A rolling average of 22kph would allow the record to be matched with a day off every 3 weeks and only 16h per day in the saddle. Well, Steve, what are you waiting for?
My boss to give me a year off.
I'd like to have a go and that's how I'd look at it. 22kph for 16 hours sounds easy, but doing it for a few days would be hard, let alone weeks, months or over a year.
I think that he started off slow. He was riding against two Australians at the time, who were also after the record and the two Australians were in front. One pulled out quite early. Tommy started spending more time in the saddle to catch up with his rival, who ended up dropping out, but Tommy kept going, riding for about 18 hours a day. I think that one trick he did was to ride all day with a tailwind then catch a train back again as he slept, so that he could have a tailwind the next day.
His biggest day's mileage was 360 miles. I think he topped 300 miles a few times, but not very many. He must have had a few relatively low mileage days too. He also crashed and broke his collarbone. I think that stopped him for 3 days, but he started riding with a broken collar bone.
I remember George Berwick telling me that he'd once met someone who had the Year Record and that they had to teach him how to walk again. It was probably Tommy.
He wasn't a regular cyclist either. He was a proffesional racing cyclist. He was also a vegetarian, which may prove something.
If I ever do have a go, I'd do as Tommy did. Start easy and build myself up as I went along. If I went straight into 200mpd from what I do now, I'd be pleased if I lasted more than a month. I did just over 200mpd riding the Grand Triangle in just under 11 days and my legs were shot after that.
Even with all the modern day advantages I have. I have very big doubts about whether I could beat it, but I'd love to give it a go. Some have tried and failed in the past. I think that loneliness could possibly be a big problem too.
I'll have to get myself the book when it comes out. Whatever it costs!