The Steven Abraham watch thread

pinno

Here's a link:

http://oneyeartimetrial.org.uk

There are 2 other blokes attempting this thing at the same time.

http://trackleaders.com/oneyeartimetrial15

So far, so good.

DeVlaeminck

Is that accurate - so far I'd be well ahead of the two American guys !

cougie

I think the americans had a late start - and its 365 days - not just 2015 - so they have extra time next year.
Whatever the result - 2000 british winter miles has got to be harder than 2000 balmy Florida miles.

markhewitt1978

Just looking at some of his rides on Strava, his heart rate for the majority of the time is the same as my heart rate when I'm just sat watching TV!

pinno

It must be hell for him at the moment. It's blowing a howling gale up here.Just hope it doesn't head to East Angliru. Can't imagine for a minute what cycling for those hours are like, never mind in the middle of winter.

marcusjb

pinarello001 wrote:

It must be hell for him at the moment. It's blowing a howling gale up here.Just hope it doesn't head to East Angliru. Can't imagine for a minute what cycling for those hours are like, never mind in the middle of winter.

Really tough conditions indeed.

He took a tumble in the morning on ice (trying to avoid his host from the night who went down in front of him).

No update on injuries, but I am sure he will be a bit sore etc.

cougie

Oof. All it takes is one little spill and the record attempt could be over. Fingers crossed he comes through OK.

marcusjb

Indeed - a lot of luck is required to get this right. Tommy Goodwin himself hit the deck quite a few times in January 1939.

Hoping Steve's not damaged too badly.

markhewitt1978

cougie wrote:

Oof. All it takes is one little spill and the record attempt could be over. Fingers crossed he comes through OK.

That's the real trick of it isn't it, not the riding 180 miles every day. But still being able to do that through all the problems life tends to throw at you.

t4tomo

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Just looking at some of his rides on Strava, his heart rate for the majority of the time is the same as my heart rate when I'm just sat watching TV!

I believe he's riding to a heart rate criteria as he believes that is best for multiple (i.e 365) endurance effforts, so he will back off his speed considerably uphills etc to ensure he doesnt increase his HR too far.

ai_1

t4tomo wrote:

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Just looking at some of his rides on Strava, his heart rate for the majority of the time is the same as my heart rate when I'm just sat watching TV!

I believe he's riding to a heart rate criteria as he believes that is best for multiple (i.e 365) endurance effforts, so he will back off his speed considerably uphills etc to ensure he doesnt increase his HR too far.

I think I read he was planning to ride to a target HR of 110bpm. Once upon a time I would have been above that just taking a gentle stroll. Now I could probably ride at very easy pace, maybe 20km in calm conditions on the flat. I suspect he'll be going a lot faster than that though!

markhewitt1978

If he's doing 80,000 miles that's an average of 219.2 miles per day. So after 15 days of 2015 he should be on about 3,288 miles but he's already 751 miles behind that. I hope that's the plan and there will be bigger rides when the weather improves?

ex-pat scot

He's got a clever schedule that gradually increases the daily mileage as daylight and weather conditions improve.

He's actually got a couple of schedules. Both seem bonkers!

marcusjb

markhewitt1978 wrote:

If he's doing 80,000 miles that's an average of 219.2 miles per day. So after 15 days of 2015 he should be on about 3,288 miles but he's already 751 miles behind that. I hope that's the plan and there will be bigger rides when the weather improves?

He is well up on schedule. He'll ride himself fitter and increase the distance as daylight and conditions improve - once he hits July he'll be doing the big miles and then taper back down towards the end.

The 205 miles a day thing is an average - Tommy Godwin wasn't hitting anywhere near that in January either.

He's looking really good so far - bonne route monsieur!

pollys_bott

How does the lack of any recovery time work on something like this? His HR figures would to my mind (rightly or wrongly) show that the intensity isn't that high... but surely there must be an accumulation of fatigue that needs to be catered for at some point? Does he have recovery days scheduled in ie 'only' doing 140 miles instead of 180/200 whatever?

Tjgoodhew

Pollys Bott wrote:

How does the lack of any recovery time work on something like this? His HR figures would to my mind (rightly or wrongly) show that the intensity isn't that high... but surely there must be an accumulation of fatigue that needs to be catered for at some point? Does he have recovery days scheduled in ie 'only' doing 140 miles instead of 180/200 whatever?

I was thinking the same.

Or is planning on taking a day off from riding to rest and recover ?

markhewitt1978

I think from his site he was talking about having some easy days, where if he doesn't feel up to it he'll cut it short rather than try to push onto some arbitrary target.

I don't think he has any days off planned. Although I would think taking one day off a week would be important just to catch up on life, pay the gas bill, do bike maintenance etc. But I guess every day off is miles not covered.

marcusjb

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I don't think he has any days off planned. Although I would think taking one day off a week would be important just to catch up on life, pay the gas bill, do bike maintenance etc. But I guess every day off is miles not covered.

He's got people who look after all of that - keeping his house going, cooking for him, doing laundry etc. when he is at home.

3 identical bikes - so maintenance is not going to stop him going. One of his team will fix/replace bits and he'll take another bike out if required.

Tjgoodhew

I am still struggling to get my head around the fact he is going to ride those sort of miles every day for a year !!

Unreal effort.

Tomororw is forecast to be pretty cold and im feeling a bit under the weather but knowing that Steve has been out doing stupid miles in stupid weather for 16 days and will do for another 349 days it makes my 60 miles look nothing in comparison !!!

desweller

He's riding to very specific HR. If you look at his Strava records then you'll see he's often averaging less than 100bpm over the ride, but still able to manage 14, 15mph average; amazing efficiency!

desweller

Looks like it's gonna be a 200-mile day by the time he gets to Richmond.

pinno

At the current rate, he's going to have to be pushing 225+ come summer.

marcusjb

pinarello001 wrote:

At the current rate, he's going to have to be pushing 225+ come summer.

His schedule has him at 276-285 average in July.

desweller

I think there's talk of logging some 300+ days... I know he's hoping to do PBP if he can get over the Channel in a timely fashion.

ETA: vid

(you need to have booked your face)

DeVlaeminck

If this continues as a head to head then I'd have thought any schedule goes out of the window and it'll be a case of matching what the other person has done to avoid falling behind. Steven has the advantage that he'll be first to finish so if he can beat the old record he'll have held it for a while even if it another competitor like Tarzan goes further - he has the disadvantage of being the one to set a target which is there to be shot at.

markhewitt1978

He's clocked 2 x 230 mile days going from MK to Darlington and back.

cougie

He's clearly gonna be able to do longer rides in the summer. It'd be madness for a bloke in icy britain matching a dude riding down the balmy florida coast in January.

Amazing performance so far.

Emphursis

He's an absolute beast. According to Strava, todays ride had an average temperature of 30F (-1C) and he still clocked 180 miles. I pussied out of my 10 mile commute this morning because it was cold (and my brakes are shot). No matter who ends up with the most miles at the end of the year, he is definitely going to take the moral victory.

mm1

Just saw him ride past my front door. Wish I'd been quick enough to pop out and give him a shout.

bigpikle

He lives a few miles up the road from me and our routes have wound around each other on loads of days but I've yet to meet him and give him a tow and some encouragement. Hopefully wont be long now as its pretty much inevitable that it will happen at some point! I dont envy him the next few days though as its 25mph+ winds and snow showers forecast tomorrow. Good luck Steve.

dandrew

^^^ Steve is still looking for people to help in Milton Keynes. If you can not do so yourself do you know anyone who may be able to help e.g one evening a week at Steve's place? The oneyeartimetrial website will provide contact details. Assistants will help to wash kit, charge batteries, provide food ( evening meal and breakfast plus sausages etc for the road ) Oh and give him support!