The Elasticity of Time: The Hour

Inhaling a wasp on the Alpenrose Velodrome.
Inhaling a wasp aboard a borrowed Veloforma on the Alpenrose Velodrome.

The Theory of Special Relativity states that time for a moving object passes more quickly than for a stationary object. Einstein, in deriving this theory, demonstrated great insight and creative power for which he is considered perhaps the greatest mind in human history. If he had owned a set of rollers, however, he’d be considered a common idiot for recognizing what all Cyclists inherently know: that a two-minute interval on a trainer is interminably longer than the same amount of time on the open road. Similarly, an Hour on the track is a different animal altogether when compared to an hour’s training ride.

@scaler911, @G’rilla, and I met @VeloformaMark (founder, owner, chief product designer and engineer for Veloforma) at the Alpenrose Track circa 2:00pm on Saturday, June 15 to celebrate Festum Prophetae in the best way we know how: to ride The Hour. After introductions, Mark disappeared to retrieve the 2013 Velofroma Pista Pro he was loaning me while I slipped into my Hunchback Disguise V-Kit. Mark reappeared with one of the most stunning track mocheene’s I’ve laid eyes on – and I’ve seen at least four.

As we busied about trying to get my position right, Mark explained the engineering tolerances in seatpost extension and described how far we can go beyond the “max extension” mark (don’t try this at home, people, Mark is an expert). Impressive as they are, current engineering principles don’t accomodate for 1cm of air beyond the end of the seat post in order to get enough height. Modern engineering is similarly limiting when it comes to stem extension and saddle setback. The net result of these limitations was a saddle height three centimeters not high enough, a reach four centimeters not reachy enough, and a saddle set back an undisclosed amount not set back enough.

No sweat, I’ll just V it.

I hopped on and embarked on my first two practice laps. While my track experience is limited, I’ve ridden enough tracks around the world to know my way around a banking. Alpenrose is a short, steep, bumpy concrete track. So steep, in fact, that after my first two laps, I got off and had to swallow my heart down out of my throat. For a moment, I considered abandoning the ride on account of nothing more than how terrifying the banking is – even in the lowly Sprinter’s lane. With crashing speed for the corners in the lane sitting at around 25-30 kmph, it was more than enough to discourage an easy warmup lap.

As we fiddled with my gear length, I gradually became more comfortable with the track and before long I stopped soiling my bibs every time I finished a lap. We settled on a 91 inch gear with a symbolic 14T rear cog.

As the gun went off, I settled into 24 second laps, right on schedule. Then it hit me; with the saddle too low, too far forward, and the bars a bit too close, I couldn’t really get any power into the bike to be able to maintain my speed. I struggled with my mind, my body, and my bike for what seemed like a lifetime as I tried to maintain momentum. I didn’t know if I was 5 minutes into the effort, or 15. All I heard was my split for each lap: 24.3 – 24.5 – 25.4 – 23.3 – 25.6…I soon realized that while I was advised by the various track riders in attendance to ride the waterline – the outside of the Sprinters Lane on the straights (the ride line) and cut in to the inside of the Sprinters Lane on the corners (the black line), how well I did this meant I would gain or lose a second per lap.

I contemplated stopping about every 25 seconds for the first quarter hour, not knowing how long I’d been at it. When I heard Mark holler out that I’d passed fifteen minutes, it was immediately obvious that This Could Be Done – no sweat. This was going to be nothing compared to bonking on Haleakala at the halfway point. The next 30 minutes passed as I focussed on my line; the only thing I was aware of was my constantly slowing pace and my inability to do much about it. I wasn’t particularly tired, and wasn’t hurting aside from my aching back on account of the short position. After a few wobbly attempts, I learned how to stand up on a fixed gear in order to get some speed back into the thing. Eventually, I got into a routine of accelerating to tempo on the home stretch, and then riding out the gear as it slowed down on the remainder of the track.

Throughout, my track inexperience showed itself most plainly whenever I’d have a little lapse of concentration or a muscular twitch; the slightest mistake would send me up the banking in a disheartening speed-sapping uphill climb or down toward the Cote d’Azure and a terrifying appointment with the pavement on the apron.

For 55 minutes, this pattern developed and while my body started to show signs of the effort – like my right ass cheek burning from the force of turning left for an hour – it didn’t feel particularly long. Then came the last five minutes.

Out of the saddle to sprint, do what I can not to crash through the first two turns, then sprint on the back stretch. Repeat. Repeat. Repeat. A lifetime later, it was four minutes to go.

Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn.

Three minutes.

Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn.

Two minutes.

Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn.

One minute.

Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint. Turn. Sprint.

Ten more seconds.

Sprint some more. I couldn’t hear and had no idea how far I could go in 10 seconds. So I sprinted some more until I couldn’t sprint anymore and assumed I’d gone at least 10 more seconds, keeping in mind the slower clock of the stationary timers in @Scaler911 and @VeloformaMark’s hands.

Of the Hour I spent on the bike, the first 15 minutes were psychologically the hardest, and seemed interminable. When it came to the last V minutes, they seemed as long as the entire 55 minutes that came before it. Eistein should have been a Cyclist.

I thought the Hour would be a one-time affair, that I’d never try it again. I like to be proven wrong at least once a day, otherwise I’m not trying hard enough. @VeloformaMark is going to build me a custom seat post and stem to get my position perfect, and I’ll be back next Festum Prophetae to try again. In the end, I rode 139.25 laps at an unofficial distance of 37,317m. Next year I’ll come out a few days early, get the position dialed in, do a few good training blocks on the track prior, and have official timing equipment so the lads can heckle rather than be bothered with tapping the lap counter on their phones. I might even shoot for 42km or 43km. Just to be proven wrong again.

Special thanks to the community for voting on my time like you did; it’s a nice feeling disappointing a group rather than just myself for a change. Thanks to @VeloformaMark for loaning me a bike for the effort, for hanging out and helping with the timing, and for proactively starting to design gear for next year’s ride. Thanks to @Scaler911 and @G’rilla for supporting and helping in the recovery session afterwards – and thanks to @MrsScaler911 for her hospitality. Finally, thanks to PeepCode for loaning camera equipment, live streaming, and doing the editing of the video.

[dmalbum path=”/velominati.com/content/Photo Galleries/[email protected]/FPH2013/”/]

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90 Replies to “The Elasticity of Time: The Hour”

  1. @ChrisO

    What about helmet Frank ?

    Allegedly an aero helmet saves something like 50 watts, which is a hell of a lot, given that you’re probable sitting on 300 watts for the hour.

    Shame you didn’t ride the Powertap wheel – it would have given you some really good information for your next attempt.

    Not forgetting the shoes

  2. @nathan_woodstock

    @frank yep thats it, think of it ike this, we exist in four dimentions x, y, z and time. If we are stationary then we are moving along the time axis at the speed of light. Any velosity we take, in any combination of the other dimentions redueces the our speed on the time axies. So we go slower though time. Over all velosity is conserved. ( this explaneation is usfull, but done not take in to acount mass and therefore any other complecations like the higgs field)
    They got two atomic clocks synced them and put one in a plane. The plane went around the world and when they compered the two clock later on the ground, the one on the plane was running slow.

    So yes you did spent less than an hour on your bike (in your frame of refrence) doing the HOUR.

    so therefore he could haveDonne a few more metres and got 37.5 I knew I was right! If he had timed it from his POV

  3. Was I the only one confused by the use of kmph?

    Not being terribly well travelled, I can’t comment on the metric abbreviations for speed in other metric countries, but in my part of the world speed is related in kph.  Only on my occasional ventures south of the 49th do I see the abbreviation of mph. The hybridization of kmph just messes with my head, as if the acronym itself can’t decide if it’s Rule #24 compliant.

  4. @frank

    @wiscot

    Frank, given how meticulous you are in your bikes and set up, I’m really surprised you went for it on a bike so obviously out of whack to your normal position. I’m sure it felt weird, but did you suffer and lingering after effects in your knees, quads?

    Honestly, we didn’t discover the problems with the position until we were setting it up an hour or so before the ride. It hardly seemed viable, at that point, to bail out on the program…what with all the hubbub of having a VSP and live streaming going on. But that’s also part of why I didn’t force things – I really didn’t want to blow my knees, which I have a history with (I spent 12 weeks in a wheelchair when I was 18 after knee surgery).

    My knees are in rough shape – nothing serious – just did a light spin yesterday and I’ll be taking the rest of the week off to let things get back to normal. My back hurt like a motherfucker during the ride, but is fine now.

    Yeah, given how many folks were rooting for you, to bail at the last minute because of bike issues would have been a big let-down. I’m sure Round 2 will see a perfectly dialled-in bike, much more confidence (I can’t imagine starting something like an hour attempt on a bike that’s not just a few mm’s off, but centimeteres off) that has to fuck up the psyche right there.

    I hear you on the back issues. I once rode a 50 mile (80kms) on my new TT bike, funny bars etc. Rocked a good time 2:00:24, but could barely straighten up and walk afterwards..

    Any thoughts on the rematch of Frank versus 60 minutes? This fall? Next year?

  5. @TheVid

    Was I the only one confused by the use of kmph?

    Not being terribly well travelled, I can’t comment on the metric abbreviations for speed in other metric countries, but in my part of the world speed is related in kph. Only on my occasional ventures south of the 49th do I see the abbreviation of mph. The hybridization of kmph just messes with my head, as if the acronym itself can’t decide if it’s Rule #24 compliant.

    Km per Hour is most accurately expressed as kmph, if it is less common than the more ambiguous kph.

    @wiscot

    @frank

    @wiscot

    Frank, given how meticulous you are in your bikes and set up, I’m really surprised you went for it on a bike so obviously out of whack to your normal position. I’m sure it felt weird, but did you suffer and lingering after effects in your knees, quads?

    Honestly, we didn’t discover the problems with the position until we were setting it up an hour or so before the ride. It hardly seemed viable, at that point, to bail out on the program…what with all the hubbub of having a VSP and live streaming going on. But that’s also part of why I didn’t force things – I really didn’t want to blow my knees, which I have a history with (I spent 12 weeks in a wheelchair when I was 18 after knee surgery).

    My knees are in rough shape – nothing serious – just did a light spin yesterday and I’ll be taking the rest of the week off to let things get back to normal. My back hurt like a motherfucker during the ride, but is fine now.

    Yeah, given how many folks were rooting for you, to bail at the last minute because of bike issues would have been a big let-down. I’m sure Round 2 will see a perfectly dialled-in bike, much more confidence (I can’t imagine starting something like an hour attempt on a bike that’s not just a few mm’s off, but centimeteres off) that has to fuck up the psyche right there.

    I hear you on the back issues. I once rode a 50 mile (80kms) on my new TT bike, funny bars etc. Rocked a good time 2:00:24, but could barely straighten up and walk afterwards..

    Any thoughts on the rematch of Frank versus 60 minutes? This fall? Next year?

    For sure next year. If @VeloformaMark gets seatpin/stem made earlier, I might do a rematch less publicly to see how I fair.

    But I will be doing an Hour every Festum for the foreseeable future. Can’t think of a better way to celebrate.

  6. @frank

    @TheVid

    Was I the only one confused by the use of kmph?

    Not being terribly well travelled, I can’t comment on the metric abbreviations for speed in other metric countries, but in my part of the world speed is related in kph. Only on my occasional ventures south of the 49th do I see the abbreviation of mph. The hybridization of kmph just messes with my head, as if the acronym itself can’t decide if it’s Rule #24 compliant.

    Km per Hour is most accurately expressed as kmph, if it is less common than the more ambiguous kph.

    Not accurately. The recommended symbol according to IEEE is km/h.

    p in SI notation stands for pico, so kmph is just as wrong as kph.

  7. This seems apropos, relative to some of the interesting time/space comments:

    “Time is to clock as mind us to brain. The clock or watch somehow contains the time. And yet time refuses to be bottled up like a genie stuffed in a lamp. Whether it flows as sand or turns on wheels within wheels, time escapes irretrievably, while we watch …The most we can hope a watch to do is mark that progress. And since time sets its own tempo, like a heartbeat or an ebb tide, timepieces don’t really keep time. They just keep up with it, if they’re able.”

    Dava Sobel, Longitude

  8. @frank

    @minion

    @scaler911

    @minion

    Nice! Dunno if a custom seatpost will fix your position though, more like a custom top tube…

    “That wasn’t so bad”. ?!?

    The owner of Veloforma said that they have the largest ava plastic track bike on the market right now at 59cm. At least I think I recall him saying that.

    Yeah, their geo page for the bike has the TT at 57.4cm, which would work well if Fa-fa-fa-fa-Fhronk put pursuit bars on there. Dolan and Marvel have XL sizes with 59 and 60cm top tubes respectively, based on a quick google search. Look will make him whatever the hell he wants, for about 15 grand.

    Depending on ht and st angle, I need about 59-60cm on the top tube. And we refer to a “market” as products or consumers that are available to us. Which means Dolan and Marvel are not in the market for the US.

    Fuck me you’ve never been more wrong. Serenity’s address is 7918 Harwood Ave, Wauwatosa, WI 53213, United States and there are tons of yanks riding Dolans. There’s this thing, it’s called the internet, and you can like, buy stuff with it and junk. If you can get a Dolan in NZ from the UK you can get one in the states.

  9. The ST and HT angles are the same for all 3 bikes BTW,I think there’s a 1/4 degree difference between the Serenity and Dolan. Technically the Dolan is the biggest bike.

  10. @frank Strong work on both the track and the book.  I love living vicariously through u whether it be foothills in Hawaii, gravel roads in Flanders, etc.  With all these activities you seem however to be neglecting the bullshit-blockers on the site as Mr. scatter pants et al have started to pop up with more frequency.  Is this an indication of the site’s increasing popularity?  Keep up the good work and do some of that modem-scrotum stuff to filter out the trolls.

  11. @frank

    @the pressure I’ve been trying to block @minion for years but he’s a persistent little twat. I’ll double my efforts.

    Yeah you’d need 2 conditions to ban me. I’d need to be wrong, and you’d need to have no fucken sense of humour. One of those things is impossible and the other unlikely. Imagine what Marcus’d be like round here without my guiding hand of restraint.

    @the pressure

    If you’re talking about me, say so. Or explain how the point I’m making is incorrect.

  12. @minion

    @frank

    @minion

    @scaler911

    @minion

    Nice! Dunno if a custom seatpost will fix your position though, more like a custom top tube…

    “That wasn’t so bad”. ?!?

    The owner of Veloforma said that they have the largest ava plastic track bike on the market right now at 59cm. At least I think I recall him saying that.

    Yeah, their geo page for the bike has the TT at 57.4cm, which would work well if Fa-fa-fa-fa-Fhronk put pursuit bars on there. Dolan and Marvel have XL sizes with 59 and 60cm top tubes respectively, based on a quick google search. Look will make him whatever the hell he wants, for about 15 grand.

    Depending on ht and st angle, I need about 59-60cm on the top tube. And we refer to a “market” as products or consumers that are available to us. Which means Dolan and Marvel are not in the market for the US.

    Fuck me you’ve never been more wrong. Serenity’s address is 7918 Harwood Ave, Wauwatosa, WI 53213, United States and there are tons of yanks riding Dolans. There’s this thing, it’s called the internet, and you can like, buy stuff with it and junk. If you can get a Dolan in NZ from the UK you can get one in the states.

    Oh, and your efforts to find a frame that fits is likely to be even more trouble based on the differences in geo between road and track frames.  My recent purchase of a 52cm top tube track frame to match my 52 cm TT road frame puts me on a 14cm stem rather than a 12cm that’s on the road bike.  This puts me beyond the UCI mandate for handlebar reach to be less than 5cm forward of the front axle.

    In order for you to get the reach you need, you’d likely be on a stupid long stem.

    By extrapolation (probably totally wrong, but hey this is the interwebs) most any hour record you produced would have commisares springing out of the bushes with plumb bobs and a measuring tape.

  13. @mouse Yep. I ride 56 tt on my road bike and 110mm stem, and I ride a 57 tt track bike with 120mm stem. 60cm is the biggest carbon track bike I know of, but with few people buying track bikes to begin with, and fewer buying ones that big, it’s no surprise that they’re pretty rare. That and custom frames can be had for similar pricing to some of the higher end stuff, admittedly in al or steel but still very good. It’s a shame Tiemeyer has shut up shop, that’s for sure.

  14. Kinda. The track’s a complete mess, it’s badly designed and constructed, The council has allocated 650,000 to fix it, and it’s supposed to be repaired by December. If they fix it properly it’ll be heaps better, but if not at least it’ll be open again.

  15. @minion Perhaps adding a track event to a Canberra Cogal would get the punters out. December/January would give enough warning for people to make plans. Hmmm….

  16. Kudos on the effort, Le Frank.  I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to see it; I was temporarily distracted by a mountain.  I have been actively disinterested in The Hour for quite some time now, but now that you have posted video of yourself on a track that lies within striking distance of my home and set a laudable but also potentially attainable mark on said track, I can feel my inner V stirring.  You have planted a seed that cannot be unplanted.  You bastard.

    Jim gave me a look at the book in Astoria recently.  Chapeau.

  17. @Joshua

    Kudos on the effort, Le Frank. I’m sorry I couldn’t be there to see it; I was temporarily distracted by a mountain. I have been actively disinterested in The Hour for quite some time now, but now that you have posted video of yourself on a track that lies within striking distance of my home and set a laudable but also potentially attainable mark on said track, I can feel my inner V stirring. You have planted a seed that cannot be unplanted. You bastard.

    Jim gave me a look at the book in Astoria recently. Chapeau.

    Is this the Joshua I think it is?

  18. @scaler911 Yes, this is @Joshua, Velominatus Emeritus. Fucking stud. Fucking bastard for not showing.

    He is all things and no things simultaneously. Both an enigma, and an open book.

    @Joshua

    Seriously, you could have at least showed up for the recovery session, a skill I know you have.

    And I quote, as documented in my “Notes” app in my iPhone – don’t tell me you couldn’t have been a contributing part to this deep conversation.

    Frank, to G’rilla (slurred, no doubt): You and your short socks will have to wait.

    G’rilla: My socks say “D” for “Dougast” or whatever that stands for.

    Frank: You mean “DeFeet”.

    Scaller911: No, you mean Douchebag.

  19. @frank

    @scaler911 Yes, this is @Joshua, Velominatus Emeritus. Fucking stud. Fucking bastard for not showing.

    He is all things and no things simultaneously. Both an enigma, and an open book.

    @Joshua

    Seriously, you could have at least showed up for the recovery session, a skill I know you have.

    And I quote, as documented in my “Notes” app in my iPhone – don’t tell me you couldn’t have been a contributing part to this deep conversation.

    Frank, to G’rilla (slurred, no doubt): You and your short socks will have to wait.

    G’rilla: My socks say “D” for “Dougast” or whatever that stands for.

    Frank: You mean “DeFeet”.

    Scaller911: No, you mean Douchebag.

    That was also where I think we pondered on “who the fuck decided it’s one hour? Why not 2? or 45min?”. To all the VM out there, trust me when I say it was much funnier at the time.

  20. @Steampunk

    SPARTACUS IS TAKING A CRACK AT THE HOUR!!!

    Saw that – he must have got excited reading this and seeing the video feed – do think he’ll crack 40km’s?

  21. Finally…my messages to Fabs have landed. He has agreed to my master plan for him. Or it was Frank attempt that inspired him. either way, this is big news.

    Fabian Cancellara is set to make an attempt on the world hour record within the next twelve months, either after the world championships in September or immediately after the 2014 Spring Classics campaign.

  22. We will start a monster VSP party for this event. Prizes, wheels-o-cheese, as many Velominati hour rides leading up to this as possible.

  23. @Gianni

    We will start a monster VSP party for this event. Prizes, wheels-o-cheese, as many Velominati hour rides leading up to this as possible.

    win a Trek fixie?

  24. Maybe a Veloforma track frame. And two wheels of raclette cheese, and a giant swiss cow bell. The thought of a race hardened Cancellara tucked in, attempting a new hour record has me highly stimulated. He can beat Boardman’s record.

  25. @Gianni

    Maybe a Veloforma track frame. And two wheels of raclette cheese, and a giant swiss cow bell. The thought of a race hardened Cancellara tucked in, attempting a new hour record has me highly stimulated. He can beat Boardman’s record.

    My pick is he will go further than Frank. What does that win me?

    Yes: highly stimulated. Let’s just cancel the rest of the season””I’m looking forward to this. Hoping we get some live coverage somewhere!

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