The One Hour Record

limerickman

I know I beat on about this but we must remember the context in which EM's did his record.

EM raced 127 races before he attempted the record in 1972.
In the 127 races raced, he won 50.
They included Milan SanRemo, Liege - Bastogne - Liege, Fleche Wallone, Giro,
Tour De France, GP Dortmund, GP L'Escaut.
He also had finished second in the Paris-Nice race and had finished 4th in that years world road race championships !

wilmar13

What makes you think it isn't the Procycling article that is wrong? I really really don't think he has an 11...I am looking at my bike right now set on a 53-11 and the arc the chain makes on the 11 is much smaller than it appears in the side shot photo of his bike.

531Aussie

nah, I'm not sure which is wrong

I guess you're right.

wilmar13

Besides, if he really wanted gearing that tall, I can't believe he wouldn't use something like a 65-13 as smaller gears are a little less effiecient. The jury is still out, but I am inclined to believe he used a 54-13.

531Aussie

so, you using 180mm cranks at the moment?

wilmar13

Yep, my inseam is about 1 inch longer than yours. My feet are 47 or 48 depending on brand and I tend to be more of a seated power rider (like Jan is critized for). About the only thing keeping me on the fence of trying longer cranks is the fact that I am stuck with custom, or TA specialites. Probably 180s are fine, but you never know...

wilmar13

You know I forgot that I actually have a 55-11. It is on my tandem and we only use it when decending or with a strong tailwind, and almost always the speed is above 40mph... It would be really strange if he used gearing that tall for 30mph for an entire hour.

531Aussie

Wow!! A 55!! you "cranker"

Dunno how you ride those tandems.

You've got kinda big feet; do your heels ever hit the chain stays?

I know another guy who's 6ft4" (Thylacine), and I'm trying to talk him into getting 180s.

I'm only a size 43, and I don't hit the stays during normal riding, but a can if I try (by dropping my heels right down at the back of the pedal stroke).

wilmar13

Well there isn't a huge difference between a 55/11 and a 53/11 but if you ride a tandem you will see that having 400lbs with the frontal area of one person can result in some crazy speeds. If the rides are reletively flat with my girlfreind we can average higher than I can by myself. Her brother-in-law races too, and is about her size... I always joke with him we should take it out to compete in a TT or put the smack-down on a century, but I think he is reluctant to ride "bitch". I'm not a homophobe, but it probably would look gay as hell and he probably isn't as confident as I am.



Sometimes I can on my mountain bike but I can't remember it happening in a long time. The reason I mention foot size is to a certain extent a longer foot will give you more effective crank length...at least I read that somewhere and it made sense to me. Maybe with your long inseam (for your height) and smaller feet 180's are too small for you

Regardless of leg mechanics, I think it is clear that if you like to grind a longer crank is better (as long as your knees take it) and if you like to spin shorter is better. I was thinking about it today, and I would be even more surprised in Sosenka was a grinder at a slow 79rpm for an hour! Generally diesels tend to be pretty beefy in the lower body (think Ullrich) and he looks like twig man, which makes me think he would prefer to spin a 54/13...even if it is a 190. Who knows, it will probably be confirmed sometime after we forgot and don't care.

531Aussie

yeah, maybe

There's no way I could go longer. I actually wanna try 177.5 to see what it does to my position.

Andy Lamarre

[QUOTE=gntlmn]Why make such a big deal about Eddie Merckx' one hour record that was set more than 30 years ago? I see they have one standard for the Merckx record. They call it UCI, and the rider must check his equipment to make sure it qualifies beforehand with this standard.
QUOTE]
Sir if Merckx had a bike like today for his time rail then, the record would probably be at around 55 km/h.

wilmar13

Ummmm well then he would be embarassed by Boardmans 56.4 km/hr avg set almost ten years ago.

Andy Lamarre

Have a look at both men result and who do you think would be the world fastest man.
Salutation from Canada.

wilmar13

I'm going way out on a limb here and going to guess Sosenka.

I'm not sure if you don't understand the UCI's "athletes hour", your english (or my interpretation of it) is really bad, or a combination of both. Soenska beat Merckx's record with the same bicycle technology Merckx used 30 years ago (and without riding at 2000M altitude)... your comment about bicycle technology is a moot point as it is not allowed to be used for the athletes hour...the last person to attempt the hour record using "modern" bicycle technology was Boardman back in 1996 and he managed 56.38 km in one hr. FWIW Boardman also beat Merkx without his "modern bicycle" or riding at altitude as well.