The other Hour records

ugo.santalucia
ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,237
edited January 2017 in Pro race
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... :mrgreen:

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

  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    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 Does the "Athlete's record" still exist or has it been superseded by the new one allowing current machines?
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  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,237
    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 Does the "Athlete's record" still exist or has it been superseded by the new one allowing current machines?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
    left the forum March 2023
  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    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 Does the "Athlete's record" still exist or has it been superseded by the new one allowing current machines?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
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  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    Looking at other records, the overall currently stands at 92,439 km...

    http://www.russo-speedbike.com/gallery/ ... toval.html
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  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    Oh, and that's facing backwards looking through a mirror to steer!
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  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,237
    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
    left the forum March 2023
  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    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
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  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,237
    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
    left the forum March 2023
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,237
    Very interesting read, although to define this guy an amateur is a bit ungenerous

    http://cyclingtips.com/2015/02/putting- ... r-compare/
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  • Paul 8v
    Paul 8v Posts: 5,458
    I imagine climbing wouldn't be fun!
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  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,237
    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
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  • RichN95.
    RichN95. Posts: 27,149
    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.
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  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,237
    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... :-)
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  • fenix
    fenix Posts: 5,437
    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
    term1te Posts: 1,462
    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.
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  • timothyw
    timothyw Posts: 2,482
    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
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,237
    Didn't Hutch also metnion Sosenka had a very heavy rear wheel to act as a flywheel?
    left the forum March 2023
  • ugo.santalucia
    ugo.santalucia Posts: 28,237
    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
    left the forum March 2023
  • timothyw
    timothyw Posts: 2,482
    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
    rick_chasey Posts: 72,568
    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...
    _

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