The Steven Abraham watch thread

pinno

^ Tarzan was hardly going to attempt the record by flying over to the UK for a year in a pang of moral fairness.

ai_1

You can't very well say everyone has to attempt the record in the same country or region. If you started down that route you'd end up having no outdoor records and having all records set in a velodrome of defined design with a maintained pressure, temperature and humidity. You've got to live with geographic variations.

Grill

Where the record takes place is immaterial, both attempts are equally impressive.

In regards to recumbents, what bothers me is that the UMCA separates them and traditional bikes on all their other records so it strike me as odd to allow them for this attempt. Then again I've always felt the UMCA are a bunch of pretentious clowns that care more about the recognition than the actual riding.

Bordersroadie

Both Kurt and Steve are very, very, impressive so far. I wouldn't say equally, though.

By the UMCA rules, weather and elevation gain are irrelevant, so if at the end of it there are more flat warm USA miles than hillier, variable-weather UK miles, the USA man will "win" the UMCA challenge.

However (so far at least) it feels a bit like Steve is the guy climbing Everest up the hardest route, solo, without oxygen, and Kurt is going the easy route with oxygen and a full supporting team.

I'm not putting down Searvogel, he's a supreme athlete and what he's doing is super-impressive, but by his own admission (see some of his Facebook clips) he is making it as easy as possible for himself by avoiding cold weather, hills and headwinds as much as possible, in pursuit of the only goal - miles. Some of his routes have less elevation gain than you would get riding round and round a velodrome track, so you can see he's being pretty single-minded about it.

Also, being British, I find Searvogel's macho bullsh1t a bit unattractive (eg "...when I decided to own the record" eg2 having "Beast" and "Tarzan" emblazoned all over the place) and very easy to be impressed with Steve's totally understated demonstration of a true hard man.

I think the thing is that we have
(a) the UMCA record and
(b) the Tommy Godwin record.

The latter is truly superhuman, given all the circumstances back then and it seems, to me, that to give Godwin the massive respect he and his record deserve, one could only say that one has "beaten the Tommy Godwin record", with honour and credibility, by enduring similar challenges to Tommy, and you simply cannot disregard the terrain and weather in measuring these things.

So far, only one rider is taking on the Tommy Godwin record, the other is taking on the UMCA challenge.

pinno

^ Agree. Good post.

norvernrob

It is a good post ^^^^.

Does anyone know what Kurts plan are regarding stepping up the mileage? He's only averaging about 15-20 miles per day more than Steve, and as the days get longer Steve is going to be ramping his up significantly. 200/210 miles a day won't cut it for Kurt, he's going to have to do more.

I just wondered why he isn't doing more now, given the weather he has, and building a significant lead over Steve.

Grill

I've been looking at Kurt's rides and the high average and one way nature certainly point to searching for the tailwind. Probably the way I would do it, but it doesn't do any favours to his macho demeanour.

bobmcstuff

Big ride from Steve today - 223 miles from Milton Keynes to York via Peterborough. Man is a legend.

stu-bim

In defence of Kurt, he is sleeping in a camper van most nights which must be torture on your back if you've been cycling all day

pinno

stu-bim wrote:

In defence of Kurt, he is sleeping in a camper van most nights which must be torture on your back if you've been cycling all day

Not in a tree house with Jane?!

stu-bim

.

No_Ta_Doctor

For anyone following, this is immense:

http://ultracycling.com/sections/records/data/hamr/

Not just the spreadsheet, but loads of other data, nicely laid out.

The amount of climbing Steve is doing is insane, 391,531ft so far, that's 13.4 Everests. 119 vertical km.

While I think Tarzan will eventually go past Steve's distance, I'm wondering if there's a climbing year record he might hold... Also, if Tarzan does pass him, I hope it's only after Steve has already reached Tommy's record.

marcusjb

Things get really interesting now.

Steve has finished his warmup and is ready for the main event. Now we start to see what he can really do. He is still ahead if even his more optimistic schedule, so it is looking great so far. Clocks going forward will be a big motivator for Steve I am sure.

Steve's constant encouragement of others to achieve amazing things has helped him to nurture an amazing network of helpers throughout the country and that is paying dividends now. The trip up to york was a very last minute read of the weather patterns to make the most of the wind and his host was delighted to be able help out.

You only need to look at his donations page to see how many people believe in him, even those who haven't ridden with him over the years have been very generous - a Swedish long-distance forum had a whip round and have donated around £800 I believe!

I only wish I was able to do more - but living near london isn't any use for Steve to be fast. But, we're putting a monthly sum into his account and will continue to do so for as long as he needs (remembering that he may go beyond the year and try for the 100000mile record (500 days) and even after that, he may well need support whilst he recovers and before returning to work).

He is already a legend in long distance riding, and his feats are beyond comparison; but this is another level and what he is doing is astonishing.

Keep on pedalling!

orraloon

Any news on the incident this morning, as flagged up on his website?

desweller

I gather Hoppo is going to update when he gets a chance. Short day, but as long as he's all right...

norvernrob

Really scuppered today's ride, he did 214 miles into a headwind yesterday and was planning on 300+ going the other way today. Let's hope he's back on his bike ASAP.

marcusjb

From Hoppo

I am extremely sad to announce that at approx 8.10am this morning Steve was ridden into by a moped not paying attention to what they were doing. Steve tried to carry but stopped in Wellington. He has then been collected by one of the team and taken to hospital. He has incurred 2 broken bones in his ankle and is currently in plaster. It is looking highly likely that he will require an operation to add a plate and screws.
That is all the information available at the moment.


Needless to say I am heart-broken for Steve, but the most important thing is that he is okay and being looked after.

arthur_scrimshaw

Oh crap that's terrible news :-(
Here's wishing him a speedy recovery.

Ber Nard

Just seen that on Twitter. Although I don't know the bloke, I feel genuinely bad for him. Wishing him a speedy recovery.

markhewitt1978

Really bad . It was always said that it wasn't him that would be the barrier to conmpletion but what other idiots do.

dodgy

Is it too soon to characterise the moped rider?

Terrible news

frisbee

dodgy wrote:

Is it too soon to characterise the moped rider?

Terrible news

I think you are on pretty safe ground characterising all moped riders.

dabber

Just what we were all dreading I guess. Everyday I looked at his rides on Strava I was totally knocked out by his amazing rides. I'm so sad to hear this... really bad news.

iron_duke

Such awful news. Only glad it was not worse. Steve has put in some phenomenal miles and it has been inspirational following on Strava. Hope he recovers well and will be back to try again.

pinno

Keep us posted Marcus JB. That's terrible news. I have had a sh1tty weekend and now this to top it all off.

I guess by his sheer determination he has tons of resolve. I hope that helps him through.

marcusjb

Until Steve has a fuller prognosis, there's not much more to add.

The year isn't over, but unless the prognosis changes dramatically, I fear the Tommy Godwin total is not attainable.

I am just glad Steve is (relatively) ok, that's all that really matters.

bobmcstuff

Just saw this on Strava - such a shame, he must be devastated.

Hope he recovers soon.

marcusjb

Update from Steve's Facebook page:

Steve thanks everyone for their support so far. He was hit from behind by a suspected drunk moped rider and has a broken ankle. He has assessment appointments over the next few days. After these we shall be able to decide the best way forward with the One Year Time Trial. Expect to hear more from us by Friday.

Photo may or may not work (from Facebook) - at least he's got his trademark grin! But, I am even more gutted for him if this does turn out to be someone over the limit and I hope the police/CPS are able to deal with the rider appropriately.

This attempt was always going to need everything to go right and nothing to go wrong. Steve had done everything right and was playing a blinder. Just as things were going to become more straightforwards with more daylight to work with etc., this happens.

I am sure this won't be the end of Steve's dreams - just maybe not this year though.

Anonymous

Desperately sad. Unbelievable that it was a drunk driver.

I was hoping to believe that it was someone who was hit by an unsuspected gust of wind at just the wrong time. The conditions around that area (A38) were pretty severe yesterday

lancew

Man that sucks. Sorry to hear about this but getting better is surely the number 1 priority. And at the end of the day at least we're not talking about a worse injury/fatality.

I have been keeping an eye on Steve's rides so it is a shame to be 1/3 of the way in and doing so well.

One legged riding maybe?