[HAMR] Tarzan (Kurt Searvogel)

[Climberruss]

Both Steve and Tarzan appear to have what it takes to fight to the end.
Could this lead to the crazy situation in late December of both riders riding non stop until they drop.
If anything the competition element could make for an amazing December, with all sorts of support options from each riders supporters.
I Hope Steve breaks him before then 

This could be the thing that legends are made of...

[Somnolent]

If it comes down to riding continuously for the last month with 20 minutes sleep every 3 days in a bus shelter, I know where my money is...

But until then, Steve will, I hope, stick to his plan.  He's right where he wanted to be at the moment. 
Either Tarzan was lying about his own plan or he's 'feeling the pressure' to depart from it.

[Kim]

And the recumbent thing is interesting, because I'd have thought that with careful planning in terms of roads, conditions in the USA, if miles is your main objective, and you can ride where the hell you like, and you're going to ride recumbent at some point, then ride the damn thing from the beginning. My very limited experience switching between the two tells me that the two ways of riding in terms of muscle groups are not perfectly interchangeable. Unless he's looking to ride into a monstrous head wind for a month, then I can't see what advantage he'll gain really by switching like that.

The advantage of being able to keep churning out miles - albeit perhaps at reduced efficiency - while recovering from saddle sores, Shermer's neck, carpal tunnel syndrome, etc.

[hillbilly]

I thought Steve's only concern was with beating Tommy Godwin's year record. Any competition from others was a side-show, as far as he was concerned.

I was thinking just that, reading this thread. For Steve my take is that it's a personal challenge for him to try and beat Godwins record, and it's from that that he will gain his satisfaction.

I did wonder that.  It's a healthy attitude; respect the history whilst making history.  I doubt Kurt has the same connection with the past, and his attraction is the UMCA challenge.  Might be wrong though - maybe he calls himself Tarzan because he feels like an English Lord lost in the jungle of that USA.

[Laid Back Rich]

... I am cross that they have decided to tackle this at the same time as Steve and (to my mind) seem to be deliberately using him as a pacer for their own ends/glory....

I'm with H on this, it's just not cricket is it?

That said, it's jolly exciting

KEEP BLOODY PEDALLING STEVE!

[MarkA]

That's the way with records though.  Even if You had to start on 1st Jan someone could come along the next year and ride one mile more.  Like winning the round the world race in x days and a couple of months later someone does it a little bit quicker. 

[Wowbagger]

I'm with Hummers as well. It would be a different matter if it had been an impersonal and anonymous "here's a 1-year record and we at the UMCA offer it up for challenges". It wasn't like that: it was Steve's idea, possibly born from  a thread on this forum, he did all the hard work negotiating with the UMCA to formulate the rules, it's his ride. As soon as UMCA published a set of rules, a couple of others jumped on the bandwagon. Personally, I just don't believe the stuff on Kurt's website:

When I first looked at this problem I thought  why would I be willing to give up a year of my life to do nothing but ride my bike.   Then I realized that most of the friends I have ride and I have met more people through riding than anything else I do. So instead of giving up a year of my life to ride - I am dedicating a year of my life to meeting new people, seeing new places and expanding what I believe life is.

In US parlance, that's just a bunch of bull.

I really hope that Steve, as he increases his daily mileage in the better weather, turns the screw on Tarzan and breaks his resolve.

[Laid Back Rich]

It's also hard to believe his plan Come on don't kid us! He's just looking at Steve's mileage every day and doing a few more.

I wonder if he knew anything about the year record before Steve 's bandwagon got going?

He is obviously a great athlete, serious contender, playing by the rules etc. and I wish him no ill, but it does leave a slightly bitter taste...

[Cycling Daddy]

When there is a long standing record it quite frequently happens that after it is broken there is a whole series of new records.  It is a demonstration of the power of belief.  Frequently it is the first record breaker that is remembered.  Who first ran a mile in under 4 minutes?   Who did it afterwards.  The former I can name.  The latter I have had to Google:   

Bannister's world record has been toppled 18 times, most recently by Hicham Eluerrouj, who ran 3:43.13 in 1999. Meanwhile, more than 400 American runners have broken the 4-minute barrier; 23 new U.S. athletes were added to the ranks just last year.

Steve is absolutely right to ride his own ride and leave others to do as they do.
L

[Mr Larrington]

To be honest, Tarzan won't get better riding conditions than he's got at the moment pretty well all year in the USA.

For me,  this is the big unknown. My knowledge of US climate is limited to just a few pockets of land.

Where will be the best riding conditions in July,  and how hot will it be?

I've been as far north as the Montana/Canada border in September and it was mid-twenties Celsius, but OTOH I've been in the same area at the same time in a different year and it was sub-zero and snowing.  Just about anywhere can get uncomfortably hot; 30+ Celsius.  I'd be tempted by the San Luis Valley in southern Colorado; it's at ~2300 metres and as flat as a recently-ironed pancake.  Or follow The Mississippi south

[IanDG]

It's also hard to believe his plan Come on don't kid us! He's just looking at Steve's mileage every day and doing a few more.

I wonder if he knew anything about the year record before Steve 's bandwagon got going?

He is obviously a great athlete, serious contender, playing by the rules etc. and I wish him no ill, but it does leave a slightly bitter taste...

If he stuck to that plan then he wouldn't beat Steve's mileage (IIRC Steve's planned to do more than 80K), so he's had to change it and hence the 'look at what Steve did and do a few more' approach. Not sure if that's what is happening, but it certainly looks that way.

[hillbilly]

"Doing a little bit more than the other guy" is a pretty sensible strategy. 

I am incredulous at some of the comments in this thread.  Steve has no more right to Tommy's record that anyone else.  If Steve was purely motivated to go beyond Tommy's distance, he could have done it without involving the UMCA.  Instead he chose to get a body involved to govern the record going forward and this has attracted the attention of people who ride more regularly on UMCA events.  Big deal - Steve's more than able to piss on Kurt's chips (or as the Sceptics might say, open up a can of whup ass on him).

[sg37409]

Pretty much everyone on this thread supports Steve, knows him to a greater or lesser extent and are willing him to do it. We know how long he's been planning it and how much it means to him and costing him.
Tarzans come along and threatening to do more miles than Steve.  But he's having a hugely easier time of it weather wise than steve.
Incredulous ?   Its not really surprising theres a level of partisan support for steve, but not to extent of disrespecting Tarzan.

[Basil]

There you go.  Wot e said. ^

[IanDG]

Aye, +1 to SG37.......

Teethgrinder's our man, don't think anyone's disrespecting Tarzan - just comment, discussion and speculation.

I, for one, have been very supportive of Kurt on both facebook and Strava - but TG of this forum is my man!

[againsttheclock]

The whole premise of breaking a record like this is by doing a little more than the record holder. The bar is pretty freaking high - as someone posted on another thread, you have to ride almost all day, every day, just to get anywhere near it.

Steve is effectively doing what Tommy did...plus a bit. I don't have an issue with Tarzan doing the same. After all, the achievement is breaking records, not holding them.

[Kim]

Quite.  I think we're just favouring Teethgrinder because he's a member of the forum, as well as someone who many of us know personally, while Tarzan is effectively some faceless American.

I accept that having a crack at Tommy Godwin's record was Teethgrinder's idea, and he put in the effort getting the UMCA to agree a set of rules to adjudicate it under, which they then published.  If - to pick a random example - bikey-mikey or some other credible forumite had decided at that point that they fancied having a go at it too, we'd all be 100% behind them.  Even if they'd opted for a spring start and a journey to somewhere warm for the second half of the year (which would seem like an eminently sensible strategy).  Even if they did it on a funny-shaped bike.

[Von Broad]

I'm with Hummers as well. It would be a different matter if it had been an impersonal and anonymous "here's a 1-year record and we at the UMCA offer it up for challenges". It wasn't like that: it was Steve's idea, possibly born from  a thread on this forum, he did all the hard work negotiating with the UMCA to formulate the rules, it's his ride. As soon as UMCA published a set of rules, a couple of others jumped on the bandwagon.

So we don't like it. Tough, so we deal with it. But the guy's doing nothing wrong, and has in no way interfered with what Steve is doing here, nor has he said or written anything at all to discredit TG, AFAIA. Publish a set of rules and you're going to entice interest. Anybody think this was easy thing to do!

What exactly does Steve own? Nothing whatsoever as far as I can see. Hard work, yes obviously, of course. But ownership to the ride? No way.

And the way he's handled it is the measure of the man, both on the C4 news interview and the stuff he's tweeted.
I doubt he'll be wasting too much mental energy worrying about what anybody else is doing anyhow, it's stress he can do without.

[Canardly]

There is also a female tribute ride to Billie Fleming taking place this year.

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/billie-fleming-happy-100th-birthday-121964

http://www.scotoutdoors.com/features/cycling/year-long-tribute-ride-calls-on-female-cyclists

[mattc]

Quite.  I think we're just favouring Teethgrinder because he's a member of the forum, as well as someone who many of us know personally, while Tarzan is effectively some faceless American.

I accept that having a crack at Tommy Godwin's record was Teethgrinder's idea, and he put in the effort getting the UMCA to agree a set of rules to adjudicate it under, which they then published.  If - to pick a random example - bikey-mikey or some other credible forumite had decided at that point that they fancied having a go at it too, we'd all be 100% behind them.  Even if they'd opted for a spring start and a journey to somewhere warm for the second half of the year (which would seem like an eminently sensible strategy).  Even if they did it on a funny-shaped bike.

In all honesty I'd still be behind TG; he started this whole thing.

But that wouldn't make me a $new_rider  hater!!! This is sport - you can have a favourite without wishing ill of the other guy/gal.

[aidan.f]

Steve is  showing form tonight.... Today  will be  220 Miles  at  least

[Wobbly]

We are not worthy.

[Exit Stage Left]

Bruce Berkeley was supposed to be working his way up to the record.

Berkeley, a former elite-level racer, has emerged as a ‘Strava celebrity’ for his monster mileage. The New Zealand native has already ridden more than 25,500km in 2014, consistently registering more than 1,100km a week and amassing nearly 900 hours in the saddle. Berkeley’s exploits have earned him more than 1,800 Strava followers and nearly 15,000 ‘kudos’.

Berkeley is undertaking the challenge on his regular training roads around south west London, Surrey and Berkshire from his base in Roehampton, Richmond.

The seven day distance record is expected to be the first in a series of future attempts on some of cycling’s long-standing distance records – the pinnacle of which is Tommy Godwin’s annual distance record of 75,065 miles (or 205 miles a day) set in 1939.


Read more at http://roadcyclinguk.com/sportive/surrey-cyclist-starts-seven-day-distance-world-record-attempt.html#ATkloUf02FYXK2a8.99

[Wowbagger]

An amazing guy.

[red marley]

From a comment on Strava under Tarzan's Friday ride it looks like he is already riding his 'bent for around 20 miles each day, presumably in preparation for longer stretches later on. I guess it also means he has motorised backup.