Author Topic: [HAMR] A Record Too Dangerous to Break...  (Read 36952 times)

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #25 on: 18 April, 2012, 08:43:05 pm »
We could help by providing accommodation too.

Doorbell rings
"Who is it dear?"
"I'm not sure, I think it used to be a human being, it looks more like something out of Alien. It has got a bike with it though."
"Is it saying anything?"
"No, but it is grinding its teeth terribly."
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #26 on: 18 April, 2012, 08:54:38 pm »
The book IS AVAILABLE - I got a copy off Amazon last week... I read as slow as I cycle so I've not finished it yet !  - A handy tip for Teethgrinder: If you start in the spring or summer you'll only have to ride through one winter - Tommy admitted his mistake was starting on New Years Day as he had to endure two bad winters.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #27 on: 18 April, 2012, 08:58:35 pm »
From http://www.phased.co.uk/index.php/tommy-godwin-mile-eater/tommy-godwin-faq.html

Some lovely photos on that blog John. I like this.

Well, what an extraordinary bloke. I'd never heard of him before.
But the mentality. Day after day. All weathers. All states of mind. Non matter what. Just keep on pushing through.
Quite incredible.
Garry Broad

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #28 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:05:06 pm »
The new website is here: http://www.tommygodwin.com/
With biog, daily mileages, bike details and photos

rogerzilla

  • When n+1 gets out of hand
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #29 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:06:40 pm »
Well, what an extraordinary bloke. I'd never heard of him before.
But the mentality. Day after day. All weathers. All states of mind. Non matter what. Just keep on pushing through.
Quite incredible.
I bet he never broke his frame and still finished a 600, though.
Hard work sometimes pays off in the end, but laziness ALWAYS pays off NOW.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #30 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:09:07 pm »
If 1,000 of us shelled out £20 - £50 each... or 365 sponsored Steve for a day...

Count me in just need 998 more now. Also with the spread of Audaxers nationwide I am sure we could arrange bed and food at an AUKS house for the majority of nights.

rower40

  • Not my boat. Now sold.
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #31 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:22:16 pm »
Count me in just need 998 more now. Also with the spread of Audaxers nationwide I am sure we could arrange bed and food at an AUKS house for the majority of nights.
+1.  Not so many overnight trains for sleeping-on-the-way-home anymore thobut.
Be Naughty; save Santa a trip

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #32 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:23:09 pm »
I bet he never broke his frame and still finished a 600, though.
No, too true.
He did finish a 600 in a day though!
And the next day made do with a relaxing recovery ride of 289 [miles]!
 :o
Garry Broad

shyumu

  • Paying my TV license by cheque since 1993
    • Balancing on Two Wheels
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #33 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:25:12 pm »
What route would you ride?  If catching a train each night to take advantage of prevailing wind there would probably only be one or two really efficient routes to choose.  I can't imagine a record breaking attempt involving "just riding around".  If you found a nice long reliable stretch, 365 days of the same road would surely drive you nuts.
a journal of bicycle rides I have enjoyed:

http://balancingontwowheels.blogspot.co.uk/

Euan Uzami

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #34 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:44:45 pm »
i like how it says in the article that "They" can do over 500 miles in a day now. Easy, then! you'd have broken the record after 6 months! Who is this "They", exactly?!  ;D

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #35 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:46:35 pm »
You.
It is simpler than it looks.

Euan Uzami

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #36 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:50:43 pm »
What route would you ride?  If catching a train each night to take advantage of prevailing wind there would probably only be one or two really efficient routes to choose.  I can't imagine a record breaking attempt involving "just riding around".  If you found a nice long reliable stretch, 365 days of the same road would surely drive you nuts.
I'm curious as to why guiness think it's "too dangerous". I wonder what they think would happen.
Maybe it's not so much physical, so much as that as shyumu says you would have to ride the same road over and over again, and it wouldn' tbe able to be lanes or villlages either it would probably have to be an A-road, and in these modern times, guiness are fearing that if you attempted it you would become literally insane.

Charlotte

  • Dissolute libertine
  • Here's to ol' D.H. Lawrence...
    • charlottebarnes.co.uk
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #37 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:52:32 pm »
Is there any money left over in the YACF Benevolent Fund?

Some.  But not nearly enough.

We could get a Kickstarter style fund going.  365 people in for £50 a head might not be an awful lot in the face of the *massive* food bills, but you could guarantee that a rider wouldn't want for a manufacturer to sponsor him with as many bikes as he could break.

Now if we hooked up with Cyclechat and all the other flora...
Commercial, Editorial and PR Photographer - www.charlottebarnes.co.uk

Wowbagger

  • Former Sylph
    • Stuff mostly about weather
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #38 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:57:34 pm »
You could cheat and find a really long downhill and a van to take you up to the top again. Something like Mallerstang or one of the long Scottish or Welsh descents done repeatedly over 18 hours would probably enable you to fit more miles in during the day and conserve energy.

Obviously you wouldn't want to do this every day but it might allow for some fast miles on odd days.
Quote from: Dez
It doesn’t matter where you start. Just start.

shyumu

  • Paying my TV license by cheque since 1993
    • Balancing on Two Wheels
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #39 on: 18 April, 2012, 09:59:34 pm »
You could cheat and find a really long downhill and a van to take you up to the top again. Something like Mallerstang or one of the long Scottish or Welsh descents would probably enable you to fit more miles in during the day and conserve energy.

Obviously you wouldn't want to do this every day but it might allow for some fast miles on odd days.

And then a heavy old bike might not be such a disadvantage.
a journal of bicycle rides I have enjoyed:

http://balancingontwowheels.blogspot.co.uk/

Euan Uzami

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #40 on: 18 April, 2012, 10:01:28 pm »
You could cheat and find a really long downhill and a van to take you up to the top again. Something like Mallerstang or one of the long Scottish or Welsh descents done repeatedly over 18 hours would probably enable you to fit more miles in during the day and conserve energy.

Obviously you wouldn't want to do this every day but it might allow for some fast miles on odd days.
Well if you're bringing vans into it then by that token you could ride in the slipstream of a lorry and do laps of the M25. I think the speed record for cycling in the slipsteam of a vehicle is something like 150mph.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #41 on: 18 April, 2012, 10:09:22 pm »
If I were to attempt this record, and I doubt I ever would, I probably wouldn't attempt it in the UK. Somewhere with a lot of flat land would seem to be preferable, such as the prairie states in the US. Start in a southern state and keep working west to east in corridors picking north to stay with the optimum weather and then south again hopefully avoiding any of the extreme weather events.
It's evidently doable, with better machinery, better nutrition and so on, just depends on someone being mad enough to do it. Would also benefit from a dedicated cycling meteorologist plotting the next days route in accordance with the anticipated weather patterns.
The question of verification would be to have a similarly sealed GPS unit that also took pictures of the person riding the bike and transmitted them to an open website. Technically hackable but at some point trust needs to come into it.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #42 on: 18 April, 2012, 10:10:46 pm »
I think that a good tailwind in the desert would be better than riding downhill then getting in a van. A lot of faff with getting in and out of vans and down time while travelling in the van.

Doing the same route may even help. It may sound like hell, but you'd learn the roads and your day might have some structure to it. A bit like being at work and doing the same routine every day. I cycle the same route to work almost every day and am perfectly sane. I think. This is just on a bigger scale of the daily commute.


rower40

  • Not my boat. Now sold.
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #43 on: 18 April, 2012, 10:12:55 pm »
If you could go nocturnal for an entire year without going 1000% Bursar, then the roads would be emptier, there would be more trains "home", and it might be easier to choose tailwind-assisted routes.
I did 16000 miles last year.  BY TRAIN.  So this rider did nearly 5x that, by invoking the wartime spirit (perhaps a year early) by just carrying on.  Chapeau x many.
Be Naughty; save Santa a trip

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #44 on: 18 April, 2012, 10:14:09 pm »
no fair to do it with better kit, I bet his bike is still a runner, steel frame and hub gears ...

Fixedwheelnut

  • "If it ain't fixed it's broken"
    • My photos
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #45 on: 18 April, 2012, 10:32:07 pm »
A rolling average of 22kph would allow the record to be matched with a day off every 3 weeks and only 16h per day in the saddle. Well, Steve, what are you waiting for?




If I ever do have a go, I'd do as Tommy did. Start easy and build myself up as I went along. If I went straight into 200mpd from what I do now, I'd be pleased if I lasted more than a month. I did just over 200mpd riding the Grand Triangle in just under 11 days and my legs were shot after that.
Even with all the modern day advantages I have. I have very big doubts about whether I could beat it, but I'd love to give it a go. Some have tried and failed in the past. I think that loneliness could possibly be a big problem too.

I'll have to get myself the book when it comes out. Whatever it costs!

Quote of the day "If I ever do have a go, I'd do as Tommy did. Start easy and build myself up as I went along. "
 You know a ride is going to be tough when Steve say's he will need to ride himself in to it :D

[Waiting for my boss to give me a year off.]  All you need to do is move approx 90 miles away from your work, then do it as a commute :)

"Don't stop pedalling"

dasmoth

  • Techno-optimist
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #46 on: 18 April, 2012, 10:34:57 pm »
Riding it fixed might silence many of the "but you're using modern equipment" critics.

(Although I assume modern tyres are still going to be an advantage).
Half term's when the traffic becomes mysteriously less bad for a week.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #47 on: 18 April, 2012, 10:36:35 pm »
TBF, most people only do about an hours work a day anyway. Your presence on myface would be sadly missed for a year though.

Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #48 on: 18 April, 2012, 10:37:48 pm »
(Although I assume modern tyres are still going to be an advantage).

I can vouch that Halfords still sell shit tyres.

GrahamG

  • Babies bugger bicycling
Re: A Record Too Dangerous to Break...
« Reply #49 on: 19 April, 2012, 09:37:41 am »
I honestly believe that the traffic is the single most limiting factor for this today. Tommy would have been able to just hop on any A road going and head for somewhere a couple of hundred miles away without having to think about navigation - that sort of thing just isn't possible anymore. It's a bit like the people who used to take their camping kit around on holiday with a low gear of 50", they just did the A-road and walked up any significant hills whereas today you have to meticulously plan the route just to avoid the constant traffic.
Brummie in exile (may it forever be so)