Steve abraham attempt

[Mick F]

I wouldn't say brisk walking counts as very fast. Just want to get over that sauntering along doesn't quite cut it.

I agree, but ANY exercise is better than no exercise.
Some folk don't get any at all.

There's a chap who lives in the village (70+) who had a heart attack a few years ago. He survived ok and was prescribed moderate exercise. He now walks every single morning along the lane, up the hill, turns round and walks home again maybe two miles every single day of the year.

He doesn't walk fast, he just takes his time, admires the views, and enjoys the fresh air in his lungs.

[Mark1978]

I wouldn't say brisk walking counts as very fast. Just want to get over that sauntering along doesn't quite cut it.

I agree, but ANY exercise is better than no exercise.
Some folk don't get any at all.

There's a chap who lives in the village (70+) who had a heart attack a few years ago. He survived ok and was prescribed moderate exercise. He now walks every single morning along the lane, up the hill, turns round and walks home again maybe two miles every single day of the year.

He doesn't walk fast, he just takes his time, admires the views, and enjoys the fresh air in his lungs.

My Mum was the same, she had a heart attack in her mid-30s, and was told to walk every day, so she did, and still does as much as she can now in her mid 70's. She gets frustrated when she has bouts of illness which means she doesn't have the strength to leave the house.

[beardy]

The advice might be used the other way, it sets a level that is considered adequate so you know that 20 minutes a day is all you need to do to meet the daily minimum.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,

I wouldn't say brisk walking counts as very fast. Just want to get over that sauntering along doesn't quite cut it.

Two MPH is slow, three MPH is average and four MPH and above for more than a mile is quite fast.
When I mot my car I walk one mile into town and it takes me twelve minutes (5mph) , if any one tells you you can walk at 5mph off road (unpathed) there talking out their &$*
When I started work I used to walk at up to 8.5mph up the corridor some two hundred yards, that's max for me but the top guys do it for 20 K at that pace

Anything over 4 MPH is fast on the pavement and you wont see many doing it very far.
Last night on the turbo a measly 19 miles in an hour up 2 % gradient, three days ago I decided to walk up a 10 % gradient for 30 mins on the running machine at four MPH and that was my limit

I would say that walking 3 mph for 10 hours is much tougher than cycling 15 mph on the flat for 10 hours, even though they are comparable.
Walking is natural and you can do it anytime with out getting on all the clobber.
Mick F would have no problem walking 20 miles in a day, he has the muscles its just that they are not toned, nor are mine at the moment.
Sauntering I would call 1.5 mph.
We are not talking walking and jogging down hills here running is bending the knees, walking is straight legged one foot on the ground all the time, we are not in the army now

Power walking to me is 4 mph plus without the silly trekking poles (what are they for ?) Nowt wrong with a brisk walk, try it in the dinner hour 1 mile at 5 mph

[Mark1978]

Anything over 4 MPH is fast on the pavement and you wont see many doing it very far.

Your numbers are about right, not sure if it matters how long your legs are? I'm 5'6" so not that long.

I've found about 3.5mph is my normal pace and up to 3.8mph is my brisk pace. Last summer lunchtimes I was often doing 1 hour walks at 4mph but that was putting in quite a bit of effort and took a bit of conditioning to get used to.

Incidentally I've tried for a while to figure out a way to do cycling in my lunchhour but it always turns out to be impractical, whereas walking I just walk out of the door and can do it for the full 60 minutes.

[Tonyf33]

Last week I walked 3 miles in 37 minutes in near darkness along a cruddy path including a stop due to shin splints (also to cross a dual carriageway at the near suicidal cycle path crossing).
Having done it straight after cycling on a heavy ladies bike 4 sizes too small for me my shins were killing me to start with & I don't do much walking these days..as above poster says, cycling is so much easier/faster.
If I was down to 5mph on a longer climb I'd most likely get off, walk and take a break whilst only losing a couple of mph. Having watched the pros go up some very steep climbs in the wet during the ToB at about 2-3mph I think I would have hopped off and run the bike up the incline much quicker (kind of a sneaky mountain stage attack..lol)

Back to Abrahams..
Should we have a thread to guess how many miles he will do...
I'm going for what I think is a conservative 84,000 miles

[Mick F]

Back to Abrahams..
Should we have a thread to guess how many miles he will do...
I'm going for what I think is a conservative 84,000 miles

I wouldn't think he'd even contemplate trying to beat the record unless he thought he could do it.

After all, I don't anyone has even tried, so he must believe he has a good chance. 80,000miles plus is a good guess.

[NATURAL ANKLING]

Hi,
Why has it taken all these years to someone to have a bash at the record.
Is it comparable today, how can it ever be with all the expertise we have today, so steve needs to add some to the record like he is hoping.
Good luck with it.

[beardy]

I guess that nobody felt like sacrificing a year of their life, I certainly dont.
Also I believe that the Guinness Book of Records will not recognise any attempt on this record (dont remember where I picked that up from) so as not to encourage risk taking.
Also I reckon that Tommy Goodwin did this when cycling was at its apogee and cycling has been on the decline ever since.

I also think Mr Abraham has got a harder job than Goodwin because of all the traffic on modern roads.
Any slight technological improvements will not cancel that out.

[Mick F]

I guess that nobody felt like sacrificing a year of their life, I certainly dont.

Nor me, no matter how fit I felt.

To crack 75,000miles in a year is 206miles a day .......... every day and even then you'd "only" manage 75,190miles.

Furthest I've ever ridden in a day was 113miles, but in my defence, that was from home to North Devon and back and had 10,000ft of ascent - 88ft per mile.
There ain't no way on God's Earth that I could do that every day for a year!

[chocjohn9]

I wish Steve well and I hope that he achieves what he has set out to do....but for me it would be terribly boring to do all that cycling. You can have too much of a good thing and I think it would kill off any hope of me wanting to cycle for the rest of my life - and I certainly don't want that.

When I was a lot younger, how many songs did I "kill" by playing them over and over again - even now I can not listen to any of them.

[Mick F]

Also I believe that the Guinness Book of Records will not recognise any attempt on this record (dont remember where I picked that up from) so as not to encourage risk taking.

I have two elderly Guinness Books. 1956 and 1968.

I dug them out and looked to see if back then they would say about TG's record.
Nowt.
Zilch.

[kylecycler]

Why has it taken all these years to someone to have a bash at the record?

I think it had largely been forgotten. Dave Barter, who resurrected the story, said "I’d never heard of him or the year record but surely Google would know? There was very little: a few mentions on message boards but no Wikipedia entry and nothing outlining his year. As an endurance cyclist, I needed to know more. Fortunately, a magazine editor put me in touch with his family and the story began to unfold..."

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/cycling- ... year-45701

That article is from January 2012, although I've seen another piece by Dave Barter about Tommy's record written a few years earlier, in 2005.

[Grandad]

Book available
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unsurpassed-Godwin-Greatest-Distance-Cyclist/dp/1874739625/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421526058&sr=8-1&keywords=Tommy+Godwin+story+books

[binsted]

Book available
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Unsurpassed-Godwin-Greatest-Distance-Cyclist/dp/1874739625/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1421526058&sr=8-1&keywords=Tommy+Godwin+story+books

Thats a nice little read, I'm a great fan of Tommy but I really hope Steve is able to better the record.

Like Mick F I love my cycling and try to get out most days but 200+ miles every day for a year is beyond comprehension, guys like Tommy and Steve come along once in a lifetime.

This must be the hardest world record to beat, not only do you have to stay fit, compete for 365 days continuously and avoid injury for a year, you also have to battle the traffic, at least that bit was probably easier for Tommy.

Chapeau Steve, we should ALL do as much as we can to publicise and support his effort.