Author Topic: [HAMR] 20th Jan - Steve day 166  (Read 20394 times)

TimC

  • Old blerk sometimes onabike.
Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #100 on: 21 January, 2016, 01:36:23 pm »
I think it's too early to speculate on a voluntary end of the attempt. More worrying is the possibility that Steve is unable to ride just now, without necessarily being at death's door! I'm sure we've all said we're 'OK' when we're not at all, and similarly said so about family or friends when trying to deflect further questioning. It's frustrating that there's not more info, but if there is any kind of medical reason why Steve can't ride, it may take some time before the medics pronounce on his health and thus before the team can relay anything to us.

Charlie Boy

  • Dreams in kilometers
Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #101 on: 21 January, 2016, 01:42:07 pm »
Notwithstanding all the dissatisfaction with Steve's team and the lack of info, if this is indeed the end of the attempt, something on which Steve had set his heart quite a long time ago, he's going to need a bit of time to recover from the overwhelming disappointment. I'd like to give him some breathing space and wish him all the best for whatever comes next. He's a great cyclist and has earned a place in cycling's Pantheon. Not only that, he's an absolutely lovely bloke.

^This

It cannot be underestimated what effect the end, voluntary or involuntary, will have on someone who by all reports has fancied having a go at this record for many many years. And not only fancied having a go, but had a decent chance of achieving it. I do hope the support team will keep an eye on him as cooped up in his flat all alone it would be easy for him to dwell too much, whereas he has much to celebrate.

I sure we won't forget that despite breaking his leg he still got within 13% of Godwin's record and that is simply remarkable in this day and age.

However, we do not yet know whether that point has been reached.

Mojo is being awakened.

mmmmartin

  • BPB 1/1: PBP 0/1
    • FNRttC
Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #102 on: 21 January, 2016, 01:53:42 pm »
comparing the difference between scaling Everest and K2 and suggesting the latter is but a mere pimple. Kurt's year of riding was hardly a jolly wheeze.
For starters, K2 is way harder than Everest, by several magnitudes. And for seconds, I never said Kurt's year was easy. Just that Steve's year was way harder. Which, in fact, is exactly what Kurt himself said.

Steve can wake up every morning for the rest of his life and look at himself in the mirror and be proud of what he sees.
Besides, it wouldn't be audacious if success were guaranteed.

Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #103 on: 21 January, 2016, 02:06:32 pm »
Notwithstanding all the dissatisfaction with Steve's team and the lack of info, if this is indeed the end of the attempt, something on which Steve had set his heart quite a long time ago, he's going to need a bit of time to recover from the overwhelming disappointment. I'd like to give him some breathing space and wish him all the best for whatever comes next. He's a great cyclist and has earned a place in cycling's Pantheon. Not only that, he's an absolutely lovely bloke.
Absolutely.

mmmmartin

  • BPB 1/1: PBP 0/1
    • FNRttC
Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #104 on: 21 January, 2016, 02:56:40 pm »
Public Relations failure that could have been avoided with a one-sentence Facebook post
and within 30 minutes we're given exactly such a one-sentence post. This shows us, perhaps, that The Team read this thread but do not post to it.
The FB post tells us steve is OK (which we were told before) and the tracker isn't showing (which we also knew). It doesn't reassure us that, for instance, there is a new tracker, or steve is resting under doctor's orders, or the bike is broken, or steve is eating his way through an entire cow. With chips. It tells us nothing. Which is precisely what The Team intended.

This is rather like Sherlock Holmes The Silver Dagger - what can we deduce from the fact that the dog did not bark in the night?

We are left, once again, to do our own guesswork. We can guess he's not riding and the loss of a couple of days means the end of the attempt as we think he can't recoup those lost miles. We can be pretty sure he's gutted. He's given up his life savings, his job, almost two years of his life, and lived through the evaporation of his dream.

Does this lessen the man in our eyes? Not one single jot. In a way, just to keep plugging away at it through the winter when success seemed to be moving further and further away seems to me entirely in the audax spirit. 
Besides, it wouldn't be audacious if success were guaranteed.

mattc

  • n.b. have grown beard since photo taken
    • Didcot Audaxes
Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #105 on: 21 January, 2016, 07:32:56 pm »
<snip>
... I never said Kurt's year was easy. Just that Steve's year was way harder. Which, in fact, is exactly what Kurt himself said.

Steve can wake up every morning for the rest of his life and look at himself in the mirror and be proud of what he sees.
My bold: I think this deserves more attention. Kurt and Alicia have both recently made comments supporting this view. Chapeau to them both for this.
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: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #106 on: 21 January, 2016, 07:43:09 pm »
That's not quite what they said. They said that the style and conditions of Steve's attempt make it harder to break the record than it was for Kurt. Once could argue that the distances completed by both riders are a response to some approximately equivalent level of effort put in by both riders under different conditions.

Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #107 on: 21 January, 2016, 07:52:43 pm »
I think it's indisputable that Steve's riding the harder miles. How many times did Kurt ride in freezing conditions?
You're only as successful as your last 1200...

red marley

Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #108 on: 21 January, 2016, 07:59:17 pm »
I agree with you (and Kurt and Alicia) that the in general Steve has been riding 'harder miles'. But I am less confident in assuming that Kurt's Steve's 63565 miles were harder than Steve's Kurt's 76076 miles.

Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #109 on: 21 January, 2016, 08:00:55 pm »
Maybe there's a British record that Steve can go for.

Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #110 on: 21 January, 2016, 08:01:50 pm »
-puzzled-

Who said that Jo?

[I'm hoping I haven't posted anything which suggested that]
You're only as successful as your last 1200...

red marley

Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #111 on: 21 January, 2016, 08:06:14 pm »
Oops. I misspoke. Now edited.

TimC

  • Old blerk sometimes onabike.
Re: 20th Jan - Steve day 166
« Reply #112 on: 21 January, 2016, 10:51:24 pm »
I think what Kurt said was that Steve, by choosing to ride through the UK winter, had taken a harder route than he had, and that, had he (Kurt) done his riding in the UK winter, he wouldn't have broken the record. But we'll never know the truth of that unless he was to give it a go! But it was a gallant and kind thing to say, whatever the final result for Steve.