For me, the most interesting part about the Carmichael interview on the home page was the little blurb about the possible hour record attempt by Lance. Lance was the best time trialist in the world from 1999-2005, yet he has no World TT championships and no Olympic gold’s to show for it (mostly because he skipped these events). I was very disappointed when he decided not to compete in the 2004 Olympics. In 2005, there was some talk about an attempt at the hour record. Trek had a standard hour frame ready to go, just for him - yet for whatever reason the attempt never happened.
Please Lance, give it a go - the hour record deserves to be held by someone with your palmarès!
Maybe he knows he can’t beat the record under the same conditions it was set.
Are there not two records now - The Open record when you can use any UCI legal gear and be as aero as you want and the Standard Record where you must use a double diamond frame, drop bars and “regular” gear - whatever that means.
This would be amazing - I would love to see him set a new mark, and it’s hard to believe he isn’t capable. No offense to Ondrej Sosenka, but you’re right that the hour record deserves someone like Lance.
Maybe he knows he can’t beat the record under the same conditions it was set.
Are there not now records now - The Open record wheh you can use any UCI legal gear and be as aero as you want and the Standard Record where you must use a double diamond frame drop bars and “regular” gear - whatever that means.
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Maybe he knows he can’t beat the record under the same conditions it was set.
It doesn’t matter - Lance would select the exact conditions for the attempt. He can choose to go for in indoors or outside, at altitude or sea level. The only thing that matters here is that he must ride a ‘standard’ frame with ‘standard’ wheels. The weight of the frame and/or wheels also does not matter, in fact, the current record holder selected a very heavy rear wheel to act as a fly-wheel.
This would be amazing - I would love to see him set a new mark, and it’s hard to believe he isn’t capable. No offense to Ondrej Sosenka, but you’re right that the hour record deserves someone like Lance.
It makes sense actually that the hour record wouldn’t be held by a typical pro cyclist, since the optimum physique and training for it is entirely different. You would want to be bigger, much bigger!
I’m suggesting that perhaps Lance has a moral compass, and doesn’t mind doing certain things when his competitors are all doing the same
but wouldn’t want to break a record set by a guy who wasn’t.
this is total out of my ass speculation
i admit =)
Maybe he knows he can’t beat the record under the same conditions it was set.
It doesn’t matter - Lance would select the exact conditions for the attempt. He can choose to go for in indoors or outside, at altitude or sea level. The only thing that matters here is that he must ride a ‘standard’ frame with ‘standard’ wheels. The weight of the frame and/or wheels also does not matter, in fact, the current record holder selected a very heavy rear wheel to act as a fly-wheel.
This would be amazing - I would love to see him set a new mark, and it’s hard to believe he isn’t capable. No offense to Ondrej Sosenka, but you’re right that the hour record deserves someone like Lance.
It makes sense actually that the hour record wouldn’t be held by a typical pro cyclist, since the optimum physique and training for it is entirely different. You would want to be bigger, much bigger!
I’m not so sure about that. Logically the hour record would be held by one of the world’s best time triallists, say a guy who is capable of winning the worlds or olympic TT. This is usually one of the larger pro cyclists - historically an Indurain or Rominger, currently maybe a Cancellara or Armstrong. Chris Boardman was only 5’9" and 152lbs, and he seemed to be okay!
There are a number of people who think that Armstrong years ago looked at the record, determined his drag numbers, and concluded that he just didn’t have the requisite power to break the record. That isn’t likely to have changed.
There are a number of people who think that Armstrong years ago looked at the record, determined his drag numbers, and concluded that he just didn’t have the requisite power to break the record. That isn’t likely to have changed.
Really. I’m betting he can’t put out the power numbers he could back then just like none of the other top cyclists today seem to be able to put out the numbers riders were capable of doing just a few years ago.
To quote from the “A question for the trackies” thread.
"For an hour attempt, you really need to consider the athlete more than anything else. Despite the fact that Armstrong was the best time trialist of his time, he may not be able to produce the power required to do 49.71kph in a drop bar position with all the aerodynamic restrictions on frame, fork, wheels etc imposed on the record. If he has an SRM, it’d be quite easy to see if the speed required 500w, 400w, or whatever. If Armstrong can only sustain 400w for an hour, and the record demands 510w, there could be an issue there.
Michael Hutchinson wrote some interesting stuff in the book about his attempt, about tinkering with the position etc in order to find some way to get the power demands down to a level he could actually sustain."
It’s worth noting that when Indurain had a crack at the record, there were pundits suggesting that he could do 57km. He only got 54.