens breaks it. Then we can relegate Sosenka to the past.

awavey

with this music playlist to listen to :shock: listening to that stuff for an hour would drive me insane, I guess hes going for the keeping the legs moving to the beat tempo approach

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/09/news/must-read-jens-voigts-hour-record-pacing-playlist_346360

bigmat

370W? Seems surprisingly low considering he's quite a big bloke. Whatever he does, one of the big 3 (Wiggins, Martin, Cancellara) will smash it. Wouldn't be surprised if someone else had a go either.

RichN95.

BigMat wrote:

370W? Seems surprisingly low considering he's quite a big bloke. Whatever he does, one of the big 3 (Wiggins, Martin, Cancellara) will smash it. Wouldn't be surprised if someone else had a go either.

It's widely thought that Voigt's attempt is largely a Trek trial run for Cancellara having a crack at it.

xavierdisley

BigMat wrote:

370W? Seems surprisingly low considering he's quite a big bloke. Whatever he does, one of the big 3 (Wiggins, Martin, Cancellara) will smash it. Wouldn't be surprised if someone else had a go either.

His head position that he'll be using for the hour record is quite low, and he doesn't have a long history of track time or even extensive work on the TT bike. Those coupled with the forces involved in riding at >50kph means that putting out >400w (like he would be able to on a road bike) isn't going to happen.

bigmat

xavierdisley wrote:

BigMat wrote:

370W? Seems surprisingly low considering he's quite a big bloke. Whatever he does, one of the big 3 (Wiggins, Martin, Cancellara) will smash it. Wouldn't be surprised if someone else had a go either.

His head position that he'll be using for the hour record is quite low, and he doesn't have a long history of track time or even extensive work on the TT bike. Those coupled with the forces involved in riding at >50kph means that putting out >400w (like he would be able to on a road bike) isn't going to happen.

I think I was more surprised that 370W would be enough to do it. Never recorded my power on the track but pretty sure 370W wouldn't have me anywhere near 50kph, does kit / aerodynamics make that big a difference?

fleshtuxedo

BigMat wrote:

xavierdisley wrote:

BigMat wrote:

370W? Seems surprisingly low considering he's quite a big bloke. Whatever he does, one of the big 3 (Wiggins, Martin, Cancellara) will smash it. Wouldn't be surprised if someone else had a go either.

His head position that he'll be using for the hour record is quite low, and he doesn't have a long history of track time or even extensive work on the TT bike. Those coupled with the forces involved in riding at >50kph means that putting out >400w (like he would be able to on a road bike) isn't going to happen.

I think I was more surprised that 370W would be enough to do it. Never recorded my power on the track but pretty sure 370W wouldn't have me anywhere near 50kph, does kit / aerodynamics make that big a difference?

Sounds enough to me - my puny 263W was good for 46kph in a 10TT on the road last weekend. I was also surprised Jens cant do more though - Wiggins claims he does 450W for an hour in a TT.

ai_1

BigMat wrote:

xavierdisley wrote:

BigMat wrote:

370W? Seems surprisingly low considering he's quite a big bloke. Whatever he does, one of the big 3 (Wiggins, Martin, Cancellara) will smash it. Wouldn't be surprised if someone else had a go either.

His head position that he'll be using for the hour record is quite low, and he doesn't have a long history of track time or even extensive work on the TT bike. Those coupled with the forces involved in riding at >50kph means that putting out >400w (like he would be able to on a road bike) isn't going to happen.

I think I was more surprised that 370W would be enough to do it. Never recorded my power on the track but pretty sure 370W wouldn't have me anywhere near 50kph, does kit / aerodynamics make that big a difference?

The human powered record is somethign around 90km/h. Aerodynamics makes a big difference!
Of course what you can do within the rules and without fairings etc is pretty limited.

ai_1

pinarello001 wrote:

Very long legs, very long arms and a short body. I know where I went wrong...

I guess his anatomy is such that it is conducive to being relatively aerodynamic.

I expect the exact opposite is the case!
Long limbs compared to your height means more wetted area and more frontal area. A long torso and short legs in a relatively flat-backed position would be much better in terms of aerodynamics.

xavierdisley

370w with his CdA (which I reckon is at least 0.23 if not more) is not that impressive. So he's not going to be doing 53km or anything like that, it'll probably be in the region of 50-51km.

fleshtuxedo

xavierdisley wrote:

370w with his CdA (which I reckon is at least 0.23 if not more) is not that impressive. So he's not going to be doing 53km or anything like that, it'll probably be in the region of 50-51km.

Xavier, what's the benefit of track vs road? Obvs not an exact science with the uncontrolled environment of the road, but an approximate km/h difference?

term1te

Grenchen is not that far from me, should have really made the effort to get over there for this evening, guests only I guess. I think Voigt is pretty much a stalking horse to draw out the big guns, or maybe just having a go before they do. I'd love for Cancellara, Wiggins and Martin to all go for it over a fairly short time period, ideally it would end like the kilo at the Sidney Olympics with the top four breaking the (Olympic) record one after another.

xavierdisley

FleshTuxedo wrote:

xavierdisley wrote:

370w with his CdA (which I reckon is at least 0.23 if not more) is not that impressive. So he's not going to be doing 53km or anything like that, it'll probably be in the region of 50-51km.

Xavier, what's the benefit of track vs road? Obvs not an exact science with the uncontrolled environment of the road, but an approximate km/h difference?

It doesn't work like that - depends what road, what temperature, elevation etc. I can find you TT courses that are quicker than the track, and those that are slower too.

If you look at outdoor tracks the main issue apart from weather is rolling resistance. For example Aldersley Stadium velodrome in Wolverhampton is >2kph slower than somewhere like Manchester/Newport from rolling resistance alone, notwithstanding the effect of wind and/or temperature, which can be controlled indoors.

Daz555

Term1te wrote:

Grenchen is not that far from me, should have really made the effort to get over there for this evening, guests only I guess. I think Voigt is pretty much a stalking horse to draw out the big guns, or maybe just having a go before they do. I'd love for Cancellara, Wiggins and Martin to all go for it over a fairly short time period, ideally it would end like the kilo at the Sidney Olympics with the top four breaking the (Olympic) record one after another.

If Wiggo has a proper go at it Canc will get nowhere near it, leaving Martin remaining as the only man on the planet with the legs and lungs to have a go.

tom3

silly question. How much does technique impact on track riding ? Obviously an open road tt environment I guess is more forgiving?

term1te

Daz555 wrote:

Term1te wrote:

Grenchen is not that far from me, should have really made the effort to get over there for this evening, guests only I guess. I think Voigt is pretty much a stalking horse to draw out the big guns, or maybe just having a go before they do. I'd love for Cancellara, Wiggins and Martin to all go for it over a fairly short time period, ideally it would end like the kilo at the Sidney Olympics with the top four breaking the (Olympic) record one after another.

If Wiggo has a proper go at it Canc will get nowhere near it, leaving Martin remaining as the only man on the planet with the legs and lungs to have a go.

If Wiggins goes for it, I hope they make a documentary about the buildup and attempt, similar to the one about Boardman's record. I'm not sure if I remember correctly, but was the first thing he asked for, after he got off the bike, a cup of tea?

spaceman147

I really hope Jens does it.

It would be a fitting acheivement for him and his retirement, regardless of how long he holds on to it for.

thomthom

Really haven't been bothered about this. I thought I would.

I guess it's the fact that there are 50 riders who could ride this faster if they were asked to do it tommorrow.

But credit to arrange it.

disgruntledgoat

90% of success is showing up. If hundreds of other guys could do it, then they should. The fact that onll one guy has the motivation and nerve to try shouldn't count against him.

cougie

tom3 wrote:

silly question. How much does technique impact on track riding ? Obviously an open road tt environment I guess is more forgiving?

I seem to recall Hour riders talking about the strain of riding into the bends lap after lap. And there are no hills to let you shift off the saddle.