[HAMR] New challenger - Bruce Berkeley AKA Cycle_dr 1

[Greenbank]

They haven't explicitly ruled out Bruce being a lizard man from outer space, so I'm going with that for now.

[red marley]

Could be. Although without satellite tracking we don't know whether the lizard man is from outer space or not.

[Hummers]

They haven't explicitly ruled out Bruce being a lizard man from outer space, so I'm going with that for now.

 

H

[swampthing]

It's not clear at all. We haven't been told what the issue is, other than that he hasn't complied with certain rules. It would help if they said which rules.

I am missing much more a comment by Bruce Berkeley on the issue. I noticed he left the "UMCA/ HAMR"-club on Strava some days ago and I wondered why.

His short complaint about "all this Rubbish from HAMR" on Strava is not helpful. Kurt and Steve were and are able to comply with UMCA'S rules (Miles Smith is a different topic). So Bruce should explain why he can't. Poor communication by Bruce in my view.

PS: I gladly noticed that Kurt Searvogel just unfollowed IronOx.

[hippy]

Interestingly Bruce can claim the highest mileage in 1 month "world record" because it was officially recognised
where as we all know that Teethgrinder, Tommy Godwin and Kurt have all ridden further.

He must be careful.

Does he actually have the one month distance record? Guinness have it as a woman...
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/118987-farthest-distance-cycled-in-one-month

[TimC]

It's a shame that there's a lack of clarity about this, and an intimation from the UCMA that Bruce was deliberately non-compliant. None of this does either party any credit and, as I said earlier, the end result will be that Bruce's ride will be a footnote in cycling history, not a headline.

[Exit Stage Left]

Interestingly Bruce can claim the highest mileage in 1 month "world record" because it was officially recognised
where as we all know that Teethgrinder, Tommy Godwin and Kurt have all ridden further.

He must be careful.

Does he actually have the one month distance record? Guinness have it as a woman...
http://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/118987-farthest-distance-cycled-in-one-month

A heartwarming story.

Verification has now to be received from Guinness World Records that she has completed all requirements of the endurance task that nobody has presented to them before – the longest distance cycled in a month.


Davison has had to submit thousands of photos, videos, daily logs, signed logbooks and gps files to prove her accomplishment.


The 152 miles cycled on Day 28 was the furthest she has ever ridden.

“Before I started the challenge I didn’t know how far I’d be able to ride in total,” she said.

“I knew that I could reach the target of 5000km (3107 miles) which Guinness World Records set for me.

“I was pleased that I reached over 4000 miles without my body complaining much.

“The best thing though has been how kind, helpful and enthusiastic other people were towards my challenge.

“During my rides I had to ask strangers to sign my logbook, and they were always helpful and a pleasure to meet.”

She is not about to put her feet up though.

“There’s a lot that needs doing in our garden, and I’d like to find some new work contracts. There’s also a cycling holiday to plan,” said Davison.


     
She is also using the challenge to help raise funds for Alzheimer’s Research UK and welcomes donations at http://uk.virginmoneygiving.com/JanetDavison.

You can read her 30-day blog at Janet30DayCycle.blogspot.co.uk

http://www.warringtonguardian.co.uk/news/13645095.4010_miles_in_30_days_by_bike___that_s_how_Janet_spent_her_summer/

It would seem that Bruce didn't get the Guinness month record he claims, for whatever reason. A good spot by hippy.

[Bianchi Boy]

Post on Strava by https://www.strava.com/athletes/2319211 - Sort of explains a few things. Quite how he missed the qualification rules and all that I have no idea. But it sounds like it will be an "unofficial" record attempt.

 Dear all - I know that Bruce doesnt have enough time to read all the posts, but also that he does really value everyones input. It make s ahuge difference to him. Let me expand a bit further - just help complete the picture for you (and I am sorry for those that know him - I dont want to tread on any toes). Bruce is doing this on 'bare bones'. He has literally no 'actual' support. The excellent and generous sponsors (Shimano, Stages, Garmin, Continental, Canyon, Assos, sorry I have forgotten some I am sure) have provided product for him to use, but there is no money here. Further more, he is lucky to have friends who allow him to stay at their houses - in many cases, he is couch surfing. He gets off his bike every day, after 11-13hrs, and has to maintain it himself. He feeds himself, he goes to the shops to buy food for tomorrow, then he gets up and starts again. So he has the tools to do the job. But really almost nothing else. No support. Noone following in a car, no mechanic, no chef, no wife, no-one with a spare set of bidons to grab as he pushes out 11hrs a day. The HAMR business is a real shame - but Bruce pretty much has no energy nor time to attend to it now that he is 'in' the attempt. Crowd-funding is something we (as a group of friends) have discussed. He does need some support. The technology and the cost have been a distraction that he cant afford. None of us have any experience in it to be honest. If anyone really can help - in some capacity - then I am happy to help coordinate this on behalf of Bruce - who (feel free to check my FB, or Bruces) is an old friend of mine. Please email me direct on anthony.shippard@gmail.com if you have any ideas or want to discuss further. Brucey - I know I didnt talk to you about this last night, but I also know you will be cool with it. Keep riding brother. Lets see how we can all help. 8 hours ago

[red marley]

It is impressive that Bruce is making up for lack of daily support with athleticism (if his speed was such that he had to ride 18 hour days, he wouldn't succeed without support). All the other competitors have learned on the job, but this does look like poor planning/preparation that could have easily been avoided. If it really is an equipment problem I struggle to see how the cost and faff of using a spot tracker is the unsolvable problem. He's had a year to see how the others have dealt with the logistics of the challenge and the cost of a tracker is minor compared with a year of no income. And given his success with equipment sponsors of expensive bikes, power meter etc. It is a shame that it rests on such a minor detail.

[Ham]

Isn't the "minor" detail that he is riding >200 miles a day and doing all his own stuff?

Things that might seem minor to us may well not turn out that way

(but yes, shame it wasn't noticed/understood before the start)

[Aunt Maud]

Can't see the big deal with the UMCA myself.

It would be very impressive if he told them to "stick it" and went on to clean up completely.

[mrcharly-YHT]

It's rubbish. Absolute rubbish.

All records are artificial constructs, only existing within an agreed set of rules. Bruce, like Miles, Steve and Kurt, set out under a set of rules.

Miles had technical problems with recording.

Bruce looks to have not made the effort to comply.

He won't hold any sort of 'record', because a 'record' only exists by comparison to someone else doing the same thing. He's being a fool, especially since his riding so far indicates that he has the capability of riding further than Kurt in a 365 day period.

[Frank9755]

Can't see the big deal with the UMCA myself.

It would be very impressive if he told them to "stick it" and went on to clean up completely.

Absolutely. If Bruce rides further than Kurt or Tommy in 365 days I know who I will recognise as the record holder.

[simonp]

This challenge is surely hard enough without having to couch surf and do your own food shopping and maintenance, etc. Can he really keep that up for the whole year?

[Oakhambike]

No.
I had assumed (clearly wrongly) that Bruce's attempt was much more professional and thought out than Steve's and a more professional set up and more importantly much higher average speed with consequently much more recovery time was the recipe for success. But if he's spending his recovery time queuing in whatever the Aussie equivalent of Tesco's is and/or trying to find somewhere to crash then regardless of technicalities around trackers etc he won't get the record.

[Greenbank]

There's recovery time, rest and sleep.

Recovery is doing light exercise (such as gentle cycling, walking, shopping, etc).
Rest is being awake but doing nothing (sitting on the sofa watching TV, emails, uploading stuff to Strava, etc).
Obvious sleep is obvious.

Riding fast allows you to have enough of all 3 and time spent shopping won't be "wasted", it's part of active recovery and helps wind down from the physical part of the attempt whilst also providing some useful mental stimulation and keeping touch with reality.

The problem with riding slowly is that you lose out on time for some of these and so something is going to give at some point. If you don't get enough recovery then your legs are going to get heavier and heavier, we all know about sleep deprivation and if you don't get enough rest you'll be mentally frazzled soon enough.

Angst about where to sleep certainly won't help though.

[Jack_P]

His problem will come when (oh for a 100% reliable Garmin) his recording device fails him one day.
It doesn't look like he has much on his handlebars so no spare, but he could be running a phone app as backup.

Who does he turn to when he wants to claim that he actually did the unrecorded miles on Strava?

[Greenbank]

Bruce looks to have not made the effort to comply.

I don't think that's true. I believe the story is that he'd provided a form of live tracking (via Strava Active Friends) but the UMCA obviously didn't consider this adequate/suitable (probably because it requires the person wanting to track him to be a Strava Premium member). His gripe will be that the UMCA rules weren't clear enough about what is required, so he thought he was satisfying the requirement.

Of course, this is speculation as there's nothing definitive from either Bruce (or his team) or the UMCA. Until there is we can continue tilting at windmills (on both sides). I only bring it up to counter your suggestion that he many not have made any effort to comply.

[hippy]

Unrecorded means they didn't happen - maybe he should've got that SPOT tracker after all... Good reason to follow someone's set of rules for verification.

Even if he managed to 'break the record', unless it's done following UMCA or Guinness or some other body that goes some way to verifying his attempt, it will not be the record, it'll just be a long time spent on a bike to log a lot of strava rides aka a failed attempt.

[Greenbank]

SPOT tracker is £150 to buy (direct, £100 from an authorised dealer on eBay) and then £100 for the tracking plan for a year. Compared to his other expenses for the year it's not going to be big at all. The trackers have good resale value too, so some of the initial cost can be recouped.

[hippy]

SPOT tracker is £150 to buy (direct, £100 from an authorised dealer on eBay) and then £100 for the tracking plan for a year. Compared to his other expenses for the year it's not going to be big at all. The trackers have good resale value too, so some of the initial cost can be recouped.

Yeah, he had the money to travel to Australia to ride when it's warm but not fit a couple of hundred quid SPOT tracker to comply? Really?

[Exit Stage Left]

It's pretty clear that Bruce's claims to have the Guinness month record are unsubstantiated. Janet Davison explained her motivation.

Speaking about why she took on this challenge Janet told wilmslow.co.uk "In December last year I learnt of Steve Abraham's attempt at breaking the record for the most miles cycled in a year. Of course I had to see what the women's record is. In 1938 Billie Fleming rode 29,603.7 miles, an average of 81 miles per day. After some real ale and wine I thought 'I could do that!'. However, after sober thoughts, I decided that committing to a whole year of cycling wasn't fair on my family, and it would require a huge amount of organisation. But what record could I attempt?

"That's when I found out that there is currently not a record for one month's duration. I spent the next few weeks pondering the challenge and finally in February I decided to send the email to Guinness World Records, telling them of my attempt."

http://www.wilmslow.co.uk/news/article/12160/wilmslow-cyclist-sets-new-guinness-world-record

She's a mathematician and physicist, with her own consultancy business. So data-logging shouldn't be too much trouble for her. Likewise Kurt sells management packages for car dealers.

[Frank9755]

Assuming Bruce ploughs on on his own, the obvious parallel is with Ken Webb, whose year (and 100,000km) records were de-listed:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ken_Webb

Will Bruce go the same way?  We definitely have better means of proving to a certain standard (no proof can ever be absolute) that were available in the seventies, and people have better access to the info to form their own views rather than having to rely on an 'authority' such as Guinness, UMCA or whoever to tell us what to believe. 

Clearly the views on here are split.   It feels like about 70% think it would not be a valid ride and about 30% (including me) would recognise it (subject to it passing our own credibility tests.   No point trying to argue people to one side or the other - each are valid points of view.

Perhaps Bruce's link with BikeRadar will  be important.  If they throw their weight behind him, their reach will outrank UMCA for most audiences.  If they disown him, he's could be toast, beyond immediate friends and family.

[Exit Stage Left]

This board is under the Audax banner. Someone could ride PBP without a card, during the event. Log it with Strava, and claim to have won. That would be perfectly acceptable to the Stravanauts.
So let's have an Adventure Cycling board, and send Bruce there.

[Si S]

It's pretty clear that Bruce's claims to have the Guinness month record are unsubstantiated.

Maybe he's going for 'The Individual with the Most Unsubstantiated Records' record