The other Hour records

ugo.santalucia

Using Pokerface's C2 hour record attempt as a springboard to talk about the "non Wiggins" hour records... age categories, different ability categories, different bike categories
Anyone into "how far can you go in an hour"?

I have to admit I am tempted to have a go at the "uber 80" in due course...

http://www.cyclinguk.org/news/20151026- ... records-81

Paul 8v

I'd still like to see Fabu have a go at the Merckx record. There was talk of a partly developed/finished bike that Trek had been working on. Does the "Athlete's record" still exist or has it been superseded by the new one allowing current machines?

ugo.santalucia

Paul 8v wrote:

I'd still like to see Fabu have a go at the Merckx record. There was talk of a partly developed/finished bike that Trek had been working on. Does the "Athlete's record" still exist or has it been superseded by the new one allowing current machines?

I think it still exists. Looking at the state of Boardman when he very narrowly beat Merckx, I'd say it's a pretty tough call. Sosenka was obviously juiced to the bone, so that doesn't really count... however, the record is his, not Merckx.

Cancellara doesn't have track experience, other than 2 laps at Roubaix every year... it is very important when margins are so narrow.

I suspect commercially there is no interest whatsoever in the record

Paul 8v

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Paul 8v wrote:

I'd still like to see Fabu have a go at the Merckx record. There was talk of a partly developed/finished bike that Trek had been working on. Does the "Athlete's record" still exist or has it been superseded by the new one allowing current machines?

I think it still exists. Looking at the state of Boardman when he very narrowly beat Merckx, I'd say it's a pretty tough call. Sosenka was obviously juiced to the bone, so that doesn't really count... however, the record is his, not Merckx.

Cancellara doesn't have track experience, other than 2 laps at Roubaix every year... it is very important when margins are so narrow.

I suspect commercially there is no interest whatsoever in the record

I wonder if he can ask to do it just because of who he is? I can imagine him wanting to test himself against Merckx and if the bike is already half built... We'll probably never see it unfortunately but it would be great

Paul 8v

Looking at other records, the overall currently stands at 92,439 km...

http://www.russo-speedbike.com/gallery/ ... toval.html

Paul 8v

Oh, and that's facing backwards looking through a mirror to steer!

ugo.santalucia

Paul 8v wrote:

Looking at other records, the overall currently stands at 92,439 km...

http://www.russo-speedbike.com/gallery/ ... toval.html

There is a British outfit somewhere in Bucks or Oxfordshire that makes those things, I seem to recall... I deffo want one

Paul 8v

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Paul 8v wrote:

Looking at other records, the overall currently stands at 92,439 km...

http://www.russo-speedbike.com/gallery/ ... toval.html

There is a British outfit somewhere in Bucks or Oxfordshire that makes those things, I seem to recall... I deffo want one

That would cut my work commute down to about 20 minutes, and I'd be dry!

I'd love to have a go on one. They are ££££ though

ugo.santalucia

Paul 8v wrote:

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Paul 8v wrote:

Looking at other records, the overall currently stands at 92,439 km...

http://www.russo-speedbike.com/gallery/ ... toval.html

There is a British outfit somewhere in Bucks or Oxfordshire that makes those things, I seem to recall... I deffo want one

That would cut my work commute down to about 20 minutes, and I'd be dry!

I'd love to have a go on one. They are ££££ though

They are fast in ideal conditions, they are very slow in non ideal conditions. Same thing applies to recumbents, tandems and most non conventional bicycles

ugo.santalucia

Very interesting read, although to define this guy an amateur is a bit ungenerous

http://cyclingtips.com/2015/02/putting- ... r-compare/

Paul 8v

I imagine climbing wouldn't be fun!

ugo.santalucia

Paul 8v wrote:

I imagine climbing wouldn't be fun!

I Suspect one wouldn't be able to lap for an hour at 90 Km/h in a modern 250 m velodrome. It would be less than 10 seconds a lap and quite a lot of G in the bends... difficult to control it, probably impossible

RichN95.

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Paul 8v wrote:

I imagine climbing wouldn't be fun!

I Suspect one wouldn't be able to lap for an hour at 90 Km/h in a modern 250 m velodrome. It would be less than 10 seconds a lap and quite a lot of G in the bends... difficult to control it, probably impossible

They don't do those records on velodromes. The use the car industry's test tracks.

But I'm sure you know that.

ugo.santalucia

Robert Marchant has done it again... 22.6 Km in an hour at the age of 105

Mind you, he was riding a geared bike around the track... :-)

fenix

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Very interesting read, although to define this guy an amateur is a bit ungenerous

http://cyclingtips.com/2015/02/putting- ... r-compare/

He sounds like an amateur to me ? Did I miss something ?

term1te

I met Monsieur Marchant five years ago at the end of the Tour du Léman in Lausanne, which he'd undertaken to celebrate his 100th birthday, maybe the short course. He had all the kit, but I was most impressed with his old school almost hobnail cycling shoes.

I read that his 105+ hour record would have been further, if he hadn't missed the 10 minutes to go signal.

timothyw

Coming back to the Athlete's hour/merckx record, the interesting thing about Sosenka was that being 6ft7 he had a unique advantage over shorter athletes, he could have the bars sufficiently low and the reach sufficiently short that he could ride in a flat backed aerodynamically optimal position with his arms pretty well straight leaning on the bottom of the drops.

This meant that he was more comfortable, so able to go faster. Boardman and Hutch had to hold their arms bent to get low - if you read Hutch's book the major challenge was simply finding a position that was aerodynamic as possible while being sustainable for an hour.

Sosenka also did it on a longer, 333m track, considerably reducing the watts lost to centrifugal force.

I imagine the dope helped too, but I think his height was a key part of how he was able to break the record despite not being a world beating conventional TT rider.

ugo.santalucia

Didn't Hutch also metnion Sosenka had a very heavy rear wheel to act as a flywheel?

ugo.santalucia

Term1te wrote:

I read that his 105+ hour record would have been further, if he hadn't missed the 10 minutes to go signal.

I bet, it seems quite far from his recent performance (26 or so, if I remember well). Either way, a truly inspiring character

timothyw

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Didn't Hutch also metnion Sosenka had a very heavy rear wheel to act as a flywheel?

I certainly read that somewhere, although I can't help but feel that falls more of a psychological benefit rather than anything measurable - indeed I'd expect, all else being equal that the heavier wheel would be slightly slower on the grounds of the extra weight meaning extra centrifugal force to overcome through the bends.

I mean, the theory would be that it 'smooths out' the pedal stroke, powering through any dead spots, but the momentum of 80kg of bike and rider flying along the boards at 50kph on a fixed gear is surely more than enough to accomplish that?

rick_chasey

ugo.santalucia wrote:

Term1te wrote:

I read that his 105+ hour record would have been further, if he hadn't missed the 10 minutes to go signal.

I bet, it seems quite far from his recent performance (26 or so, if I remember well). Either way, a truly inspiring character

Not sure he needed the drop bars mind...