[HAMR] Current thoughts on the record attempt?

[Basil]

Too clever for me  -- crickets chirp ... but that does not seem relevant.

Perhaps this was meant?

[Jaded]

I thought Australia lost the crickets?

[drgannet]

I thought Australia lost the crickets?

 

[macnark]

Steve, if you ever need help, whether mechanical, food, or lodgings, and you are between Cambridge and MK, as you often are, feel free to give me a shout and I'll help if I can. I did email the team a while back but had no answer, so am happy to repeat here if it might help.

07858 402683

I live near the Airman Pub on the A507 Henlow/Shefford, and work near Sandy -  I know it's not far from base, but if the weather takes a show-stopping dive, or the wheels fall off, it may save a walk or a kip outside.

Totally in awe of what you are doing and wish you all the best in reaching your target! Keep at it, do it as you think best - I recon you have earned the right to call the shots!

[Chris S]

Steve, if you ever need help, whether mechanical, food, or lodgings, and you are between Cambridge and MK, as you often are, feel free to give me a shout and I'll help if I can. I did email the team a while back but had no answer, so am happy to repeat here if it might help.

Stuff like this is what makes me wonder if there is "a team" at all?

That said, I've not tried emailing Kurt's "Team", and the same may apply.

[Exit Stage Left]

Steve's mentioned in the past that the paraphernalia required to upload the GPS details is what prevents him from moving far from home. It surprises me that no-one has streamlined that process.

[SoreTween]

I guess that was one advantage of the old host system, one of the requirments of hosting was providing a computer for that job.  Now Steve, I believe, carries a laptop which is ballast most of the day.  Win some lose some.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

There are ways to make it easier via his phone but nobody on his team has bothered to set it up.

[Freya]

He carries a laptop to upload results? Er. Technology has moved on from that I believe. 

[Jaded]

"Excuse me while I suck your blood,
excuse me when I phone you,
I've got every one of your records, man,
doesn't that mean I own you?"
Oh, sure, I long ago decided to make myself an exponent
of public possession in the private obsession zone.

But now I'm serious, let's be serious,
I'm not selling you my soul,
try to put it in the records
but I've got to keep my life my own.
One thing I've not got a lot of is time
and it's slipping away...

I've got a life to live too.

Ah, here they come...
Vampires!

[LMT]

A laptop has got to be worth at least 15 watts.

[Jaded]

Depends on the power supply?

[Legs]

The problem, it seems to me, that Steve faces is one of mindset.  Self-sufficiency is essential in an Audax.  This need not be an Audax (as Kurt is proving.)  It seems utterly bewildering to me that he's squandering his chance to rack up much larger distances, cet par, by choosing to make it so much harder for himself. 

Did he ride with mudguards in the summer as well?  Ah, but the weather can change in the course of a day, I hear you cry!  But if you're sticking close enough to home to be able to swap bikes and clothes, that's not an issue...

[DaveE128]

See where you're coming from on that one, but with the mudguards, I'd think that time spent removing and refitting mudguards to suit the weather would be better spent accumulating miles, as I'm not sure you'd make that time back.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Steve has 3 bikes and a mechanic.

[Wowbagger]

I think the implication was that Steve should have a summer bike and a winter bike, one with mudguards and one without, and that if it rains he just nips home, because he is only doing local loops, and swap them.

Not that I can imagine myself doing anything like this in a million years, but if I did, I think the way to go nuts is to restrict yourself to local roads for the duration. I guess that Steve needs to see a bit of the country whilst he's attempting the record. Besides, Jo needs material for his heat maps.

[jochta]

Instead of doing long rides out and back wouldn't shorter figures of 8 or loops centred on home, or a clover leaf ride re-visiting base several times on a ride be more efficient? No need to carry so much stuff, ability to switch bikes/clothing to suit conditions etc.

[HK]

Yes Jochta et al, the hamster wheel approach has already been proved as the best way to deal with wind including not so round wheels.

If you take on any current road records it's going to involve looking at a piece of Tarmac a few metres in front of you. The men's record excludes spectating the countryside.

The women's record is still at a distance for a good capable AUK to do some interesting riding provides she is happy to break the record by a small amount.

[andyoxon]

I've also wondered why a 'hamster wheel', or a <10 lap circuit = 1 Godwin, hasn't really been done.  The other day I had a bit of a look on a routeplanner as to what would be a potentially good circuit in the MK area - and it's not that flat.  I think towards/around Bicester was possibly the least elevation.

[Fidgetbuzz]

To the best of my knowledge there has NEVER been any team thought put into how best to maximise Steve's mileage over a time frame of any length -- whether that be 1, 2, 7, 31, or 365 days. Thought would require covering many strands -- bikes, nutrition, support,clothing , routes,  geography etc etc etc.. Total reliance was placed on Steves original assumption that he could beat Tommy by several thousand miles.. result .. this belief accepted as fact .. therefore no need to consider how best to tackle the challenge. Whereas I would suggest that Steve is at his limit to beat Tommy / Kurt and therefore needs to take advantage of every tiny gain possible  -- Brailsford -- marginal gains matter

[Kim]

See where you're coming from on that one, but with the mudguards, I'd think that time spent removing and refitting mudguards to suit the weather would be better spent accumulating miles, as I'm not sure you'd make that time back.

If we're going to argue about mudguards (and why not, we've debated everything else), how about "mudguards don't actually slow you down, other than by adding weight to the bike"?

[jochta]

See where you're coming from on that one, but with the mudguards, I'd think that time spent removing and refitting mudguards to suit the weather would be better spent accumulating miles, as I'm not sure you'd make that time back.

If we're going to argue about mudguards (and why not, we've debated everything else), how about "mudguards don't actually slow you down, other than by adding weight to the bike"?

They can't possibly be any good for the aerodynamics basically acting like a funnel/baffle to the air you're cycling into. Therefore increasing the air resistance and thus the power required to go at the same speed without.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

Steve hasn't been able to consistently better 220 miles a day in ideal conditions. At the current rate that he is losing daily distance, he'll need to average something similar to that from January to August. Without a change of approach from Steve and his team to consistently maximise distance, the record is slipping out of his reach.

Again, I am available 24/7 from Christmas to New Year's Day inclusive to do whatever you want, be it towing Steve into headwinds, motorised support, transfers or anything else. You just have to decide what to do and bloody ask.

[LMT]

To the best of my knowledge there has NEVER been any team thought put into how best to maximise Steve's mileage over a time frame of any length -- whether that be 1, 2, 7, 31, or 365 days. Thought would require covering many strands -- bikes, nutrition, support,clothing , routes,  geography etc etc etc.. Total reliance was placed on Steves original assumption that he could beat Tommy by several thousand miles.. result .. this belief accepted as fact .. therefore no need to consider how best to tackle the challenge. Whereas I would suggest that Steve is at his limit to beat Tommy / Kurt and therefore needs to take advantage of every tiny gain possible  -- Brailsford -- marginal gains matter

This kinda figures with the whole ''I'll just get on my bike and ride approach.''

I'd be more than tempted to take up LWAB's offer and see what a difference (I believe) it will make. A warm cup of hot chocolate and some pop tarts every 40 or so miles, along with a friendly encouraging word would only be a good thing surely.

[Kim]

If we're going to argue about mudguards (and why not, we've debated everything else), how about "mudguards don't actually slow you down, other than by adding weight to the bike"?

They can't possibly be any good for the aerodynamics basically acting like a funnel/baffle to the air you're cycling into. Therefore increasing the air resistance and thus the power required to go at the same speed without.

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2012/05/02/aerodynamics-of-real-world-bicycles/