The Steven Abraham watch thread

MiddleRinger

Steve's clocked over 6000 miles so far this year and still motoring along! :twisted:

Here's an ongoing spreadsheet tracking both Steve and Kurt Searvogel's mileage each day:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xz2QyYN6S5ve5X5lvNNwLDb4J8sEek1EOuE7qACqDbQ/pubhtml?gid=944055483&single=true

pinno

^ Nice link, cheers mate.

tlw1

pinarello001 wrote:

^ Nice link, cheers mate.

agree, perfect for my inner geek

pinno

It's the 3rd of Jan and he's already done 6000 miles. Sheeesh.

tlw1

pinarello001 wrote:

It's the 3rd of Jan and he's already done 6000 miles. Sheeesh.

Time passes slowly North of the border?

pinno

matthew h wrote:

pinarello001 wrote:

It's the 3rd of Jan and he's already done 6000 miles. Sheeesh.

Time passes slowly North of the border?

Seems like a very long year already. Been snowed under with work and trying to clear the decks before the off has been hell and bike time limited. Think I need to do something else for a living.

On topic: Wish this guy all the best luck in the world. Think there may be something slightly nuts about him. Maybe, all things going well, we should arrange something for December 31st. Just a pity I am miles away from that part of the country to lend a hand in the here and now.

tlw1

Doesn't have to be the end, any given weekend I'm sure a group ride would help motivation

sancho_panza

This probably sounds like a daft question but how does he know where to go?

I glance at his rides on Strava and he's snaking all over the midlands, almost always, it seems, on small country lanes. And then every day he's riding a different route.

And from the temperatures on his rides it seems pretty cold. Is this a particularly cold winter in the southern UK this year?

marcusjb

He mixes it up. He has a team that look after routes, but if he is staying at home, then he has such a knowledge of roads, he can make it up on the fly depending on weather etc. He has a number of favourite cafes etc. that he is often seen at (Steve is famous for his eating abilities!).

Particularly as the weather gets better and the days longer, he will stay with people more and more - at the moment he is away for a night or two, but this will increase and he'll spend 5 or 6 days away from home heading in various directions. His provisional calendar has him pretty much all over the UK (though I am not sure Wales gets much of a look in as I guess it is just too hilly and slow! But I do know he will get into southern Scotland and the South west). I would guess the biggest risk on these mini tours is that his spare bikes will be in Milton Keynes. But he has enough people around him to sort things out if needs be. He also relies more on others for routing in parts he doesn't know so well, particularly on the run in to people's homes.

He's going really well and the photos I have seen of him recently, he is looking really good. He will pass my annual mileage very soon now - that is amazing and humbling indeed.

It has been a fairly cold winter so far, with some hard frosts for days on end. It is milder at the moment and hopefully will remain so. It's all part of the deal and Steve is made of the toughest stuff imaginable.

Great to see his team have managed to get some great press recently and it all helps. Again, if you have a few quid you can spare, he really appreciates it - http://www.oneyeartimetrial.org.uk

markhewitt1978

MiddleRinger wrote:

Steve's clocked over 6000 miles so far this year and still motoring along! :twisted:

He's already done double the number of miles I did in the whole of 2014!

craker

I ride to work every morning, this morning my legs were a bit tired. It was semi dark, raining and the wind was up. On mornings like this I think of Steve setting off for another 180 mile day and it puts my slight discomfort into perspective.

marcusjb

Today's the day he passes my 2014 total - some time this afternoon.

He'll pass my all-time highest annual mileage (2013) sometime next week.

I've only collected detailed mileages for a couple of years (but I've only been riding long-distances regularly for 4-5 years), so I would guess he'd pass my lifetime mileage sometime in autumn.

Humbling stuff, but beyond inspiring. Makes you re-evaluate what's possible and that wussing out because it's a bit cold or wet is really weak.

markhewitt1978

It's about mental strength isn't it? If you know that you're going to be out doing 200 miles no matter what I'd imagine the weather quickly becomes an irrelevance outside of choosing what clothes to wear.

marcusjb

http://thebikeshow.net/

Latest podcast has Steve featured (not listened to it yet) and some background on Tommy Godwin.

markhewitt1978

marcusjb wrote:

http://thebikeshow.net/

Latest podcast has Steve featured (not listened to it yet) and some background on Tommy Godwin.

Loving the interview! Best quote so far "I found it was quicker to get two punctures a day than to ride with Marathon Pluses"

bobmcstuff

He's flying in the Fens - 200 miles at 15.5mph yesterday, very good going.

markhewitt1978

Still amazed at the guys fitness and heart rate. He's literally averaging less doing 200 miles than I do sitting at this computer at work.

lostboysaint

He's 500 miles down on the equivalent mileage of Kurt Seavogel that's currently doing it about 10 days behind him.

http://road.cc/content/news/142999-year-record-us-contender-kurt-searvogel-smashes-out-biggest-day-yet

markhewitt1978

lostboysaint wrote:

He's 500 miles down on the equivalent mileage of Kurt Seavogel that's currently doing it about 10 days behind him.

http://road.cc/content/news/142999-year-record-us-contender-kurt-searvogel-smashes-out-biggest-day-yet

I think it's looking like Kurt is going to win it. But that doesn't matter Steve is doing it the British way

craker

markhewitt1978 wrote:

I think it's looking like Kurt is going to win it. But that doesn't matter Steve is doing it the British way

Early days yet. The game's only over when the ref. blows his whistle. It's the score at 90 minutes that counts etc etc.

I'm getting tendonitis just looking at Steve's webpage.

marcusjb

Indeed. Only a month and a half into the challenge. Long, long, long way to go yet. Steve's starting to wind it up now as the days get longer.

Both are astonishing athletes and are giving this everything. They both need everything to go right and very little to go wrong to achieve what they are aiming for and that's without body or mind giving up.

markhewitt1978

Unfortunately it's injury that may decide it in the end. Doing 200+ miles per day means you cannot afford to be injured or ill even for a day.

pinno

markhewitt1978 wrote:

Unfortunately it's injury that may decide it in the end. Doing 200+ miles per day means you cannot afford to be injured or ill even for a day.

Well he could. If he took tomorrow off, he would have to do an extra 1.57 miles for the remaining 213 days.

As far as the injury concern is, I guess he is hard as nails mentally and physically because to be anything else would put any notions of this sort of challenge to bed.

DeVlaeminck

I've read that Tarzan is using a recumbent for some of his miles. If that is right it does seem to have stayed away from being an attempt on the Tommy Godwin record.

stu-bim

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=15 ... 56&theater

pinno

Sorry Tarzan you're a bit if a Cheetah*, that doesn't make your attempt valid against T Goodwin in my books. Noble yes, but not like for like.

*I'll get my coat.

englander

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I've read that Tarzan is using a recumbent for some of his miles. If that is right it does seem to have stayed away from being an attempt on the Tommy Godwin record.

It would seem logical to say that he appears to have stayed away from the Tommy Goodwin record, but the organisation ratifying the record (covering both Steve and Kurt) has ruled in favour of allowing the use of recumbents.

In my mind, that puts the two records into two separate records, but 'officially' that is not the case. Should Kurt get the higher mileage, he will get the highest annual mileage, not Steve, regardless of whether you or I agree with the use of recumbents.

ai_1

Englander wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I've read that Tarzan is using a recumbent for some of his miles. If that is right it does seem to have stayed away from being an attempt on the Tommy Godwin record.

It would seem logical to say that he appears to have stayed away from the Tommy Goodwin record, but the organisation ratifying the record (covering both Steve and Kurt) has ruled in favour of allowing the use of recumbents.

In my mind, that puts the two records into two separate records, but 'officially' that is not the case. Should Kurt get the higher mileage, he will get the highest annual mileage, not Steve, regardless of whether you or I agree with the use of recumbents.

Strange that recumbents and conventional bikes are both permitted. The aero-advantages of recumbents put them in separate categories for all the other record types don't they?

englander

Ai_1 wrote:

Englander wrote:

DeVlaeminck wrote:

I've read that Tarzan is using a recumbent for some of his miles. If that is right it does seem to have stayed away from being an attempt on the Tommy Godwin record.

It would seem logical to say that he appears to have stayed away from the Tommy Goodwin record, but the organisation ratifying the record (covering both Steve and Kurt) has ruled in favour of allowing the use of recumbents.

In my mind, that puts the two records into two separate records, but 'officially' that is not the case. Should Kurt get the higher mileage, he will get the highest annual mileage, not Steve, regardless of whether you or I agree with the use of recumbents.

Strange that recumbents and conventional bikes are both permitted. The aero-advantages of recumbents put them in separate categories for all the other record types don't they?

Yes, in a similar way to when Guy Martin broke the 24hr tandem distance record when he used a faired recumbent tandem, he didn't usurp the record that was held by two guys who did it on a conventional tandem.

In this record attempt, faired recumbents are disallowed, to be fair, but the principle is comparable.

BigGeordie

I don't think the two attempts are comparable anyway. Trying to break the record in America means you can have good cycling weather all year round. Never too hot, never too cold. Even never too hilly. In the Facebook clip the weather is suitable for shorts and a short sleeve jersey. In February. I don't see how that can be compared to an attempt on our small island whith its georaphic and climatic challenges.