Any cyclist who looks serious will be asked one or more of the following three questions by a curious member of the public.
1) How much does your bike weigh?
2) What would a bike like that cost?
3)What is the top speed that you can go on it?.
Most keen sporting riders would be more than happy to answer particularly if they are riding a very lightweight, expensive and fast bike and just to see the jaw dropping reaction of the person making the enquries.
In my case, I am still riding a racing machine for which I was measured back in 1982. At that time, how long ago?, it cost £1000 which was wholly justified for the custom make by a frame builder at a local shop in Nottingham plus top of the range Campagnolo running gear, a good pair of wheels and the best components that my budget could stretch to. In today's money and on a like for like basis you are talking about three times that cost.
The frame was in 531 tubing, a light, strong material from Reynolds and the total completed weight was about, in old imperial terms, eighteen pounds or so. As for speed, well the best that I achieved over 10 miles and 25 miles in competition were times of under 22 minutes and just over the hour respectively. I do, however, like to recall being clocked by a motorist at 55 mph (he shouted it out to me as he passed) downhill in a bus lane in a Nottingham suburb breaking all sorts of local restrictions and being fully relieved of fear and common sense for once in my life.
Those markers of velocity have given me much comfort on those much more frequent occasions when I have averaged 10mph or less on an uphill gradient or into a howling gale force and rain spattered wind.
As I get older those moments of peak speed seem to get less and less, also tempered by a feeling of caution to not get injured in a fall or collision which could result in missing work and mortgage payments.
My old bike is still with me and I ride out on it as many times a week as physically and logistically possible given prolonged recovery periods from previous exertion and a busy working diary. In a moment of unusual energy last year I did jump on my mountain bike and tear off on a route out of my home city, along the by pass to the nearby commuter town and then back thorough the suburbs and all in under the hour.
I was very pleased and not a little surprised in my efforts at an average of 15mph which is pretty good on a large, heavy bike with chunky off road tyres and a narrow gear ratio intended for varied terrain rather than a tarmac dual carriageway.
Cyclists and 60 minutes as a unit of time do have a long, historic affinity for each other.
There can be an obsession with personal best times in an hour with the first recorded, timed effort being back in 1876 when a Penny Farthing rider achieved a distance of 16.5 miles.
There followed over the proceeding decades a steady stream of record attempts with the list of those taking on the challenge soon reading like a who's who of the greatest cyclists from the grand European Tours. In the 1950's Fausto Coppi and Jacques Anquetil both held the hour record followed in the 1970's by Ole Ritter and perhaps the most well known rider ever, Eddy Merckx who at altitide in the Mexico City Velodrome reached 31.784 miles. This, claimed by Merckx to have been his toughest exploit on the bike became, with hindsight, the definitive performance in terms of the actual specification of the machine as in succeeding years technology and science dominated. Francesco Moser claimed the hour record in 1984 .
In 1993 Graeme Obree and Chris Boardman took on each others records in a much publicised battle especially as Obree built his own bike including washing machine bearings in direct contrast to the money no object campaign of Boardman and his carbon fibre mount. Both were relegated by new record rides by Miguel Indurain and Tony Rominger in 1994 until Boardman recaptured it in the Millenium year. The governing body of world cycling sought to standardise the regulations for the hour attempt and reverted in the year 2000 to the Merckx standard bike and equipment of 1972 which meant that the high tech rides on the roll of honour were disallowed.
This did not deter those wanting to take on the hour either as a crowning glory for an illustrious road racing career or just to get their name in the record books. In the last twelve months up until today the record has passed between a number of riders with Alex Dowsett at the top of the leader board at 32.89 miles from multiple laps of the Manchester Velodrome. The UCI again changed the regulations in 2014 stating that all technologies could now be used and by doing so the record became unified.
As I write, the British rider Sir Bradley Wiggins is setting off on his hour attempt hoping to well exceed Dowsett's impressive distance. The countdown begins..............................................................................................................
Bradley Wiggins has just pushed the world hour record to 33 miles (54.526km).
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