[HAMR] Tarzan (Kurt Searvogel)

[Wowbagger]

He was referred to by some as the Prince of Wales before the investiture. Can't say I know, or care, about when he adopted that title. I know my brother was at Cardiff University around that time and he and many of his fellow students didn't have a good word to say about him.

[Jaded]

May 1958. Invested in 1969 I think.

[Shreds]

Wiki says:-

"Prince Charles was created Prince of Wales and Earl of Chester by Letters Patent on 26 July 1958, though his actual investiture did not take place until 1 July 1969."

I recall the milk bottles tops had a special motif - strange the things you remember!

[Mothy]

Jaded and Shreds:
Thanks for the history lesson, I guess I was remembering the 1969 ceremonial bit!

[red marley]

[Shreds]

Kurt seems to be disliking the wind and rain, good thing he isn't riding in good old Blighty!

[Wobbly]

Today's been pretty wind and rain free. Pretty parky though.

[Mr Larrington]

It wouldn't come as any great surprise if the tail-end of Patricia made Tarzan's neck of the woods jungle a bit soggy for a day or two.  I got caught in the aftermath of Hurricane Odile in New Mexico/Texas last year and it was a very damp couple of days.

[toontra]

Another relatively poor day for Kurt, who's complaining about the wind, rain & cold.  I checked his local forecast and it's not really that bad - 12-18c, 15mph winds gusting to 25 (which he often drives into to turn into a tailwind anyway) and intermittent rain for a couple of days.  Compared with a UK winter that's positively balmy.

I think this is more to do with the accumulated mental and physical strain of the challenge and it could drag him below the required rate quite quickly.  I think he needs to get to Florida soon to try and break up the current mindset.

[danridesbikes]

Compared with a UK winter that's positively balmy.

its called acclimatisation

i can holiday in Florida in December and go to the beach, whereas locals will have jumpers/coast on, similarly i can go to Alaska, and be freezing, yet locals will be in shorts and t-shirt

if your used to poor weather etc then its easier to stay motivated when the weather is poor, if your used to good weather and you get a run of bad weather, its easy to complain

 

[mattc]

Another relatively poor day for Kurt, who's complaining about the wind, rain & cold.  I checked his local forecast and it's not really that bad - 12-18c, 15mph winds gusting to 25 (which he often drives into to turn into a tailwind anyway) and intermittent rain for a couple of days.  Compared with a UK winter that's positively balmy.

Indeed. When they asked on facebook for tips on riding in the cold-n-wet, I had to bite my tongue: I wanted to post
"try riding jan-march in the UK - that'll teach you a few things!", but I do honestly wish them luck. No matter how many smilies I included, there's still a chance it would come across badly!

I think this is more to do with the accumulated mental and physical strain of the challenge and it could drag him below the required rate quite quickly.  I think he needs to get to Florida soon to try and break up the current mindset.

Probably true. Hopefully this is just a brief mental trough, following the .. er ... "honeymoon" period! He can afford a week of short days if it gets him back into a good mindset. Or maybe one afternoon/evening off so they can go have some fun somewhere.

Whatever; I think he's got enough mental grit to see it through now he's this close 

[toontra]

Yes, that's my view.  If he can hold it together then he'll just break the record come Jan 8th.

That leaves the way open for Steve to overtake him next year in a tortoise/hare scenario that could get very exciting!

[Byronius Maximus]

I checked his local forecast and it's not really that bad - 12-18c, 15mph winds gusting to 25 (which he often drives into to turn into a tailwind anyway)

Temperature is okay, but a 15 mph wind is pretty hard work on the bike!

[jochta]

I hope he does it. It would be such a shame (especially for him) if he faltered now he's so "close" to the end.

[simonp]

FSVO close.

[hillbilly]

He's still got 74 or so days left.  He hasn't heard the bell for the final lap yet. 

Plenty of scope for him to add several hundred miles to the threshold, and have his name heralded down the decades, or to see his attempt slip away into the cruel footnotes of history.

[red marley]

True. And what's scary is that he is still likely to be in that position of not knowing which of two futures he has come January 1st, when the final week's riding will determine the outcome.

[rabbit]

I think this is more to do with the accumulated mental and physical strain of the challenge and it could drag him below the required rate quite quickly.  I think he needs to get to Florida soon to try and break up the current mindset.

I think you are right.

I read the posts on FB and just wanted to say - FFS you've gone through SO much this year with illness, accidents, mechanicals etc and you can't cope with getting some wet weather gear and getting on with it when it rains?  BUT then I realised, it may just be that he is getting close to the edge and in fact, is struggling with the overall accumulation so didn't want to sound cruel!

Hope he shakes it off, and he gets back down to business and deals with it.

Show's how incredibly tenacious TG is though, even with acclimatisation, the UK weather is tough and unpredictable compared to what Kurt is struggling to deal with at the moment.  Whatever the American record attempt ends up as, I must admit, I will always feel that it isn't comparable to doing it in the UK with our ridiculous roads, junctions, traffic, variable climate and drunk-moped-riders. 

[wajcgac]

I checked his local forecast and it's not really that bad - 12-18c, 15mph winds gusting to 25 (which he often drives into to turn into a tailwind anyway)

Temperature is okay, but a 15 mph wind is pretty hard work on the bike!

True but he had 200 km of 15 mph tailwind yesterday and then was driven back to Little Rock so that makes it much easier.

[toontra]

His performance went down when he got to Little Rock for the first time back in the spring.  There may be just too many distractions there - family, work, household chores, etc. - for him to concentrate fully on the challenge.

The stats are showing another slow day today (although there is time to reverse things).  My advice to him would be to hot-tail it down south ASAP before things take a downward spiral that he can't recover from.

[sg37409]

True. And what's scary is that he is still likely to be in that position of not knowing which of two futures he has come January 1st, when the final week's riding will determine the outcome.

Wow - This is pretty striking.

[Basil]

Substitute "drunk moped riders" for drunk Good Ol' Boys with rifle racks in the rear window of their pickup.   

[Shreds]

Obviously married life......  

Seriously, I think that there are too many soothsayers, and whilst Kurt and Steve are two very different styles of riders, remember that Kurt likes a challenge. Far too early to put any writing on the wall at this stage.

[CrazyEnglishTriathlete]

Congratulations Kurt


60,000 miles in a year !!!!

[mrcharly-YHT]

isn't comparable to doing it in the UK with our ridiculous roads, junctions, traffic, variable climate and drunk-moped-riders.

while in many ways I agree with you, Kurt has been run off the road or clipped on multiple occasions. He's definitely faced challenges on the roads.