Record attempt scheduled

[Paulatic]

Excellent report https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/articles/view/347

[Mick F]

Excellent report https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/articles/view/347

Yes, excellent report.

[RickH]

Cycling Weekly have now got an item

‘Unbreakable’ Land’s End – John o’Groats record beaten for first time in 17 years

I guess the early hours of Sunday morning in the back of beyond is a good time & place to get quick coverage.

[Mick F]

Very very much off topic ...............
I see his tyres weren't very wide.

[RickH]

Very very much off topic ...............
I see his tyres weren't very wide.
image.jpeg

You mean that he broke the record despite having narrow tyres?

[Mick F]

Just think how fast he'd have gone with 28mm tyres.

[Paulatic]

Ho used a vittoria Corsa 700x25

Also went through

80+ @OTESportsGB energy gels and 50+ @OTESportsGB bars lighter than when we set off. And not a single stomach issue

[thirdcrank]

Excellent report https://www.cyclingtimetrials.org.uk/articles/view/347

A great account of a great ride, with plenty of insight from the record breaker himself. It seems to fit in with how it appeared to the dotwatchers in comfy chairs. Like so much distance cycling - even when mere mortals are only riding distances that are long to them - what's going on in the rider's head is at least as important as their pedalling.

Only time will tell if this record will ever be broken but Mike Broadwith has shown how it might be done by a rider with his strength of body and mind. He's obviously capable of maintaining evens (20 mph) almost indefinitely, so without the awful weather he might well have finished in around 1 day, eighteen hours.

This is where the late Duffers would have been saying chapeau! and I take my hat off to this rider and his team.

[Paulatic]

Its a shame this wasn't advertised more in advance. I stumbled on this post yesterday. If I knew in advance I would liked to have gone along and cheered at some point.

I first alerted this forum in February viewtopic.php?f=22&t=120240&p=1209627&hilit=Broadwith#p1209627
As is usual with record attempts the rider doesn’t state his start day weeks ahead. You had notice here over 24 hrs before the off viewtopic.php?f=22&t=120240&hilit=Broadwith&start=150

Why look anywhere else?

[Mick F]

Why look anywhere else?

This forum is the font of all knowledge.
Long may it continue.

[thirdcrank]

... I first alerted this forum in February viewtopic.php?f=22&t=120240&p=1209627&hilit=Broadwith#p1209627
As is usual with record attempts the rider doesn’t state his start day weeks ahead. You had notice here over 24 hrs before the off viewtopic.php?f=22&t=120240&hilit=Broadwith&start=150

And I for one am grateful. The question of publicity is an important one and I can't remember when the ban was lifted. Nobody wants idiots adding to the fun with broken glass and the like but there's nothing like the applause of a crowd to lift the soul.

[1982john]

Tune into @BBC3CR tomorrow morning to hear @24HourMaths being interviewed at 07.30.

[NEvans]

... I first alerted this forum in February viewtopic.php?f=22&t=120240&p=1209627&hilit=Broadwith#p1209627
As is usual with record attempts the rider doesn’t state his start day weeks ahead. You had notice here over 24 hrs before the off viewtopic.php?f=22&t=120240&hilit=Broadwith&start=150

And I for one am grateful. The question of publicity is an important one and I can't remember when the ban was lifted. Nobody wants idiots adding to the fun with broken glass and the like but there's nothing like the applause of a crowd to lift the soul.

I stumbled on this on Friday evening while looking at other LEJOG posts. While potential start dates are not posted well in advance, if I had known one or two days in advance, I would probably have driven out and given a cheer. I know how much it is appreciated and helps, especially during the night. Anyway he done brilliant and seemed to manage without my cheer (how I just don't know). I'll try and be out when he goes for the 1000 in a few months time....

[horizon]

I suspect the pool of long-distance time trial riders is shrinking.

I'm wondering what would would happen if this were a race. It seems people travel all over the world now for marathons and bike rides (RAAM etc) so the pool appears to be increasing. LEJOG seems to be a bit parochial but I don't see why that shouldn't change. It could be too that it attracts overseas entrants who bring a new physical dimension to it in the same way as the Ethiopians did to marathon running. I think Place to Place might be a lonelier challenge: fix the date, bring out the crowds and who knows who might join and what records might be broken. And if the money was behind it, then support would be unlimited - think of all those neck braces!

My money is on the record being broken again (only moderate wind assistance, atrocious rain, specifc injury) but more so if the pool does indeed become wider. And who knows: the four minute mile is now 17 seconds quicker. And LEJOG only needs a minute or two on an 874 mile ride.

https://gravityandlevity.wordpress.com/ ... ible-mile/

[thirdcrank]

One problem would be in getting any of the riders to set the pace because any doing so would be setting themselves up to lose. The nearest event I can think of was Bordeaux - Paris, which was contested by a relatively small field paced by dernies (mopeds.) Nothing like the same duration of course, but it did get over the problem of nobody wanting to lead.

The UK has something of a tradition of over-long races, the last I remember being the Empire Stores Holyhead to Bradford, which seemed to be poorly organised with riders getting support and even lifts - not cheating, just getting to the finish after abandoning - from members of the public. It may be reminiscent of the early days of the TdeF etc., but it's hard to imagine those days returning.