Author Topic: [HAMR] Current thoughts on the record attempt?  (Read 252663 times)

mattc

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #850 on: 21 December, 2015, 09:54:11 am »
Quietly without fanfare, yesterday, Steve passed René Menzies' 1937 record – with ten days yet to ride. Sometimes it's good to be reminded what Steve has achieved so far even when things don't go exactly as planned.
Indeed!   :thumbsup:

And IMHO, Steve's figure has only been beaten by bona fide elite athletes; Tour de France riders, and a winner of multiple 12h and 24h races.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #851 on: 21 December, 2015, 10:02:48 am »

I can't see Steve stopping at any point before August myself

Unless he looks after his health he may well be forced to.

I had been thinking of posting more thoughts but I've been 'Bullied' out of it.

signed; Sad and concerned
Tandem Riders Do It Together
188 miles NNE of Marsh Gibbon

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #852 on: 21 December, 2015, 10:05:33 am »
Its very clear Steve is attempting to break the record his way, in his own and style and in a manner that he is personally comfortable with. I can understand that and admire him for his commitment to the cause. I am disappointed in the lack of news about the event, at best its the title of the Strava event for the day that gives a clue to how Steve is.  The web page has nothing on it  and apart from the odd snapshot on Facebook there is not much forthcoming apart from the odd snippet from Steve's inner circle of friends.

I now question if its worth continuing to donate to the cause, nothing to do with if the record is broken or not, just from the point of view of feeling that the support given is not valued. After all it can't be too much effort to put out a news letter once a week to help keep Steve's fan club on the edge our seats.

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #853 on: 21 December, 2015, 10:28:08 am »
Those of us who support the Mersey 24 know where Steve stands within that particular arena. An interesting aspect were his performances relative to Joel Sothern, a US rider who came over in 2007 and 2008, He's Kurt's one-time RAAM two-man team partner. Form tended to suggest that Steve and Kurt weren't too far apart in potential, with Steve having the edge in 'toughness', Kurt in speed.

It's always been interesting to compare support styles of the top contenders at the 24. Steve's support system has been complex, especially at the start of the attempt, when it was an exercise in 'crowd-sourcing'. You could probably draw some sort of Venn diagram showing how the three main 'constituencies' interested in Steve's ride interacted over time. Those constituencies being his core team, YACF and Strava/Facebook. A similar diagram for Kurt would essentially be two concentric circles, Kurt and Alicia.

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #854 on: 21 December, 2015, 10:28:50 am »


Your rather nasty comment about  sad people -- would suggest that since there have been only 3 , 4 or 5 people ( IronOx  ?) attempting this challenge in the last 75 years -- that they are the only people who could possibly have any constructive ideas on how to tackle the challenge, and this is clearly barking mad.

There are other people who take on the Year challenge. Unlike the HAMR participants they usually have full time jobs.

AUKs very own late Pat Kenny rode 30,000 miles and did his full time job as a civil engineer plus occasionally saw his wife and two daughters. There is a current AUK who regularly rides 20,000 miles plus around the day job. You won't probably heard of these people just to name a few as what they do is only found within 300,000 miles club.

So, there is a small group of cyclist who do know how to ride a year.

Auntie Helen

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #855 on: 21 December, 2015, 10:52:05 am »
Very nice Mr L, I'm thinking around the 180w mark to get upto cruising speed of around 28mph. Fully faired and a trike means any weather, ice or not. My FTP is around the 330w mark so 180w would be a recovery ride. The biggest problem would be boredom when doing the miles but I'd rig some sort of music system to keep me going.

My grate frend Mr Bird is currently building a racing f/f recumbent trike which he reckons will give him 26-27 mph at 130W, though it's not intended for all-day habitation like a pukka velomobile.  The Milan seems to be the current state of the art as far as record-breaking goes with a 12H record of >420 miles and over 750 miles in 24H.  Which is by the by coz it's against the HAMR rules anyway.  I'm sure if one asked the WHPVA and/or IHPVA nicely they'd sanction a record under similar rules of evidence as UMCA are doing for HAMR.
the DF is considered to be quicker now. Daniel Fenn (the builder) rode from Berlin to Hamburg at an average of 51km/h a few months ago.
My blog on cycling in Germany and eating German cake – http://www.auntiehelen.co.uk


Mr Larrington

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #856 on: 21 December, 2015, 10:58:56 am »
I have heard some Daniel Fenn stories, which seem to agree that he is a bit of a hooligan.
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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #857 on: 21 December, 2015, 11:12:51 am »


Your rather nasty comment about  sad people -- would suggest that since there have been only 3 , 4 or 5 people ( IronOx  ?) attempting this challenge in the last 75 years -- that they are the only people who could possibly have any constructive ideas on how to tackle the challenge, and this is clearly barking mad.

There are other people who take on the Year challenge. Unlike the HAMR participants they usually have full time jobs.

AUKs very own late Pat Kenny rode 30,000 miles and did his full time job as a civil engineer plus occasionally saw his wife and two daughters. There is a current AUK who regularly rides 20,000 miles plus around the day job. You won't probably heard of these people just to name a few as what they do is only found within 300,000 miles club.

So, there is a small group of cyclist who do know how to ride a year.

I ride somewhere around 25,000 miles a year around a (more than) full time job, a family, and also taking part in another sport. It just involves getting up very early and getting home quite late. I could not mentally ride 75,000 miles a year, it's a totally different kettle of fish. I'd be bored out my mind to be honest and just want to do something different. All day, every day- breaking up the day with a full time job although it takes a lot of time, I consider it nothing like the same. Physically, who knows, but I'd rather do 25,000 miles and have another life any day long, what these boys are up to is just a totally, totally different experience I reckon. But that's just me. I'm sure other people might love to be on their bike 24/7 and do nothing else. I'd miss my family and friends for a start.

I am very relieved to see Steve's obviously feeling a little better :)

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #858 on: 21 December, 2015, 11:31:40 am »
The point Lady Cavendish is that there are people who know how to put together a good year ride. To do the Tommy Godwin it is mainly scaling up as the principles remain the same.

Yes I do agree to ride 75,000 plus that you do need to be able to deal with a fare amount of tedious riding.   But to crank out anything beyond 15,000 miles unless you don't work a fair amount of tedious riding is involved.

I wouldn't say Steve is well - a very extend toilet stop isn't good.

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #859 on: 21 December, 2015, 11:41:27 am »
I don't really find my general riding tedious, but then I don't ride to count miles just for miles sake, I don't have any of these mileage targets or anything, not my thing- maybe then it would become tedious, or like a chore. I do get what you're saying though.

And yep, I said 'better' not 'well' ;) Hopefully improving at least. I've no idea how he's riding so far with stomach issues  :sick:

crowriver

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #860 on: 21 December, 2015, 11:52:04 am »
You could probably draw some sort of Venn diagram showing how the three main 'constituencies' interested in Steve's ride interacted over time. Those constituencies being his core team, YACF and Strava/Facebook.

In terms of purely financial support, there is also an option to make a one off £1 donation when entering any AUK calendar event via PayPal. So there is potentially quite a large body of silent supporters out there who've made small one-off contributions: I know I'm among them.
Embrace your inner Fred.

crowriver

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #861 on: 21 December, 2015, 11:57:03 am »
I now question if its worth continuing to donate to the cause, nothing to do with if the record is broken or not, just from the point of view of feeling that the support given is not valued. After all it can't be too much effort to put out a news letter once a week to help keep Steve's fan club on the edge our seats.

Either you are donating to help Steve in his attempt to break the record, or you feel you've paid for regular updates as a form of entertainment. Arguably you could have both, but without a slightly slicker PR operation this may be tricky for Steve & Co to arrange. Personally I am not a regular direct debit supporter and have no expectations of regular news updates, however I might suggest that those who do have such expectations need to rein them in a bit. Yes, we are in the era of instantaneous updates, immediate gratification, soshul meedja and all that. Maybe though folk ought to cut Steve and his immediate support crew some slack: they presumably have their hands full as it is...
Embrace your inner Fred.

mattc

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #862 on: 21 December, 2015, 12:00:32 pm »
In 34 pages of posts I can only see a single one that could possibly be construed as having a dig at Steve (gleefully quoted by mattC).  It's pretty apparent that everyone here is not only captivated by the challenge but also wants the best for Steve.

"gleefully" ??

What makes you think that? This isn't a debating contest - I dont award myself points for highlighting how awful people sometimes are :(


[And to your 2nd point: no. MOST people are very much "wanting the best for Steve", but there is a very small - yet vocal - nasty minority. I suspect they are motivated like most internet trolls, in that ... oh heck, I've said all this stuff once before  ... )
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

CrazyEnglishTriathlete

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #863 on: 21 December, 2015, 12:07:05 pm »
In addition to stepping up to one of the upper plinths on the pantheon of the 20th century records attempts, it's perhaps worth remembering that Steve will be recorded by HAM'R as the record holder at close of play 31 December, and will hold his age-group record for at least a year. 

Not bad for a humble bloke from Bedfordshire, who likes to ride his bike.

+1
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Wowbagger

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #864 on: 21 December, 2015, 12:08:16 pm »
I visit these pages almost every day and try to keep track of what Steve is up to. IIRC I set up a DD a year ago, set to expire this month. I don't expect anything for my money, just the knowledge that the record attempt is still alive.

I don't know what the roles of the various team members are so I have no clue about whether they are doing their jobs properly or not. Alicia, OTOH, must have an awful lot of time on her hands as Kurt spins his way round the hamster wheel: there are only so many hours a day you can spend shopping for pop tarts. She's ideally placed to spend a bit of time on publicity and I'd say that she has used that time well.

If at some future stage Steve decided to try again (says he, assuming that this attempt isn't going to take the record) and he wants to try the camper-van approach, provided I have fully given up work (another 3 years away I think) I wouldn't mind at all being one of a group who take on the duties of driver/cook if a camper van were part of Steve's plans.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #865 on: 21 December, 2015, 12:29:58 pm »
You could probably draw some sort of Venn diagram showing how the three main 'constituencies' interested in Steve's ride interacted over time. Those constituencies being his core team, YACF and Strava/Facebook.

In terms of purely financial support, there is also an option to make a one off £1 donation when entering any AUK calendar event via PayPal. So there is potentially quite a large body of silent supporters out there who've made small one-off contributions: I know I'm among them.

This is exactly what makes me feel uncomfortable. I'm guessing many AUK members will have made small contributions towards Steve's attempt. They literally have an invested interest in what's going on and there's been little feedback. It also may be contributing to Steve feeling 'obliged' to ride against advice, if that is the case.

Does this optional support continue after 31st December? It does specifically say 2015 in the graphic on the entry form.

PS. It's optional of course but it's always seemed a bit odd to me for the organisation to ask for money for something like this. Individual and corporate sponsorship is a bit different to this IMO.

mattc

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #866 on: 21 December, 2015, 12:34:40 pm »
...
Quote
there is also an option to make a one off £1 donation when entering any AUK calendar event via PayPal. So there is potentially quite a large body of silent supporters out there who've made small one-off contributions.
...

PS. It's optional of course but it's always seemed a bit odd to me for the organisation to ask for money for something like this. Individual and corporate sponsorship is a bit different to this IMO.
Not sure I see a problem. Its a  bit like having a Comic Relief bucket at the supermarket tills.
Has never ridden RAAM
---------
No.11  Because of the great host of those who dislike the least appearance of "swank " when they travel the roads and lanes. - From Kuklos' 39 Articles

red marley

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #867 on: 21 December, 2015, 12:46:56 pm »
Glimpses of how truly huge this challenge is #417: There's a feeling now that Kurt can almost cruise home as he nears the end of the challenge. But to beat the record he still needs to do 3.7 PBPs back to back.

crowriver

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #868 on: 21 December, 2015, 12:49:38 pm »
...
Quote
there is also an option to make a one off £1 donation when entering any AUK calendar event via PayPal. So there is potentially quite a large body of silent supporters out there who've made small one-off contributions.
...

PS. It's optional of course but it's always seemed a bit odd to me for the organisation to ask for money for something like this. Individual and corporate sponsorship is a bit different to this IMO.
Not sure I see a problem. Its a  bit like having a Comic Relief bucket at the supermarket tills.

Indeed, and the amount is small: £1 won't even get you to one stop along the road on a bus these days. A bag of crisps, maybe.

If you enter say a dozen AUK calendar events and choose to donate, you've given £12, hardly a fortune. Equivalent to one course of a meal when eating in a modest establishment. You can always choose not to donate, too.
Embrace your inner Fred.

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #869 on: 21 December, 2015, 12:53:18 pm »

... I wouldn't mind at all being one of a group who take on the duties of driver/cook if a camper van were part of Steve's plans.

How much of Alicia's role where you thinking of taking on?

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #870 on: 21 December, 2015, 12:54:45 pm »
I now question if its worth continuing to donate to the cause, nothing to do with if the record is broken or not, just from the point of view of feeling that the support given is not valued. After all it can't be too much effort to put out a news letter once a week to help keep Steve's fan club on the edge our seats.

Either you are donating to help Steve in his attempt to break the record, or you feel you've paid for regular updates as a form of entertainment. Arguably you could have both, but without a slightly slicker PR operation this may be tricky for Steve & Co to arrange. Personally I am not a regular direct debit supporter and have no expectations of regular news updates, however I might suggest that those who do have such expectations need to rein them in a bit. Yes, we are in the era of instantaneous updates, immediate gratification, soshul meedja and all that. Maybe though folk ought to cut Steve and his immediate support crew some slack: they presumably have their hands full as it is...

Your right I am principally donating to help Steve break the record and I dont feel by donating that I've paid for regular news updates to entertain me, but  I am genuinely interested in Steve's journey, so how is anyone supposed to gain any knowledge of situation when there is only conjecture  supported by the odd fact banded about.  There used to be updates on Steve's webpage every month or so , since July one post.  This post is about  current thoughts on the record attempt, my view is that communication could be better from the team.




 

crowriver

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #871 on: 21 December, 2015, 01:02:33 pm »
I now question if its worth continuing to donate to the cause, nothing to do with if the record is broken or not, just from the point of view of feeling that the support given is not valued. After all it can't be too much effort to put out a news letter once a week to help keep Steve's fan club on the edge our seats.

Either you are donating to help Steve in his attempt to break the record, or you feel you've paid for regular updates as a form of entertainment. Arguably you could have both, but without a slightly slicker PR operation this may be tricky for Steve & Co to arrange. Personally I am not a regular direct debit supporter and have no expectations of regular news updates, however I might suggest that those who do have such expectations need to rein them in a bit. Yes, we are in the era of instantaneous updates, immediate gratification, soshul meedja and all that. Maybe though folk ought to cut Steve and his immediate support crew some slack: they presumably have their hands full as it is...

Your right I am principally donating to help Steve break the record and I dont feel by donating that I've paid for regular news updates to entertain me, but  I am genuinely interested in Steve's journey, so how is anyone supposed to gain any knowledge of situation when there is only conjecture  supported by the odd fact banded about.  There used to be updates on Steve's webpage every month or so , since July one post.  This post is about  current thoughts on the record attempt, my view is that communication could be better from the team.

Fair enough. The Facebook page seems to have reasonably regular updates. Steve has even been on this forum recently posting comments!
Otherwise Jo is doing a great job of giving us daily updates on Steve's progress, route, any issues, etc. on the "Visualising the OYTT" thread here. That's what I'm following.  ;D
Embrace your inner Fred.

Wowbagger

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #872 on: 21 December, 2015, 01:03:24 pm »

... I wouldn't mind at all being one of a group who take on the duties of driver/cook if a camper van were part of Steve's plans.

How much of Alicia's role where you thinking of taking on?

I was being specific.
Quote from: Dez
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Martin

Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #873 on: 21 December, 2015, 01:09:46 pm »
I still have the old spreadsheet as my favourites (that wasn't updated after 29th May by the look of it) it shows Steve's average the day before his accident as 193mpd; (of which 9 days were above 212miles) pretty much what it is now. An extra 20 per day from now to break the record is possible but would require a considerable improvement. January will be critical.

Kurt's was 201mpd during that period

Wowbagger

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Re: Current thoughts on the record attempt?
« Reply #874 on: 21 December, 2015, 01:10:07 pm »
I would think that a tracker showing within a few minutes exactly where Steve is in the course of a day is pretty good feedback. In March, when he stopped for all that time in Devon, the longer it went on, the more worried I became. Likewise, in recent days the state of Steve's alimentary canal has been broadcast far and wide for our delectation.

OK, this isn't being given a glimpse into the finer points of team Steve's strategy, but if, after more than 11 months, it hasn't sunk in what that is (Steve gets up, rides a huge distance with occasional meal stops, goes to bed and does the same again every day) we haven't got the grips with what his strategy is, well...

That actually calls into question what the point of The Team actually is, apart from the domestic duties back at Steve's flat, assuming that he is still having someone in to do his shopping, cooking and laundry.
Quote from: Dez
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