Would love to see how fast people can go. Some of us had very interesting discussion last fall with Chris Boardman about his hour records and the various refinements in position and equipment during his time, taking it from 54 kph (below) to 56.375 kph (superman). According to Chris, the Corima was a parachute too!!!
Aside from the bikes, what innovative positions can riders come up with on non recumbant bikes to get things closer to 60? Seems like the one who dramatically toyed with position changes was Obree.
Should be interesting to see what can happen with Cancellara potentially on deck! Will he use the superman to take it past 56.375 ?
Anyway, the first step is to re instate the 56.375 as a record!!!
Excellent! Hope Spartacus goes nuts with Superman and puts up a crazy number.
I am not sure if Spartacus on superman can beat Boardman. We’ll have to see where this goes. Spartacus has the advantage of more aero bikes (maybe)! The bar should be back to 56.375 pretty soon (at least I hope). Now let the at athletes and engineers team up to take that number down. It seemed silly to make the record “an athlete’s record” when it had been a strong collaboration between athletes and engineers ever since Moser went 51.151 in Mexico City. Also will be interesting to see if the UCI allows performances at altitude: Colarado Springs, Mexico City, or Bogota although the latter might be too high for the altitude vs oxygen trade off.
While I’m extremely excited to see some action surrounding the hour record rules, we do still have to be careful to not let it fall into the hands of recumbents. How far will athletes take it? If using a lounge-chair with pedals that sits 2" off the ground, yes, one could probably beat the record without world-class fitness. How can the UCI stop that from happening while still allowing for the natural progression of technology? Obree was way out there and had some excellent ideas that he proved to be effective. The only reason Boardman’s “absolute record” stands is because of the Superman position Obree came up with.
If only considering efforts with somewhat standard aerobars, Rominger’s is the most impressive. Sure, he was jacked up on all kinds of stuff, but 55.25K is insane!! And on a steel-framed Colnago too.
I love to see the advancement in technology but at the same time, don’t want it to go beyond what standard road cycling is. Definitely not saying that I think the 1970’s track bike standard should stay. That’s just not exciting to the public.
At the end of the day, cycling is unique in that the passenger is also the engine. It represents harmony between the mechanical and organic, working together in unison for a common goal. That’s what the hour record should be about.
Cookson specifically said that they would not allow the superman position. Whether FC. Can do it on a pursuit bike with aero wheels and bars will be the question, it seems.
The most likely outcome for the hour would surely be just to change the philosophy to use current UCI pursuit bike equipment and position rules?
Then all the changes they make to TT/pursuit rules just follow through.
I’d guess on those being a relaxation of the 3:1 aspect ratio rule and a much less complex system on how that interacts with other parts of the bike, so that there is some more freedom in design, a bit of aero to gain, but no huge changes in either.
Similarly some move to proportionality in the position rules, while letting everything be measured on the bike alone and still keeping the same basic idea of position.
Altitude schmaltitude, but not sure if they will put any restrictions in place.
The most likely outcome for the hour would surely be just to change the philosophy to use current UCI pursuit bike equipment and position rules?
Then all the changes they make to TT/pursuit rules just follow through.
I’d guess on those being a relaxation of the 3:1 aspect ratio rule and a much less complex system on how that interacts with other parts of the bike, so that there is some more freedom in design, a bit of aero to gain, but no huge changes in either.
Similarly some move to proportionality in the position rules, while letting everything be measured on the bike alone and still keeping the same basic idea of position.
Altitude schmaltitude, but not sure if they will put any restrictions in place.
Don’t see 60 coming from those…
Just use current pursuit rules, which is what Obree and Boardman used. Simple.
As of 1 January this year, UCI regs no longer require any rider measurement for morphology exemptions, all measurements for conformity with the regulations are of the bike only.
Obree’s egg position had his hands resting very close to his chest. I wonder what would happen if you moved the hands either closer to the neck or closer to the stomach.
While I think Cancellara at some point in his career would have had a great shot at breaking the record, I think since making that total focus on the classics the last few years seems to have lowered his top speed a bit. I haven’t compared side by side results but I believe he got beaten by Tony Martin quite a lot last year. Would love to see Martin take a shot at it, with his current age, before waiting too long…
The announcement I read stated that they would align the rules with those of the pursuit.
So, still lots of rules controlling the bike and rider’s position.
I can assure your his top steep would not be affected by training for the classics.
While I think Cancellara at some point in his career would have had a great shot at breaking the record, I think since making that total focus on the classics the last few years seems to have lowered his top speed a bit. I haven’t compared side by side results but I believe he got beaten by Tony Martin quite a lot last year. Would love to see Martin take a shot at it, with his current age, before waiting too long…
Just use current pursuit rules, which is what Obree and Boardman used. Simple.
Yup, I’d see that as their phase 1 - take the hour record back inside the same current equipment rules as the other track events and get some consistency while not scaring off hour record attempts with a different fork off into position/training/tech development.
Phase 2, I think the signs are there that there will be some movement of the base equipment rules in agreement with industry. Presumably with the intention of making it easier to design things within the rules that will still allow enough innovation to sell, while not going too wild in the wider sense.
As of 1 January this year, UCI regs no longer require any rider measurement for morphology exemptions, all measurements for conformity with the regulations are of the bike only.
Yup, they basically kept the existing position rules, but made a move towards something that was much easier to measure on the day. There are fairly easy options to allow something like angular limitations (rather than dimensional limitations that do not scale well with a wide range of rider heights) and still keep it to simple bike measurements on a jig. Not so sure if they will go that way, but I’d assume they’ll certainly take the opportunity to have a think about it.
It still seems like getting as close to a skeleton position as possible has a benefit, as well as limiting the vertical motion of the legs. I wonder if extremely elliptical rings would have a aerodynamic benefit by making the pedal stroke more like a stair climbing motion and cut down on drag without compromising power output too much.
How about an unlimited category that allows a hand cycle action as well. Basically how far can a human power of any design go in 1 hour.
A 3rd interesting category would be a self contained hybrid that allows stored energy. Winner is the average of the maximum speed achieved for 10 seconds in each direction over a runs that must occur within a 1 hour period. Allow regenerative braking. No limit on size or weight.
A 3rd interesting category would be a self contained hybrid that allows stored energy. Winner is the average of the maximum speed achieved for 10 seconds in each direction over a runs that must occur within a 1 hour period.
