Has Steve Abraham started the year ride again?

fudgey

I see on Strava yesterday his ride was called 'Day 1, triple ton'

Fair play if he has

marcusjb

He is aiming for the highest monthly mileage under UMCA rules. 7000 miles is the goal. The current record is 6679. The month is defined as 30 consecutive days.

The outcome will possibly drive another year attempt. The year record is on target to be raised by Amanda Coker is she can keep on with her astonishing pace, it could end up somewhere around 80000 miles.

fudgey

Ah i see, thanks for that. And wow about cracking 80,0000 miles!!!

ForumNewbie

marcusjb wrote:

The year record is on target to be raised by Amanda Coker is she can keep on with her astonishing pace, it could end up somewhere around 80000 miles.

I hadn't heard about that attempt. Just had a look at Strava and it is an amazing daily mileage and speed. She appears to be doing it by continuous 6.8 mile circuits of a park/woodland area.

nochekmate

How interesting that must be - at least Steve got out and about.

ugo.santalucia

nochekmate wrote:

How interesting that must be - at least Steve got out and about.

agree, totally pointless... a record for the sake of it...

stevie63

If you read up about her history you would understand why she prefers a traffic free route. I guess that record that Wiggins set when he just went round in circles for an hour is also pointless.

norvernrob

ForumNewbie wrote:

marcusjb wrote:

The year record is on target to be raised by Amanda Coker is she can keep on with her astonishing pace, it could end up somewhere around 80000 miles.

I hadn't heard about that attempt. Just had a look at Strava and it is an amazing daily mileage and speed. She appears to be doing it by continuous 6.8 mile circuits of a park/woodland area.

It's the same Flatwoods loop that Kurt did regularly towards the end of his year (I think!). Immensely boring, but an incredible mental and physical effort nonetheless.

fudgey

Didnt realise that she was just doing a short loop. I find it boring enough riding to work when i can so that must be quite dull.

Bit like my mate who completed the everest challenge by mostly riding up and down the small hill in the village a million times. I just couldnt be bothered with that.

step83

I spotted him out last night I live about a mile from him so see him a fair bit. Did notice the triple hell of a way to start, just have to watch out for drunken scooters again.

Brakeless

stevie63 wrote:

If you read up about her history you would understand why she prefers a traffic free route. I guess that record that Wiggins set when he just went round in circles for an hour is also pointless.

Mic Drop

crossed

I'm impressed at the elevation gains that Amanda Cocker is getting on her rides. 240 miles with 236ft elevation gain is impressive, I didn't think it would be possible to find somewhere with less than 1ft elevation gain per 10 miles ridden!

I'm sure it's hard work riding round a park for 12h a day but it seems like the most pointless record attempt ever.

ravey1981

Do these people not have jobs to go to? How does he fund his life?

fudgey

ravey1981 wrote:

Do these people not have jobs to go to? How does he fund his life?

With Steve it's a cunning ruse as his panniers are actually full of cocain wraps that he cycles around the UK selling for £20 a pop.
The police don't suspect a thing as they just think he is hardcore riding his bike all day and night in all weathers just for fun.
He is actually a secret multi-billionaire with a massive drugs empire that would have put Pablo Escobar to shame*

*This statement may or may-not be true.

marcusjb

Ha!

Not that far off the truth, but more hard spirits than class A drugs (Steve rode london Edinburgh London in 2013 with a bottle of jack Daniels in his saddlebag).

Steve's choices of riding locations is much more appealing to me than going around a short flat circuit all day; however the record is who can ride the most miles in a year and not who can see the most interesting scenery in a year.

So long as riders like Kurt, Steve, Miles, Kasja and Amanda continue to inspire people to push their own boundaries, then these records have their point.

ugo.santalucia

But do they inspire people to cycle more?
Can you see a kid telling him dad "one day I want to become like that lady who cycles 12 hours a day in the park 7 days a week"...
The rules are the rules, but one can become obsessed about a record and miss the point of it.

With regards to the hour record mentioned above: that is a simple thing... how far can you go in ah hour? The idea to host it in a track was to standardise the event so that external factors cannot interfere with the result.
The UCI missed the point of it, when they became obsessed about doing it with 30 years old Eddie Merckx technology... it was silly and it didn't work

fudgey

I think what Steve achieved last year is certainly inspiring. i am new to the sport and a have only been riding a road bike for a little over 2 years now, i dont know a lot about the history of cycling if i am honest but seeing what some people can do does make you rethink what is possible.
Not taking anything away from Kurt Sevogil but he done his year ride in a nice warm climate on flat roads, Steve to me just put in so much more effort battling the weather and terrain.
But to do 80,000 miles while doing a 6.8 mile flat loop, as you say, its just numbers and imo while it will still be a great achievement, it also feels somewhat pointless.

rolf_f

It's a bit like the Richard Branson attempt at the Blue Riband with a speed boat. Technically, it may have been the fastest crossing but it clearly wasn't in the spirit of what came before and they rightly didn't get the trophy. Amanda Cocker certainly deserves some kind of recognition for what she is doing but her effort shouldn't replace the existing records. Apart from anything else, it just screws it up for everyone else unless they are prepared to waste an 80th of their entire life going round in circles. Sadly, the year record needs some rules before some rich idiot hires a velodrome for a year.

fenix

I really cant see riding loops as being good for you.

Its just not as impressive as say Tommy Godwins rides.

Has anyone done the longest turbo ride yet ? Its probably only a matter of time before someone claims that as a record.

bobmcstuff

ugo.santalucia wrote:

But do they inspire people to cycle more?
Can you see a kid telling him dad "one day I want to become like that lady who cycles 12 hours a day in the park 7 days a week"...

Steve inspired me to do a 260km ride last year. Was a really nice ride too, Glenshee and the Dee Valley.

The fact that someone else can cycle 80,000 miles is inspiring in the same way (even if it is around a park).

ugo.santalucia

In principle there is nothing wrong with Ultra Cycling records, but I think they have to define what these records go to probe. It seems to me the skill required are stamina and dedication, mind strength more than body talent and that is fine.

However, one can decide to hit the road like Steve does, travel at 25 Km/h and spend 12 hours on the bike, or go for flat circuit at 30 Km/h and spend 10 hours on the bike or find a track, get a fast aero bike and travel at 35 Km/h and spend 8.5 hours on the bike each day. Each of the approaches yields about 68,000 miles in a calendar year, but they are substantially different approaches and very hard to compare... the latter leaves enough time to live an almost normal existence (it's a 9 to 5:30 job after all), the former needs more support and it's incompatible with normal life (it's a 7 am to 7 pm job).

marcusjb

Steve totally inspired me doing his year.

During the shitty times, when it was cold and wet I might have only been doing a 200km, but knowing he was out there somewhere doing 300km+ was all the motivation I needed to carry on.

I think he has totally changed the landscape in long-distance riding (particularly with the Audax UK world), he has inspired people to ride further and more around the year than ever before. Some of the stuff that people have done in the past couple of seasons is just astonishing and I think much of it can be traced back to Steve.

ugo.santalucia

marcusjb wrote:

Steve totally inspired me doing his year.

During the sh!tty times, when it was cold and wet I might have only been doing a 200km, but knowing he was out there somewhere doing 300km+ was all the motivation I needed to carry on.

I think he has totally changed the landscape in long-distance riding (particularly with the Audax UK world), he has inspired people to ride further and more around the year than ever before. Some of the stuff that people have done in the past couple of seasons is just astonishing and I think much of it can be traced back to Steve.

But I agree his way of doing it is inspiring... how about those lapping a circuit?

marcusjb

It will inspire many - I believe both Kurt and Amanda have encouraged many people to ride their first 100 miler, 200 miler and so on with them.

Riding hard and fast around a circuit is appealing to some for sure. Not me, I am bored after 3 laps of Richmond Park.

But cycling is a broad church and different people want/get different things from it.

stevie63

bobmcstuff wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

But do they inspire people to cycle more?
Can you see a kid telling him dad "one day I want to become like that lady who cycles 12 hours a day in the park 7 days a week"...

Steve inspired me to do a 260km ride last year. Was a really nice ride too, Glenshee and the Dee Valley.

The fact that someone else can cycle 80,000 miles is inspiring in the same way (even if it is around a park).

That's right, they may not inspire someone who views climbing hills as they main point of cycling. Others though are inspired by those that can go long distances. If you look at Amanda's Facebook page you'll see that they have got a board showing all the cyclists that she has inspired to do their fist century and double century rides.

What's also significant about Amanda is that she has finally proved what a load of nonsense it is that Female athletes will have events that are shorter than the mens (ie Womens cycling, Womens Tennis etc)

ugo.santalucia

stevie63 wrote:

What's also significant about Amanda is that she has finally proved what a load of nonsense it is that Female athletes will have events that are shorter than the mens (ie Womens cycling, Womens Tennis etc)

Totally... marathons are 26 miles for female too. I think the shorter distances in races are down to poor interest/funding and the necessity to keep the event within a given time frame

fenix

Pretty sure Beryl Burton proved all of that a long time ago ?

bondurant

marcusjb wrote:

It will inspire many - I believe both Kurt and Amanda have encouraged many people to ride their first 100 miler, 200 miler and so on with them.

Riding hard and fast around a circuit is appealing to some for sure. Not me, I am bored after 3 laps of Richmond Park.

But cycling is a broad church and different people want/get different things from it.

Totally agree.

tgotb

Crossed wrote:

I'm sure it's hard work riding round a park for 12h a day but it seems like the most pointless record attempt ever.

I'm not sure I understand this. What makes one record more pointless than another? Surely they're all equally pointless (and, at a certain level, isn't that the whole point?)

I'm not trying to belittle any of these efforts; they're all pretty amazing. However, the only reason anyone's going to do something like this is for personal satisfaction; nothing else is going to give them the motivation they need to succeed. In some ways I have more admiration for someone doing laps of a park; they have presumably decided that it's worth sacrificing of a whole load of mental stimulus in order to maximise the chances of achieving their goal. It's almost the ultimate in single-minded dedication. By contrast, you could argue that riding on open roads brings in all sorts of additional risks and compromises, just so you can have something more interesting to look at. If Steve had been doing laps of a park, he wouldn't have had that incident with the moped...

bompington

Crossed wrote:

240 miles with 236ft elevation gain is impressive, I didn't think it would be possible to find somewhere with less than 1ft elevation gain per 10 miles ridden

Errr.... I do Maths tutoring if you're needing a little help...

ugo.santalucia

TGOTB wrote:

Crossed wrote:

I'm sure it's hard work riding round a park for 12h a day but it seems like the most pointless record attempt ever.

I'm not sure I understand this. What makes one record more pointless than another? Surely they're all equally pointless (and, at a certain level, isn't that the whole point?)

I'm not trying to belittle any of these efforts; they're all pretty amazing. However, the only reason anyone's going to do something like this is for personal satisfaction; nothing else is going to give them the motivation they need to succeed. In some ways I have more admiration for someone doing laps of a park; they have presumably decided that it's worth sacrificing of a whole load of mental stimulus in order to maximise the chances of achieving their goal. It's almost the ultimate in single-minded dedication. By contrast, you could argue that riding on open roads brings in all sorts of additional risks and compromises, just so you can have something more interesting to look at. If Steve had been doing laps of a park, he wouldn't have had that incident with the moped...

The bicycle was invented as a mean of locomotion to go from A to B and back to A where A and B were too far apart to walk in a reasonable timescale. Going around a small loop defies the purpose of the bicycle, I think this is in essence why many of us have a problem with it.
Other "circuit" type records are about speed, but this one isn't (one can choose the speed to go at)... this is about distance in a long timescale and doing distance where there is no distance is a contraddiction