July, summer, the Tour de France… What else could it be other than cycling for this month!
There are quite a few cycling events at the Olympics, but cycling is a strange sport, full of tactics and teamwork. It’s hard to ride, for example, a stage of the Tour de France or the Olympic Road Race and match the speed achieved by a group of professional cyclists. Mainly because they’re super fit and have phenomenally strong legs and high power output, but also because travelling in a large group of cyclists is actually a lot less effort than doing it on your own.
There are track events which are a single endeavour against the clock, but the Olympic track events require a velodrome track (!), and also an incredibly expensive bike which you wouldn’t ride down to the shops on.
The Cycling Time Trial, or ‘The Race of Truth’ as it often gets called, is the most straightforward Olympic cycling event. The course is pretty flat – yes, there were some hills in the London course, but nobody had to get off and push! The distance for the men’s course was 44km and the winning time, from Bradley Wiggins was 50mins and 40secs which meant that he averaged 52km/hr for nearly an hour, on the road.
Which brings me to one of the most prestigious cycling events which is not in the Olympics. The hour record. I’m mentioning this for a couple of reasons. The main one is that the pure hour record has to be done on a traditional bike. No aero wheels, not even 3 spoke carbon wheels; no time trial bars; no odd shaped frames; not even special helmets. Technology hasn’t interfered with this record and it has barely changed since the incredible ride by Eddy Merckx in 1972 (who – take note! – in a fit of enthusiasm set off too fast and wasted energy on the first few laps before settling down!). The second reason that I mention it is… Even though this record is attempted in a velodrome, on a smooth banked track, the record is way slower (well, shorter, as you ride as far as you can for the set hour) that the road race time. The current official hour record is 49.7km in the hour, but it was set by a rider who has been discredited in other rides by drug use. Chris Boardman, back in 1984 (?) set a high speed on a full on carbon aerodynamic bike, but also did the challenge on a regular bike to prove that he could! He trained for years just for the hour record and managed to get 10 meters further than Merckx! The gold standard has to be Merckx. On a steel frame with no special preparation, in the latter days of his career, he managed 49.43km in the hour.
It’s fair to say that Wiggins rode the time trial so that he hit the finish exhausted, and couldn’t have done another 10 minutes at the same speed, but it’s also fair to say that he could have managed to break 50km within an hour. With special gear, on a road, with climbs and some tight bends, it is still faster than on the track on a traditional bike. Aerodynamics make a massive difference.
So; here’s the challenge. On a road bike, with thin tyres, but no time-trial bars…. You have 50 minutes and 40 seconds to cycle 22km. An average of 26km/hr. Women, you have 37 minutes and 35 seconds to cycle 14.5km. An average of 23.2km/hr.
If you have a hybrid bike, mountain bike, children’s tricycle… Then you have an hour exactly to do more than 24.7km. Women, in the same time, you’re aiming for a distance of 23km.
If you have a penny farthing, then the hour record was first set in 1876 by Frank Dodds at Cambridge University with a distance of 26.5km. If you can get half as good as that on a penny farthing, then I’m seriously impressed!
Pick somewhere flat, somewhere quiet, and somewhere without too many junctions! Remember, near the end you’ll be struggling to concentrate, so steer clear of busy roads!
Good luck Team Half as Good!
The 'Half as Good' Olympic Decathlon 