[HAMR] A new women's HAM'R challenger- Amanda Coker

[Chris S]

Surely a person only has this level of sustained fitness once in their life? That being the case, she should (and I'm guessing, will) milk it for all she's worth.

[wajcgac]

A year is too long a time to do something day in day out without it being an obsession, otherwise you'd get bored and pack up way before you got to the end.

The HAMR is an obsession for Amanda, probably more so than for Kurt, demonstrated by the fact that her rides have been so much more consistent without the ups and downs that Kurt had. Some, I know Kurt had due to mechanical/medical issues but there were others with doubts or loss of interest in what he was doing.

Amanda's stats for her ride posted today (Day 265) on Strava

https://www.strava.com/activities/854208147/analysis

403.1km at an average of 34.1km/hr
Total ride time 12hrs 35mins with about 45 mins of stops.

When you look at the analysis of the ride she started off quite slowly (30kph for the first 50km) and gradually increased her pace, for the next 275km she averaged nearly 35kph.

She then increased her pace to average an incredible 38.4kph for the next 50km !,  before easing back towards the end of the day.

You can see that she had the company of some very capable fellow riders at times for this ride.

Her obsession for the HAMR (will and determination if you like), good support from Mum and Dad and other cyclists, and phenomenal cycling ability will mean that all being well she will beat the current record with over a month to spare.

There is no doubt in my mind that she will then keep going on a relentless mission to achieve the highest number of miles possible.

[teethgrinder]

I think she'll go for it at the end and take my month record as well as the year. If Amanda was just after the record she could ease back to 220 now and still comfortably get it. I reckon she'll do about 7,700 for the month record, probably on the last 30 days. I also think she'll run all 3 of her 3 free month record attempts concurrently, probably starting a week apart. She's far enough ahead that she can ramp it up at the end and if it doesn't work and she overcooks it, it won't make much difference overall.

[clarion]

Surely she would have to apply before the start for a recognised 100,000 mile record or month?  I guess she can still apply to make Month 12, or 11, a big one to count.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

There is no official method to recognise a 100,000 record.

[jsabine]

I thought when TG started his first attempt (or shortly after) that there was something from the UMCA that essentially said if he got close to the end of the year and decided he wanted to keep going for 100,000 miles, they'd find a means of recording/validating.

Quite possible I'm inventing things, of course.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

That is the right approach and is what would happen.

[Citizenfish]

I asked them and the response was that they would continue to record but would not award as they do not have 100K as a category

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

If I've got my maths right she is well past 100,000km.

[andrew_s]

100,000 km is 62,137.119 miles, which went through about 45 min before the close of play last Wednesday (8th).

[swampthing]

Thanks to Amanda's very consistent daily routine and her clearly arranged progress spreadsheet it is quite easy to check which benchmarks she has passed:
(cf. https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1J7Vgt7u4KC9bY1Lr4xOyd4VLkzQxi0c8ErqyFqBvnHk/edit#gid=2022488017 )

- During day 270 (February 8th) Amanda exceeded 100,000 km.

- Having cycled 63,333 miles (after February 13th) she will probably exceed Steve Abraham's 2015-mileage (63,609 miles) on February 15th (after 277 days).

- If she goes on at her daily average of 230.3 miles/ day she will beat Kurt Searvogel's record of 76,076 miles after around 330 days (which means she is still 55-56 days away).

She's really incredibly constant!

[orraloon]

On that there Facebook AC says she will soon announce start date for her highest monthly mileage attempt.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

On that there Facebook AC says she will soon announce start date for her highest monthly mileage attempt.

I don't have Facebook but it seems that she's upped her mileage recently, last four days were 243, 250, 246, and 255. is the month record now on, or is she starting to up the pace now she only has 75 days to go?

[andrew531]

Annoyingly I have inadvertently 'blocked' Amanda on Strava. Enjoyed seeing her daily updates. Doesn't seem to be a way to unblock on Strava.
Yes maybe she is upping the miles with the end in sight. Still some time to go though.

[orraloon]

And 250 yesterday, day 291.  Nothing further posted as yet about the month attempt.

[clarion]

She's really hit a sweet spot.

[mattc]

She's really hit a sweet spot.

She's on the home straight - less than 70 days to go.

Anyone could bang out 250/day if they knew they only had 70 days left.

[clarion]

Ofc

[Chris S]

I was guilty of being a bit sneery and cynical early on. She's riding round in circles FFS, basically an outdoor track, in a forest, in the sub-tropics.

But the record is about distance, and distance alone - so why wouldn't you? I've revised how I feel about it because - 250 a day is fucking incredible, however you slice it.

[Wowbagger]

I agree. It's an amazing feat of endurance. The physical achievement is one thing, but in a sense I think that is rivalled by the sheer repetition of what she is doing. She must know pretty well every inch of tarmac/whatever surface.

[Kim]

I agree. It's an amazing feat of endurance. The physical achievement is one thing, but in a sense I think that is rivalled by the sheer repetition of what she is doing. She must know pretty well every inch of tarmac/whatever surface.

OTOH, that's still more interesting than many people's poorly-paid day jobs.

[Citizenfish]

I agree. It's an amazing feat of endurance. The physical achievement is one thing, but in a sense I think that is rivalled by the sheer repetition of what she is doing. She must know pretty well every inch of tarmac/whatever surface.

OTOH, that's still more interesting than many people's poorly-paid day jobs.

They have weekends off....

[Polar Bear]

Not always.   Some jobs are shitty, long hours and very low paid.   Nearly 1 million in uk now on zero hours contracts.

[HK]

I was guilty of being a bit sneery and cynical early on. She's riding round in circles FFS, basically an outdoor track, in a forest, in the sub-tropics.

But the record is about distance, and distance alone - so why wouldn't you? I've revised how I feel about it because - 250 a day is fucking incredible, however you slice it.

Having ridden a 1200 in Florida the weather isn't a piece of cake.  Most countries have weather issues, they just don't happen to be the same as the UK.

Sent from my Nexus 7 using Tapatalk

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Amanda has just clocked her seventh day in a row above 250 miles, so looks like she is capable of sustaining an unbelievable average of 250mph for the remaining 67 days, which would take her total close to 86,000 miles  (85,723 at 250mpd).  That's setting the bar high for TG.