Author Topic: [HAMR] A Record Too Dangerous to Break...  (Read 36948 times)

Jaded

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Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #125 on: 21 April, 2012, 11:14:03 pm »
Are you volunteering to spread cream on his raw bits?
It is simpler than it looks.

mmmmartin

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Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #126 on: 22 April, 2012, 01:46:08 am »
He doesn't often use trains because it's too much hassle to work out the timetable and buy a ticket
Nor does he accept lifts. He rode from milton keynes to seething in norfolk to ride the seething 600 last year. On the way there he stopped to empty the Red Lodge of a year's supply of food, as you do. I stopped to eat at the Red Lodge, and offered him a lift from the cafe to the start point, in my car, equipped with not one but two empty bike racks. He declined the offer, twice. I drove there and arrived about 3pm. He arrived about 9 pm, having ridden all the way. On fixed. With full camping kit.
Besides, it wouldn't be audacious if success were guaranteed.

slohill

  • still at it
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #127 on: 22 April, 2012, 08:00:17 am »
I was in Swinnerton cycles, Fenton, Stoke on Trent yesterday as they are service agents for my DT Swiss Hubs (good shop with knowledgeable and helpful mechanics)---they have a stock of the new Tommy Goodwin book on the counter.
Organiser of  Tour of the Berwyns 200k and Panorama Prospect 130k; Saturday May 20 2023

Eccentrica Gallumbits

  • Rock 'n' roll and brew, rock 'n' roll and brew...
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #128 on: 22 April, 2012, 10:50:19 am »
Well, that would be my thinking.

Not that I'm going to do it, of course ;D
Bobb'll be pleased to hear that.  ;D
My feminist marxist dialectic brings all the boys to the yard.


jogler

  • mojo operandi
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #129 on: 22 April, 2012, 11:59:43 am »
I was in Swinnerton cycles, Fenton, Stoke on Trent

my lbs

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #130 on: 22 April, 2012, 04:39:31 pm »
Clarion touched on this.
Does anybody know what 'domestic' support Tommy Godwin had in terms of a soigneur, housekeeper or devoted wife? ISTM that this would be an important aspect of any year record attempt and would need to be factored in, and costed.
Shopping, cooking, laundry etc would all eat into valuable riding time especially in the inevitable tough weeks and could make the difference.
I expect Mr T Grinder's HQ is pretty slick already, but should he decide to take on the challenge some sort of help would seem necessary.
I would be up for covering a day's reasonable costs. Are there 364 others out there, rather than being beholden to commercial pressures?

BDi

Yes, he was not married and did not have a partner at the time. The cycling community around the area were very close knit and he was basically looked after by friends and fellow cyclists who often washed him and put him to bed in a near semi-conscious state.

Karla

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Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #131 on: 22 April, 2012, 04:52:58 pm »
I don’t know how many of the 365 days of the year TG was actually riding. Can’t have been very much more than 100 given he has a day job!

Aukweb says Teethgrinder did 98 rides in 2007.  A lot of those are 600s and 800s, plus two 12s, a 14 and a 15, ie. multi-day events.

simonp

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #132 on: 22 April, 2012, 04:57:13 pm »
I don’t know how many of the 365 days of the year TG was actually riding. Can’t have been very much more than 100 given he has a day job!

Aukweb says Teethgrinder did 98 rides in 2007.  A lot of those are 600s and 800s, plus two 12s, a 14 and a 15, ie. multi-day events.

405 points at 15kph is 112 days. As I said, not very much more than 100 days.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #133 on: 22 April, 2012, 05:08:34 pm »
There's one person noticeably absent from this thread - Teethgrinder himself. Is he keen enough on it to give up his job and every other aspect of his life for a year?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #134 on: 22 April, 2012, 09:49:25 pm »
There's one person noticeably absent from this thread - Teethgrinder himself. Is he keen enough on it to give up his job and every other aspect of his life for a year?

I think he is! Allow me to quote him as you obviously can't be arsed to read the thread  :P

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!
Those wonderful norks are never far from my thoughts, oh yeah!

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #135 on: 22 April, 2012, 10:23:20 pm »
Thanks, Bobb! I had read it but TG's post was 4 days ago now - my memory is... oh, what was I going to say?
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #136 on: 22 April, 2012, 11:40:40 pm »
Not a bad article but what they miss out is that someone did have a shot at the record in the 70s or 80s but wasn't given it due to disputes over whether he did all the miles.  I think he felt a bit miffed about it!
Ken Webb (80,647 miles)

Bianchi Boy

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Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #137 on: 23 April, 2012, 11:40:42 am »
Not a bad article but what they miss out is that someone did have a shot at the record in the 70s or 80s but wasn't given it due to disputes over whether he did all the miles.  I think he felt a bit miffed about it!
Ken Webb (80,647 miles)
I have no clue if Ken Webb completed all his miles (or Tommy Goodwin for that matter) but to do a fraud would be quite easy to spot. All you would need to do would to see him and check where his log said he was. There does not appear to be a case of this only suggestions.
Set a fire for a man and he will be warm for a day, set a man on fire and he is warm for the rest of his life.

rower40

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Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #138 on: 23 April, 2012, 11:55:00 am »
Teethgrinder would need a stoker.

No, not because he'd be riding a tandem.  More someone to shovel food into his mouth.  I've seen how much he can eat on his current mileage.  If he steps it up, then :o

Wikipedia states:
Quote
Mechanical stoker
 
A mechanical stoker is a device which feeds coal into the firebox of a boiler. It is standard equipment on large stationary boilers and was also fitted to large steam locomotives to ease the burden of the fireman. The locomotive type has a screw conveyor (driven by an auxiliary steam engine) which feeds the coal into the firebox. The coal is then distributed across the grate by steam jets, controlled by the fireman. Power stations usually use pulverized coal-fired boilers.

From here.  Strikes me as rather apt.
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Euan Uzami

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #139 on: 23 April, 2012, 12:20:53 pm »
Not a bad article but what they miss out is that someone did have a shot at the record in the 70s or 80s but wasn't given it due to disputes over whether he did all the miles.  I think he felt a bit miffed about it!
Ken Webb (80,647 miles)

Quote
"People ask how it is that I account for a greater mileage between places than the road signs indicate. I tell them that I don't always ride straight from one place to the other, that sometimes I make detours...
... sounds to me like he doesn't understand the principle of shortest distance between controls  ;) ;)

LittleWheelsandBig

  • Whimsy Rider
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #140 on: 23 April, 2012, 12:42:34 pm »
Averaging 221 miles per day alongside a fulltime job is not possible, unless he was motorpacing an awful lot.
Wheel meet again, don't know where, don't know when...

mattc

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Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #141 on: 23 April, 2012, 02:02:12 pm »
Averaging 221 miles per day alongside a fulltime job is not possible, unless he was motorpacing an awful lot.
True, but these accounts of Webb's year are very vague about how long he had this job for.

There doesn't seem much evidence that he cheated; from the sources cited here, he had as robust a 'validation' process as Godwin  :-\
Has never ridden RAAM
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Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #142 on: 23 April, 2012, 04:00:28 pm »
Averaging 221 miles per day alongside a fulltime job is not possible, unless he was motorpacing an awful lot.
True, but these accounts of Webb's year are very vague about how long he had this job for.

There doesn't seem much evidence that he cheated; from the sources cited here, he had as robust a 'validation' process as Godwin  :-\

I have evidence to the contrary including a set of letters written by other cyclists who testify that his mileometer did not work properly and that his average speed on the bike was typically 10-13mph. Jenny Noad went on record as stating that she rode with him and her records vs his showed a discrepancy of 30% (in his favour). Jenny was a very well known racer who was sadly killed on her bike.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #143 on: 23 April, 2012, 10:32:17 pm »
There's one person noticeably absent from this thread - Teethgrinder himself. Is he keen enough on it to give up his job and every other aspect of his life for a year?

Sorry. I went out on my bike. :D

There isn't much else to my life that can't wait a year. Just padding really. No wife or kids.
I got the book on Friday, so I'll have a read of that to see if it tells me what he did.
I had a flick through and saw photos of him being handed up bottles as you would in a 24hr TT. Sid Ferris (former LE-JOG record holder) was one of them. It looks as if he was pretty well supported.

I don’t know how many of the 365 days of the year TG was actually riding. Can’t have been very much more than 100 given he has a day job!

Aukweb says Teethgrinder did 98 rides in 2007.  A lot of those are 600s and 800s, plus two 12s, a 14 and a 15, ie. multi-day events.

405 points at 15kph is 112 days. As I said, not very much more than 100 days.

Yes, 98 rides, average distance of about 400k. Quite often they were over distance too.
I rode almost every weekend, so that would be 100 days. Plus I used holiday from work and Bank Holidays. Then I did Tuesday nights for the last 2 months. I failed a 1500k ride after riding 900km of it too, so had a 4 day break because the 1500k would have bought me to a 200k event, but I packed at home, having gone to bed and slept almost solid for 36 hours. You can probably add another 30 days to the 100. The Tuesday night rides muddy the water a bit. It's hard to say exactly how many days I rode. Some days it wasn't worth me riding as far as points chasing was concerned. There were a few no ride days, such as the day before PBP and also the day of PBP (which started at night)
I have the stack of cards, but CBA to work out how many days. I rode about 28,500 miles in the 12 months including commuting, shopping and everything else, so about 6500 short of halfway while having to work 5 days a week, so probably on pace.

70,065 divided by 365 gives 192mpd where I probably did 207mpd (12 month total minus 1500 for commuting etc divded by 130)
It's only a guess though. It'd be too open to debate about how many days I rode and how many days I could have ridden and how much time I had available. It's not the same. For AUK you have to ride a minimum of 200k and enter the ride in advance. For mileating I can nip to the shops and bag an extra mile or two.


Euan Uzami

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #144 on: 23 April, 2012, 11:30:19 pm »
What you'd have to do would be to employ (or have sponsors employ) a secretary whose job it is to keep coming up with rides with as minimum overdistance as possible and put them on garmins for you (and possibly even also enter them as DIYs on auk). Then, with it all programmed up, someone would ride alongside and swap the old garmin for a new one, and then take the track off the old one and validate it. You'd then have the added bonus of it being a complete surprise each day where you were going that day. The swapover point needn't necessarily be the same place all the time, of course, either - and they might even be able to factor a few calendars in. The auk validation would also prevent guiness wriggling out of giving you the record.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #145 on: 23 April, 2012, 11:35:12 pm »
I know the TV producer who produced the short feature on the two Tommys that was broadcast late last year. He is possibly interested in anyone who is prepared to have a go at the record as it would make a very good documentary. In fact we were considering pitching a programme on the history of the year record but there is zero footage to support it.

The guy who set out earlier this year really struggled with sponsorship. The record is dead in the public eye and all they care about is bloody celebrities who swim rivers and stuff. I felt that sponsorship momentum would build as the rider got further into the year and sponsors could see they were a serious and viable prospect. He unfortunately had no cycling track record and so his pitch to sponsors was not very compelling.


I'm definitely interested. Not prepared yet, but could be in time. I'm just about getting going after a bit of surgery last year, then a lurgy in December which lasted untill mid January.
Celebreties certainly are getting into this ultra marathon/endurance game. I was wondering if that may even help the cause by bringing that sort of thing into the public eye?
Getting sponsorsip would be the thing. All I have behind me is what I've done in Audax.

I'm definitely interested in what you have to say about it. Everything will do. Or do I have to wait for your book to come out. ;D

I certainly don't think it will be easy and doubt that I underestimate it. It was hard enough doing the Audax thing. I could at least get things sorted out during the week. Having my clothes, bikes and food ready 24/7 would be a very big help and having that done for me would be the way to go. I'd need to get bikes and equipment sorted out for something like this. It'd definitely need some serious planning. I'm interested to know how it was done and how it used to be done.
I'm curious about Tommy's eating. I was eating a lot when I was averaging about 100mpd while working 5 days a week. At least I had time to sit down and eat. But doing double the mileage! Did he drink butter from his bidon? The psychological side of things are pretty unnerving too. Having friends to ride with now and then would probably make all the difference. Otherwise, I'd be spending almost all of my time entirely alone, allthough I pretty much do that allready anyway.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #146 on: 23 April, 2012, 11:38:27 pm »
Wouldn't a sealed GPS tracker be of more use?  I think some forum member have experience of GPS trackers.

<i>Marmite slave</i>

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #147 on: 24 April, 2012, 07:51:45 am »
Wouldn't a sealed GPS tracker be of more use?  I think some forum member have experience of GPS trackers.

Might I suggest you contact Vin Cox:

http://www.greatbikeride.com/

He used a sealed GPS tracker for his round the world record ride and was very impressed with it.  It was also good enough for the GBR and he can also advise on such matters.

Went to see him talk about his ride last month and really liked how he adapted Look style cleated shoes into something you can sensibly walk in by sticking cut bits from a trainer sole onto nthe shoe.  Very approachable guy.

Jaded

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Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #148 on: 24 April, 2012, 07:57:31 am »
I think forcing the record to be done on pre-agreed routes might be too much. So he's done 190 miles agreed, but feels up to another 30. "Sorry, doesn't count".

The key thing would be recording the mileage, not prescribing where it is done.
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #149 on: 24 April, 2012, 11:06:45 am »
Agreed.  Weather needs to be taken into account.

Funding would need to cover transport. TG's idea of making use of prevailing winds is a really good one, but relies on either public transport or a support car taking him back to the start every time.
<i>Marmite slave</i>