[HAMR] Tarzan (Kurt Searvogel)

[Mr Larrington]

No update for two hours from Tarzan - either he's having a short day or the tracker's gone spoooey.

[IanDG]

I can see 115.92 miles @ 07:00:38pm

[Mr Larrington]

So can I now

[IanDG]

Steve's seems to have thrown a wobbly tho' - last data 6.45

[Wowbagger]

I find it most unlikely Steve will derive any satisfaction from holding the record for a couple of weeks.

Quite the reverse, he will be mightily hacked off to have all that effort effectively wiped out so soon.

What he will think is Tarzan is just another obstacle to overcome.

Of course, it's all supposition.

The only way to find out what Steve thinks is to ask Steve.

Interesting. His record wouldn't be "wiped out" - it would still be on the record books, but just as one that has been beaten since.

When someone sets a new record, surely it's the past he's competing against, not the future.

[LittleWheelsandBig]

If Kurt gets past 75,065 before Steve, he'll take Tommy's record.

[Pale Rider]

I find it most unlikely Steve will derive any satisfaction from holding the record for a couple of weeks.

Quite the reverse, he will be mightily hacked off to have all that effort effectively wiped out so soon.

What he will think is Tarzan is just another obstacle to overcome.

Of course, it's all supposition.

The only way to find out what Steve thinks is to ask Steve.

Interesting. His record wouldn't be "wiped out" - it would still be on the record books, but just as one that has been beaten since.

When someone sets a new record, surely it's the past he's competing against, not the future.

Some truth in that, although Steve's schedule - from the website - is interesting.

It's either 82,835 miles or 87,129 miles.

What it is not is, say, one mile more than Tommy or 10 miles or 100 miles.

Steve has simply asked himself the question: "How far could I cycle in one year?"

Maybe reaching one of those targets would satisfy him, irrespective of what the American does.

[Wowbagger]

Yes, I was thinking about long-standing records. The most famous for your average sports enthusiast is Perry's Wimbledon one. Murray will for ever be remembered as the guy who broke it. If a whole sequence of British players come along in the future and win Wimbledon, that won't eclipse Murray's achievement as the guy who finally broke through.

Another that's closer to home for me is the British carp record. I used to waste quite a lot of time trying to catch carp and it was well known amongst anglers that Dick Walker's record from 1952 (44lb) was the one to beat. The fact that the fish was in London Zoo added to the frisson - it was my favourite exhibit when I was young. It died in 1971. It took until 1980 for Chris Yates to beat that, with a 51lb fish from the same lake. Since then, it has been broken several times, largely due to the commercialisation of carp fishing and the use of high-protein baits. I was chatting to a guy in our local park the other day and his personal best was a 41lb fish. When I was into carp fishing, that would have been an earth-shattering catch. Hardly anyone ever caught anything over 30lb but such fish are 2 a penny these days but I would imagine that Walker's fish remains the most famous. He was the pioneer (built his own rod out of split cane, which became a commercial success) when most anglers thought the carp was too difficult to waste time on.

I've just googled to find out the current record: 62lb 4oz!

[hillbilly]

Is Tarzan lost?  His route is like a drunken sailor playing pin the tail on the donkey.  Can't imagine it is very efficient; towns in America usually have stacks of traffic lights.

[bobb]

I thought he was only doing 100 miles on Sundays?

[IanDG]

Yes, I was thinking about long-standing records. The most famous for your average sports enthusiast is Perry's Wimbledon one. Murray will for ever be remembered as the guy who broke it. If a whole sequence of British players come along in the future and win Wimbledon, that won't eclipse Murray's achievement as the guy who finally broke through.

Another that's closer to home for me is the British carp record. I used to waste quite a lot of time trying to catch carp and it was well known amongst anglers that Dick Walker's record from 1952 (44lb) was the one to beat. The fact that the fish was in London Zoo added to the frisson - it was my favourite exhibit when I was young. It died in 1971. It took until 1980 for Chris Yates to beat that, with a 51lb fish from the same lake. Since then, it has been broken several times, largely due to the commercialisation of carp fishing and the use of high-protein baits. I was chatting to a guy in our local park the other day and his personal best was a 41lb fish. When I was into carp fishing, that would have been an earth-shattering catch. Hardly anyone ever caught anything over 30lb but such fish are 2 a penny these days but I would imagine that Walker's fish remains the most famous. He was the pioneer (built his own rod out of split cane, which became a commercial success) when most anglers thought the carp was too difficult to waste time on.

I've just googled to find out the current record: 62lb 4oz!

 

Are you Alf Engers in disguise?

[Wowbagger]

*googles*

In reverse, more like.

[Pale Rider]

Yes, I was thinking about long-standing records. The most famous for your average sports enthusiast is Perry's Wimbledon one. Murray will for ever be remembered as the guy who broke it. If a whole sequence of British players come along in the future and win Wimbledon, that won't eclipse Murray's achievement as the guy who finally broke through.

Another that's closer to home for me is the British carp record. I used to waste quite a lot of time trying to catch carp and it was well known amongst anglers that Dick Walker's record from 1952 (44lb) was the one to beat. The fact that the fish was in London Zoo added to the frisson - it was my favourite exhibit when I was young. It died in 1971. It took until 1980 for Chris Yates to beat that, with a 51lb fish from the same lake. Since then, it has been broken several times, largely due to the commercialisation of carp fishing and the use of high-protein baits. I was chatting to a guy in our local park the other day and his personal best was a 41lb fish. When I was into carp fishing, that would have been an earth-shattering catch. Hardly anyone ever caught anything over 30lb but such fish are 2 a penny these days but I would imagine that Walker's fish remains the most famous. He was the pioneer (built his own rod out of split cane, which became a commercial success) when most anglers thought the carp was too difficult to waste time on.

I've just googled to find out the current record: 62lb 4oz!

Just goes to show there's good stories somewhere in even the most unpromising topics.

I now have a nightmare vision of steroid crazed carp getting ever bigger.
 

[IanDG]

*googles*

In reverse, more like.

 

[Mr Larrington]

Another tenuous claim to fame - I know one of the previous carp record holders, but as two of them are called "Terry" I can't say exactly which one

[Wowbagger]

From my experience, a disproportionatley large number of anglers are called Terry.

[Ivo]

Returning to the numbers, Strava has a nice comparison in it's week schedules, the last 7 rides of Steve and Kurt:

1    
Kurt Searvogel    2,221.7 km    7    341.6 km    30.4 km/h    3,216 m
2    
Steven Abraham    2,189.1 km    7    371.8 km    23.6 km/h    10,834 m

The difference in kilometers is only 32.6 about 1%. Not something to worry about. Especially if Steve expects to increase his mileage over the summer.

[Ningishzidda]

From my experience, a disproportionatley large number of anglers are called Terry.

This is because at birth, their fathers landed them with a piece of Terry toweling.

The MOST rotten tomato TV sit-com ever made was ‘Eh, Brian, it’s a whopper’ by ITV in Birmingham.
There wasn’t a Terry in it, that’s why.

[Ningishzidda]

Returning to the numbers, Strava has a nice comparison in it's week schedules, the last 7 rides of Steve and Kurt:

1    
Kurt Searvogel    2,221.7 km    7    341.6 km    30.4 km/h    3,216 m
2    
Steven Abraham    2,189.1 km    7    371.8 km    23.6 km/h    10,834 m

The difference in kilometers is only 32.6 about 1%. Not something to worry about. Especially if Steve expects to increase his mileage over the summer.

Considering the terrian they're riding, ( The last column being 'elev gain', I presume ) Steve has given more energy.
That's where Steve wins for me.

My simple calcs say Kurt has done 1/7th of a percent uphill, and Steve 1/2 of a percent uphill.

In the 'Cals burned' stakes, Steve is almost 2% ahead.

[Jack_P]

He must have hammered it yesterday, even with drafting that's fast. From his faceache page.
Had great fun with riders from tour de cape coral.  Picked up the fast group and we did the 100 in around 4:30.

[Cudzoziemiec]

I used to waste quite a lot of time trying to catch carp and it was well known amongst anglers that Dick Walker's record from 1952 (44lb) was the one to beat. The fact that the fish was in London Zoo added to the frisson

I'm surprised fishing was allowed in the zoo.

[Jaded]

 

[IanDG]

This appeared in my fb stream today



 

[Otto]

Returning to the numbers, Strava has a nice comparison in it's week schedules, the last 7 rides of Steve and Kurt:

1    
Kurt Searvogel    2,221.7 km    7    341.6 km    30.4 km/h    3,216 m
2    
Steven Abraham    2,189.1 km    7    371.8 km    23.6 km/h    10,834 m

The difference in kilometers is only 32.6 about 1%. Not something to worry about. Especially if Steve expects to increase his mileage over the summer.

Considering the terrian they're riding, ( The last column being 'elev gain', I presume ) Steve has given more energy.
That's where Steve wins for me.

My simple calcs say Kurt has done 1/7th of a percent uphill, and Steve 1/2 of a percent uphill.

In the 'Cals burned' stakes, Steve is almost 2% ahead.

The difference in climbing is very telling.... Steve is working a lot harder... respect.

will the next person, to go for it simply spend 365 days in the velodrome

[Exit Stage Left]

There's an aesthetic dimension to this, and other record attempts. That Guy Martin tandem 24 hour record sanctioned by the UMCA was a glaring example of something that looked like a record, but was very iffy underneath.

There's a point at which there's a split between the expert and lay audience, but the rules for this event were known from the outset.

How opinion divides if the approaches of Steve and Kurt diverge is an interesting part of this.