nslckevin

My teammate Dan Bryant (45-59) and I (55-59) will be taking a crack at the world hour record in our age groups at Aquascalientes in the 2nd week of July. Exact date to be determined, but it will be between the 7th and 16th. We have the UCI official lined up, just need to get the velodrome date, Mexican federation and dope control lined up.

Our team has set up a facebook page if you're interested and I guess it will be live streamed on facebook. What could be more exciting than watching somebody ride in circles for an hour, right?

I guess I'm too much of a newbie to post the URL's so on Facebook it's @WorldHourRecord

Also, I've been writing about it at kevinmetcalfe dot dreamhosters dot com

Kevin

Divebrian

Why?? Are you sadistic?

Question for you about the format. When I see results of past record attempt, it shows the results as laps completed. Does it have to be one constant non stop effort or can you slow down, take water, roll a lap and then haul back up to speed again? Not that I could complete it competitively one way or the other, but I could do 2 28 minute sessions faster than one 56 minute session and have a further overall distance.

wphamilton

Good luck! One question, as a result of this testing https://guenergy.com/breaking-hour-part-1/

(which I found from the FaceBook page https://www.facebook.com/WorldHourRecord/)

do you have precisely measured and scheduled intake of carbohydrates (and other nutrients) for meals and training, or is it more a general guideline?

carleton

Good luck Kevin!

Why do we do any of this?



It's simple. Get on the bike. How far can you travel in 1 hour. No breaks. No water. No nothing. It's considered the most prestigious record on all of cycling.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hour_record

Here's one example:

nslckevin

The testing found that I am a "sugar burner". Normally at lower effort levels people burn more fat than sugar and then as it gets hard, more sugar than fat. For me, at the beginning I was burning more sugar (carbs) than fat. To try and change that we've modified my diet to add more protein and fat. They also want me to eat more small meals during the day than the traditional three big meals. I was already doing that, but my snacks have changed from bananas and granola bars to apples and nuts.

Kevin

CliffordK

One of the issues is the non-linear effect of wind resistance, plus really high watts that one has to hit.

So, say you ride at 30 MPH for 1 hour, vs riding 32 MPH for 58 minutes with a 2-minute break.

Ok, running some numbers in BikeCalculator:
Bike Calculator
160 lb rider
15 lb bike
Aerobars
6194 ft

30 MPH: 315 Watts
32 MPH: 376 Watts
28 MPH: 262 Watts

30 MPH at sea level, 400 Watts.

So, to take that 2 minute break, you'd have to pump out about 61 watts extra for the whole rest of the ride.
Likewise, varying between 28 MPH and 32 MPH, one saves 53 watts dropping to 28, but has to hit that extra 61 too go to 32.

Plus, that added acceleration phase might be tough.

The best one might do is to do some light pedalling for brief moments to minimize the speed one has to make up. Perhaps a camelback or other tube/bladder water system.

===================

For the OP, make sure you get in some high elevation training. Denver is at 5280 feet. Flagstaff at 7000 feet. Santa Fe at 7200, and Los Alamos at 7300 feet.

carleton

For the record to be recognized by the UCI (or even a local track, for that matter) the bike and rider must adhere to normal regulations. So no water on the track.

nslckevin

It's only an hour. Unless it's super hot, nobody NEEDS water to get through an hour. And in the case of this attempt, we will specifically pick the time to get a temperature that is warm enough to make the air less dense, but not too hot.

As for elevation training. I live in the real world with real responsibilities. Getting away for probably a week to do this will be about all I can reasonably fit in given other things I want to do this year. (Hill Climb nationals and track worlds). I've raced at altitude plenty of times over the last 30 years, including Pikes Peak last summer. I know what I'm getting into.

tobukog

Good luck Kevin!

I have no doubt that you have a pretty good shot at this and it will be great addition to your list of achievements. Of course so much will depend on atmospheric conditions on the day when you're talking about the hour record. I always wished I could TT like you! So what events are you doing for Masters Worlds?

taras0000

Best of luck! I could never do that to myself. Id rather do this

Divebrian

What is your goal? As in laps, maintained mph, etc. What is the necessary sustained mph to break the current record?

carleton

@nslckevin, if you don't mind the question, what kind of pacing, electronics, computers, etc... are you using? (I'm a numbers guy).

I worked with one Hour WR holder to make changes to my app for the attempts. My app was also spotted being used in the Olympics

tobukog

mph? what's your time on a flying 218.7 yards?

CliffordK

I've hunted for the UCI international hour records, and haven't found them. I think this page is just USA.
USA Cycling National Records - USA Cycling

30-34 47.764 km (29.68 mi) Curtis Gunn Carson, Calif., 11/20/04
35-39 45.641 km (28.36 mi) Jason Sprouse Trexlertown, Penn., 7/31/07
40-44 49.806 km (30.94 mi) Colby Pearce Colorado Springs, Colo., 9/30/13
45-49 49.361 km (30.67 mi) Kent Bostick Manchester, England, 1999
50-54 47.328 km (29.41 mi) John Mansell Colorado Springs, Colo., 5/8/16
55-59 45.019 km (27.97 mi) Keith Ketterer Carson, Calif., 1/29/12
60-64 44.773 km (27.82 mi) Clif Cassidy Colorado Springs, Colo., 5/8/16
65-69 43.137 km (26.80 mi) Barry Messmer Colorado Springs, Colo., 5/8/16
70-74 39.650 km (24.64 mi) Michael Williams Carson, Calif., 9/18/16
75-79 38.494 km (23.92 mi) Jim Turner Aguascalientes, MEX, 7/29/14

There does seem to be a slight hole in the 35-39 records.

I suppose one should make sure that the attempt qualifies for both USA records as well as international records.

Divebrian

Not quite sure what my flying 218.7 yard time has to do with the average mph for the hour record, but 11.5 seconds....which calculates out to 38.9 mph.

tobukog

I was only giving you a hard time because most riders with experience (or who can ride an 11.5) pretty much use metric --especially since most internationally recognized distances and records are metric. You can, of course, convert everything, but I find it a pain when every race report is reported in kmh for average or max speed.

it also simplifies relative pacing: 60 kmh = 1 minute kilo. 30kmh = 2 minute kilo. 40kmh = 1:30. 48kmh, 1:15 kilo.

I do admit to using psi since I find the gradation to be a little easier to remember.

nslckevin

The WR in my age group (55-59) is 47.773 km. The national record (was the WR until last March) is 45.019km. I've gone 46.2 at Hellyer, outdoors, sea level, windy day.

I believe I can do 50km in Aguascalientes based on my two test hours at Hellyer and comparing atmospheric conditions between Hellyer and Aguascalientes.

nslckevin

For my two tests at Hellyer I've used Rob Van Houweling's timing system and weather station. He has a laptop with a timing program connected to a timing strip. You input your goal and your start differential and it calculates your laps splits. Every time you cross the strip your lap split shows up on a 17" laptop screen. It's great. It also shows in very small numbers your distance covered and how far ahead or behind your schedule you are. Your helper can read that information and pass it on as necessary.

You can see the laptop here: New US Hour Record (Sort of, not really?) | On Bicycles

I'm using a Garmin 520 mounted behind my seat post so I can't see it.

On my most recent test I had some friends there who wrote on a white board my kph so far every 5 minutes. It helps me to have an idea how long I've got left. I'm not positive, but I believe in a real attempt the officials will have a visible clock and lap counter which will be helpful. Also for 50km the splits are kind of easy. 50 laps every 15 minutes.

The weather station is nice because you can get the air density and compare it to the data Rob has from Aguascaliente.

The spreadsheet we used to model how I might do in Aguascaliente based on my Hellyer test last December is here: So, Can I Really Break the Record? | On Bicycles

All that said, I won't really know for sure until I get there and do a 10-15 effort at race pace to see where that really falls.

nslckevin

So we're back from Aguascalientes. We had a total of 11 athlete's going for records and a total of 16 records were set.

Andi Smith - US women's 50-54 hour and world 50+ TP
Molly Van Houweling - World 40-44 hour (47.061km) also WR 2km (2:24.753) and 1km (1:14.772)
Dean Phillips - World 40-44 3km. 3:22
Lenita Anthony - World 50+ TP and 500m
Scott Hennesy - World 70-74 hour. Around 43 km. I believe it put close to 3km into the old record.
Mary Ellen Allen - World 50+ TP (maybe an individual event also)

Colby Pierce just barely missed the 45-49 1km and 3km records.

As it turns out the 50km I thought I could surely do was a bit much. Once there testing pointed me towards 49.5 in a 52x14. I was on track for 35 minutes and faded towards the end to 49.121km beating the old 55-59 mark by a bit over 1.3km. The next day I broke the 2km record of 2:19.3 with a 2:18.052. Along the way I picked up the national 1km record for my age group because it is currently open. I opened with a 1:12 kilo in my 2km. That's got to be real low hanging fruit for a "real" 55 year old kilo guy.

Lots of details including a facebook live recording of my and Dan's hour here: https://www.facebook.com/worldhourrecord and here: On Bicycles | I could have been a pro except I wasn't good enough? (Including the power file (288 watts, 106 rpm) on my site.) Molly's hour was streamed live on youtube and you can find it under the youtube account of "wheelsout".

Divebrian

Congrats, that's awesome....on my bucket list is to have my name attached to one record and you have multiples.You have mucho respect from me....

carleton

That's awesome, man! Congratulations!!





BTW, I wonder who made that app that he's using to track and show each of Van Houweling's splits

nslckevin

Rob has a great setup for this. He has a timing strip to plugs into a USB port of a windows laptop. There is a timing program that reads the com port for the timing signals and it interfaces with an excel spreadsheet. You input your start differential and goal and the spreadsheet calculates your splits. Then as you click off the laps it gets your split and progress. Part of the sheet is that screen you are seeing. You can't see it on the picture, but at the bottom of the screen it shows laps completed, average speed and time ahead or behind schedule. For my test runs at Hellyer we put the laptop on a chair and I could just look at the laptop screen each lap.

https://kevinmetcalfe.dreamhosters.co.../04/timing.jpg

The UCI doesn't allow that though. So Rob uses some other program to mirror that data to his iPad via bluetooth I think. BTW, he got a powerful gaming machine for this as it can be pretty hot in the velodrome and without those fans it might shut down. During Dan's hour he was using a Mac for the livestream. The computer shut down towards the end as it got too hot due to the temp up in the stands and working hard to process the video. For my hour he rigged up some kind of cooling system with fans and ice.

Here is the resulting spreadsheet from my ride.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/iiidcb4cc9...lits.xlsx?dl=0

BTW, the program is smart enough when set up properly to account for missing the timing strip. If your schedule calls for 18 second laps and you go 36 or so seconds between timing impulses it will assume that you missed the strip and will show a split that reflects that.

Rob is pretty awesome when it comes to this stuff.

Kevin

carleton

I made the iPad app

I worked with Robert to make a version especially for this record attempt.

tobukog

Congratulations Kevin! Sounds like a walk in the park -- start with a nice easy 1:12 kilo and then ride for an hour....

Even as a senior rider I used to hate it if you or Larry got any real estate -- we often wouldn't see you until after the race.

Gen

nslckevin

Then I have to thank you because it made life so much easier for me that trying to hear somebody calling splits!

Thanks!

Kevin