http://www.obree.com/ihpva.php

http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/category/books-and-dvd/books/cycling-reference-books/product/review-graeme-obree-the-obree-way-a-training-manual-for-cyclists-12-45809

His latest escapade is the cycling speed record, part 2 is on youtube too..

I’d also like to see Faboo have a go at the record, but looking back over the last year surely Tony Martin has the potential to do this record some real damage. It would be great to see.

Obree’s also about to publish a long awaited training manual which should be an interesting read.

Oh, and if you haven’t read his book ‘The Fyling Scotsman’, do. It’s a cut above many of the cycling autobiographies out there.

@frankLooking at the video again, it does look like he’s only got one fork blade, doesn’t it? This will require some further investigation. Anyone know what the deal was with the fork on Old Faithful?

Old Faithful, currently resides in the Scottish Transport Museum, and is single sided. Yet another innovation.

Here at World Spinner we are debating the same thing……

For those who haven’t heard of Hutchinson, he’s a very handy time-trialist. Came fourth in the Commonwealth Games two minutes behind Millar. Cancellara could likely put another two minutes into them. Now I have no idea what the wattage difference is, but at a guess that would mean Cancellara wouldn’t need a particularly extreme bike position to get the numbers needed, but he would still have to get used to riding on the drops for an hour. Don’t forget, Merckx rode in that position all year, in all races. I can’t see the benefit of Cancellara trying the hour at the peak of his powers (ie now) as it would interrupt his whole season. He might try it as an end-of-career thing though, but that would compromise showing how good he really was. I’d rather see him battle Gilbert to see who will be the first to win all five monuments

Oh and Boardman no longer holds the record. Some unknown Eastern European broke it in about ’03 or ’05. Unsurprisingly he tested positive a couple of years ago.

Gianni :
@Jarvis

The only advantage Merckx had was altitude.

It was a pretty big advantage and I think it means Boardman really got aero and is a bad man. But I trust Fabooo will attempt a proper sea level hour record and beat Boardman’s distance. He wants it and provided he puts the time in on the track getting his position perfected, I’m betting on him. If he can’t, I don’t know who else has the motor and attitude. The horror.

I would LOVE to see Fabooo go for the hour. Man, that man can ride a bike! (under statement of the year there)

The only advantage Merckx had was altitude.

It was a pretty big advantage and I think it means Boardman really got aero and is a bad man. But I trust Fabooo will attempt a proper sea level hour record and beat Boardman’s distance. He wants it and provided he puts the time in on the track getting his position perfected, I’m betting on him. If he can’t, I don’t know who else has the motor and attitude. The horror.

It deserves not be mentioned.

@mcsqueak

I have a club mate who rolled ‘bent while recovering from back surgery as well. Like I said, not my cup of tea, but I’d ride one if there was no other option…

But no way I’m riding an Elliptigo, there’s an idiot here in town galavanting around on one of those abominations, I make a point of passing him in a cloud of dust whenever I see him, even if I have to turn around to do it…

Your dad is a hardman, no doubt. I’d never fault anyone for riding a recumbent that has an injury which makes riding a normal bike impractical. They still want to be out on the road and feel the wind whipping past them.

His doctor told him he would never walk again and that the house would remain unbuilt. He had surgery, bought a recumbent and rode it all winter – IN MINNESOTA, WITH STUDDED TIRES – and then in the spring he got back on every one of his 17 – YES 17 – road bikes. (He’s the inventor of Rule 12, by the way.)

He liked the recumbent because it “loosened his hip a good deal” and it “wasn’t so bad when I blacked out and crashed from the pain.” That there is a lesson in Rule 5.

Oh, and he finished the house this summer.

Respect.

Do my eyes deceive me, or is the recumbent rider equipped with both handlebar-mounted mirrors and a helmet mirror?

The Rule violations are so rife, you’re better off pointing out where the doood DOESN’T suck. That said, good on recumbent riders for getting outside and doing something they dig on. Anyone with a passtime that doesn’t involve the words “AH”, “TAR”, and “EE” is good by me.

I encourage them to pursue their sport, ride lots, and look good doing it. Which, admittedly, means get rid of the recumbent and get a road bike.

@Gildasd
Wow, if they are good enough to handle it, good on them. Mostly, it seems a lazy-boy is out of place on a roadie group ride as much as a mountain bike, but if you got the skilz, you got the skilz. Good on ’em.

Personally, I admire recumbent riders the way I admire anyone who doesn’t do my sport; I appreciate they are into something I’m not, and I figure that I’m probably the one doing the cooler sport.

I saw a weird recumbent this weekend where the person was pedaling with their feet AND their hands. Not sure what that was about, clearly they weren’t paralyzed and didn’t need a hand-cycle. Seems like it would make turning harder.

As for recumbents in a paceline? No fucking way. Whenever recumbent defenders talk about those vehicles, they always talk about how much more aerodynamic they are in that low position. OK, great. Well if your ‘bike’ (har) is so aerodynamic, you don’t need to ride in a paceline with people on standard bicycles.

But we digress, Obree was the master, whose home-cooked genius the UCI deemed so evil and dangerous that they changed the rules twice just to stop him stomping all over their glamourous sport from his shed. Not only did he break the hour record on his own bike, but he did it the day after he’d failed to break the record.

I hope one day the UCI will actually recognise his efforts* instead of denigrating them.

*Like fuck they will

Nate:
@Cyclops
Do my eyes deceive me, or is the recumbent rider equipped with both handlebar-mounted mirrors and a helmet mirror?

To be fair to him he looks as though he is going to be overtaken often. He can’t be in breach of Rule 66 because recumbents are not bikes.

It would be unfair to judge them on our standards. We are better.

And because they assume you know how to TT if you have tri bars, you better bloody do the lead out for the sprint(s) – and that’s 55kmh + here – wind or no wind. Otherwise they will consider you as a tagalong wimp.

We have anything from reccumbents (faired or not), supprisingly fast dudes on citybikes, people with 1960’s CX bikes, 10 year olds learning the ropes to mopeds doing motorpacing all in the same place here – BUT people know how to ride. Everybody gets along great.

PS – I am a Triathlete and roady

No recumbents, no tri-bars, etc. Special dispensation can be made for cross bikes, provided they Rule 5 and keep up. And I know a few guys who can, BTW…

I look at recumbents they way I look at Segways, Elliptigo’s, fixies (off the track), penny farthings and other ridiculous wheeled contraptions: novelty items. I don’t care who rides ’em, I don’t careto ride ’em.

I would head the other direction and ride by myself.

Ron :
I’ve been on group rides before where dude’s show up and ride recumbents in the pace line.
How do you gents feel about this?

I feel that it is a fucking abomination and the recumbents should have been shot and the riders who allowed them in (and to live) shot as well! (Well, maybe not quite that bad, but pretty close! :)

Ron:
I’ve been on group rides before where dude’s show up and ride recumbents in the pace line.
How do you gents feel about this?

I’ve nothing against them per se but no way should they be joining a paceline. They contribute nothing to the aerodynamics and enjoy all the benefits. It’s wrong, wrong, wrong on so many levels.

I don’t think I can sleep tonight knowing that this has actually happened. I’d feel much better if you told me it was just a hypothetical.

Having said that, I’m surprised any recumbent could keep up with even a moderately fast group ride on rolling terrain. Maybe it was a visitation from the evil one for your lack of V.

How do you gents feel about this?

Damn Cyclops! That photo contrast was worth the price of admission to this site today!

That’s way harsh dude.

BTW, Cyclops is sans facial hair now (except I could do an awesome comb-over with my ear and nose hair).

See the difference?

Rusty Tool Shed :
Recumbents are not bicycles – period.

Man, I agree! Nothing rubs me more wrong than when I see someone on a recumbent. I mean, what the HELL are they thinking!!!

Pedale.Forchetta :
@frankI agree with you Frank, still I think that the words of Merckx on Moser were totally undeserved and that’s why I mentioned Rule n.5

Well said and completely agree!

@Oli Brooke-White, @Rusty Tool Shed
++1

frank :
By the way, I always thought the Superman position was rad looking

I, for one, like the latest setup for the hour; the Athletes Hour for 1-1 comparisons, and then the absolute Hour (whatever it’s called) for anything-goes gear. I only with the pros took that one more seriously. I’d love to revive the innovation from the early 90″²s.

Completely agree about the Superman position. That just strikes me as so aesthetically pleasing and hardcore at the same time!

I, for one, like the latest setup for the hour; the Athletes Hour for 1-1 comparisons, and then the absolute Hour (whatever it’s called) for anything-goes gear. I only wish the pros took that one more seriously. I’d love to revive the innovation from the early 90’s.

So long as it is non-doped human powered, bring it. Farings, electronic gadgetry, anything. No storage devices, but really – isn’t this a showcase for human powered devices?

I’m with you on sentiment, but then you get this kind of shit rolling, and what good is that alongside a real cyclist?

And really, isn’t that uci weight limit thing sort of out date? I rather understand the safety deal – the uci thinks someone will show up with a paper bike, but isn’t there a better way?

Now you’re onto something. The UCI – Union Cyclist Irrationale – is a mess. Of course, there’s also the “everyone rides essentially the same bike” aspect to the idea, it’s not just safety…but safety is always cited as a core factor in keeping the rule. With drilled-out alloys, maybe weight is a relevant measure of strength, but the model breaks down completely with composites. That’s what happens when politicians and not subject-matter experts are the principle advisors on policy.

I wonder how much strength the weights the riders are putting in their bottom brackets to meet the regulation is adding?

Moser (winner of 1 Giro d’Italia, 3 Paris-Roubaix, 2 Giro di Lombardia, 1 World Championship and many more)

What do you make of his 1984 Giro win and the fiasco regarding the helicopter in the final TT? I felt Moser – while I was certainly always a fan – was a bit out of place winning a Grand Tour and the Hour; a man for the classics, and not a terribly great time trialist, I also found it eyebrow-raising that he took the Hour. I love the scene in The Impossible Hour where Ole is training with Moser, his devoted team mate. Foreshadowing?

I wonder what Merckx thought when Chris Boardman set the new hour record 10 meters over his old (equal bikes)

In contrast to his comment about Moser, I think he was pretty human about it, wasn’t he? Something along the lines of, “yeah, well…it’s about time…”

eightzero :
I’ve always thought the hour record should be ” anything goes”. So long as it is non-doped human powered, bring it.

Including recumbents?!

Pedale.Forchetta:
I was thinking at Merckx’s comment on Moser (winner of 1 Giro d’Italia, 3 Paris-Roubaix, 2 Giro di Lombardia, 1 World Championship and many more) and then at the Rule n. 5 (in a very humble way).

Don’t get me wrong, I’m a huge Moser fan! He’s one of my all-time faves.

eightzero:
I’ve always thought the hour record should be ” anything goes”. So long as it is non-doped human powered, bring it. Farings, electronic gadgetry, anything. No storage devices, but really – isn’t this a showcase for human powered devices? And really, isn’t that uci weight limit thing sort of out date? I rather understand the safety deal – the uci thinks someone will show up with a paper bike, but isn’t there a better way? Who really cares if the aspect ratio on a pipe is 3:1 or less? Rule V applies to tech as well.

There are already competitions for faired HPVs. I think it’s cool that we’ve gone back to the “Athlete’s Hour” but I still think Moser, Obree and Boardman’s rides should be regarded as proper records without asterisks…

True. But, while I totally agree, we have to remember that Merckx was famous for drilling holes into anything he could on his bike to lighten it and modify it to be faster (which a lot of other riders thought was crazy and questionable).

I truly believe that Merckx was the greatest ever, but I still think he lacked class with his comment.

But, either way, that movie is sooo awesome. I cannot wait to watch it with my wife!

Moser’s win represented a cold shower in terms the reality of how the sport was changing, and in that light, I think it’s understandable that he wriggles to keep his composure.

Oh, and the Flying Dutchman is probably a good movie, too.

In that picture in the article, I believe he’s on the Specialized-built bike that he rode the day before he broke the record, which was a failed attempt. Specialized built him a bike that was supposed to be the same but better than his own bike, but Graeme wasn’t at home on it.

The next day, he rolled up on his own bike and the starter asked him, “Are you ready?”

He simply replied, “Are you?”

So it looks like he only had one side of his fork? Was this to save weight or was it for aerodynamics?

david :

Buck Rogers :”Flying Dutchman”

Scotsman

OOOOPS! You’re TOTALLY correct there! Sorry about that!

And I still think that Merckx was just having sour grapes! No disputing that he was the greatest rider ever, but I thought it showed a real lack of class when he said that.

Buck Rogers :
“Flying Dutchman”

Scotsman