The One Hour Record

joe friday

Lots of respect for Obree. UCI's behavior was shameful.

What i'd also like to hear is someone try and reduce
Merckx's accomplishments. I don't think it could be done.
For instance, 'Lance only really races the Tour' etc...
What can someone say against Merckx? Was the
field not as competitive in his day?

gntlmn

The field competed way more in Merckx' day because bicyling didn't have the financial rewards it does today. If you do good in the Tour de France today, you don't have to ride the other tours or one day classics to make money. Many riders don't take the other races very seriously, using them mainly as tune ups for the Tour de France.

I think what set Merckx apart in his day was his training. He was overtraining in a time when the other riders didn't quite figure out how much of an advantage it makes. He used to ride sometimes more than 200 miles at a time in training, even up to the next day before a race. Many riders would crack under this type of training load, but Merckx felt he needed it to keep his weight down, and he was successful at this.

I don't think we can say much against Merckx. I have a feeling he was simply more competitive than the others; he simply had to win, and win he did.

I'd like to see Lance take a crack at the World Hour Record on Merckx' classic style bike. It would be interesting to see how he stacks up in the Time Trial against Merckx in these controlled conditions.

joe friday

that actually speaks to something i happened to be thinking
about on todays ride--ya can't say Merckx wasn't challenged..
by the very nature of the Hour Record it was solely up to him--
and what a performance. Yeah, now i want to see a modern
rider do it on a 'traditional' bike Of course then they will
say, Oh, oxygen tents--blah blah blah..

BTW, i'm going to be in ANC in two days!! i can't friggin' wait!!
i have to ask theis question--where do you ride on the road?
do you? i've seen the 400 to Seward
but for casual rides what does a roadie do? I'm taking my Mtn.
bike so i will be good for trails etc..

gntlmn

If you want to log in a lot of miles on a ROAD bike without worrying about hazards, you might want to ride along the north side of the Glenn Highway starting from Boniface at Lion's Park in Mountain View to Hiland road to the east. It's about 9 miles (almost) each way. Probably about 18.75 miles round trip. I do laps out there. You could continue out to Eagle river and ride up Eagle river road if you want, but I like the safety lately of this particular bike path. It's great for safe training.

I haven't been having such great luck elsewhere with crashes this summer, so I log in quite a few miles there. This is a paved bike path in great condition with very good visibility. There are many other bike paths, but I wouldn't recommend them if you ride fairly fast. They are too hazardous, mainly because of moose.

If you want to try a Tour de France hors category climb, you might want to ride up Arctic Valley Road, but I wouldn't do that particular ride with a road bike. Use a mountain bike. It's not paved and pretty rough, an 800 meter climb in 10 km. You'll see, as you ride, on the other side of the Glenn Highway that I described above, Arctic Valley Road exit, and if you take a risk, you can save some distance by going across the highway there when it's safe. (this is not legal). Or you can ride to Fort Richardson overpass and come back to it after you pass legally over the highway. The climb begins shortly after the golf course with a left turn. It's a gut buster.

Another good hill climb is to Flattop parking lot. It can be a little bit rough near the top, but this is ok for a road bike. I have done this many times. I like to take Abbott Loop Road up there and then Hillside Drive to Upper Huffman and Toilsome Hill Drive.

It's great riding now. I rode until almost 11 pm last night. It was still light.

joe friday

i wanted to PM you to thank you but i don't know how, i printed
your suggestions, when i get there i will definately look for the
Artic Valley road--that sounds, um, good many thanks--hey,
BTW, how's the fire situation? i'm guessing it's farther north
tword Fairbanks but is there any haze etc. associated with it
in ANC?

gntlmn

Occasionally a little hazy, but not that you can see looking into the distance at ground level. You have to look up into the sky to see it. It mainly just looks a little cloudy, but it's not clouds. I have ridden more than 80 miles with the upper haze, and my lungs still felt great. I wouldn't even worry about it. Actually, I kind of like a little haze. It keeps the sun from being too strong.

gntlmn

I wonder if Lance Armstrong is ever going to have a go at the classic Hour Record. He sure looks to be in good form in this Tour de France. He powered up l'Alpe d'Huez this morning like he had a spare motor. I think he may have it in him to better the record, but I don't think he is ready to lose focus on the Tour. After all, he is skipping the Olympics next month.

gntlmn

It appears that he does want to make a go at the Hour Record, but so far has not had the opportunity to work it into his schedule. Apparently, he is not even sure he will ride the Tour de France next year, leaving that decision largely up to his team managers. If he doesn't, he may attempt to break Chris Boardman's Hour Record, as well as participate in some Classics races.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/5493267/

Maverick

Interesting discussion.
I feel that Rominger's second attempt is the most impressive one hour record rides of them all, him using a very conventional time trial set up and beating legendary Indurain with over 2 km.
It was shown live on Eurosport and it's one of the most incredible performances I've ever seen.

Boardman beat Rominger later on, yes, but his set up was far more aerodynamic.

gntlmn

See 2 posts from Veloflash, 11/23/2003, re: Rominger and EPO. Are you still impressed with Rominger?

Maverick

I can't find the posts, sorry. Maybe you could paste them here?

ceya

Guys there were different HOUR rides, they were ABOVE,AT,BELOW SEA LEVEL and AMATEUR( EKIMOV Vyacheslav 1986) Records. They started their first change after Moser Big Wheel Ride in 1985. Changed the second time after OBREE and BOARDMAN super Man rides.

http://www.pponline.co.uk/encyc/0510.htm states:

The findings are very interesting. From Bracke (1967) to Indurain (1994), all the performances are comparable, in the 52-54 km range when adjusted to Boardman's equipment for the sea-level power of the cyclists. Thus, if cyclists such as Bracke, Moser and Merckx were to attempt the hour record on a modern bike, they would achieve similar distances to Indurain, Obree and Boardman (1993). This shows that the older records were very good performances, especially from Merckx, and that the distance improvement from Bracke to Indurain was almost all technological. This technological advantage is highlighted most by Obree, since his power output is the second lowest of the eight record holders.
The most recent Rominger (1994) and Boardman (1996) records show a performance improvement, with Boardman's power output measured at 442W and Rominger's estimated at 460W. These two records are significantly superior performances compared to the other records, which means that Boardman and Rominger had improved their stamina and fitness and not just their technology.

Bassett et al concluded that the improvement in the cycling hour record seen in the last decade, compared to the '70s and '80s records achieved with traditional bicycles and racing positions, is 60% due to technology and 40% due to improved performance. The best hour cycle performance so far has been Rominger's effort in Bordeaux in 1994 where he produced a power output of around 460 W. This is approximately equivalent to a VO2 of 5.6 L/min, which is a massive aerobic capacity to cycle at for an hour and illustrates the amazing fitness levels these top cyclists achieve.

Lemond did do some test for the record but never went through for the official record.

http://ida1.physik.uni-siegen.de/menn/hourrec.htm

The Record now held by Chris Boardman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hour_record

In 2000, Boardman made an attempt on the "UCI Hour Record" riding a more traditional bike, and posted 49.441 km, topping Merckx's record by the tiny margin of 10 m.

S/F,
CEYA!

gntlmn

Ceya: Each of the points you make have been mentioned further up in this thread if you carefully read it from the start. It is kind of long though. So it's nice to see some of this reposted here.

Merckx' ride for the record in 1972 on a Merckx bike is considered the standard because each of the records broken after that all the way up to Boardman's eventual breaking of the record in 2000 were done with varying degrees of changes in aerodynamic advantage. Merckx knew this and was frustrated to see these riders who were not at all his talent level beating his record. The UCI finally conceded, and now there are 2 records recognized for the one hour. One is called the One Hour Performance, and this includes all the attempts which were done with the aid of aerodynamic advantage. The second record is the classic record which traces directly back to Merckx' record of 1972 on his Merckx' style bike. This record is called the One Hour Record, and it is the only one recognized by the cycling governing body, UCI. The first one to break this record is Chris Boardman in 2000.

The other records, which were eventually considered to be One Hour Performance records, are not actually the subject of this thread, but they do make good conversation. For example, what you said about that study done to convert all riders times into a Chris Boardman equivalent is interesting and has been addressed earlier on this thread. But it's not that easy to accurately convert all that information into an equivalent. In fact, a Spanish scientific study showed that Indurain's one hour performance indicated the highest wattage of all, more than 500 watts sustained.

My point is that these various studies are interesting from a debating standpoint, but the one who gets the record is the one who can ride according to UCI standards on the bike it specifies. Boardman has the record now until someone else beats him. They can convert all they want those other records. They are still comparing apples with oranges until the rider can actually do the one hour in the manner prescribed.

gntlmn

I'm sorry. Now that I think about this, it is only this member's recollection that Rominger might have been using EPO. He doesn't have a reference if you go back to I believe page 1 of this thread and look again. Indeed, EPO testing was not instituted until only recently.

But I am going to sidestep this whole issue because Rominger's ride was not done on the UCI standard bike. Since he didn't do that, then wondering what he might have done on the UCI bike will be a matter of debate. After all, computing wattage is not the only thing involved in getting the bike to the end of the hour in the farthest distance. If it were, then people would be measuring wattage on cross country skiers and comparing those with the One Hour Record wattages. Guess what? The elite CC skiers would win because they generate more wattage. What I am saying is that once you start changing positioning, you may also be changing the actual amount of wattage you can generate. If this is true, then you can't just convert wattages into distances in the One Hour Record, just as you can't convert wattages for CC skiers into distances in the One Hour Cycling Record. To truly compare apples with apples, you need to compare what they do on the UCI bike.