Insert Airplane joke here...
"Looks like I picked the wrong week to quit reading internet forums."
The mathematics of the situation just don't lie, not after nearly 12 months, how the hell can they?
They speak their own story.
I was looking at the HAMR site the other day. They have a couple of fascinating graphs of their own.
This one which charts average speed is interesting...
http://ultracycling.com/sections/records/data/hamr/See how closely alligned Kurt is to Godwin over the year.......and the misfortune of Steve falling away after the accident, and then the subsequent leveling out of performance.
But this one is also fascinating....particularly with reference to Godwin. See how he starts below both Kurt and Steve in the early months [the affects of winter no doubt], but then gets this really incredible surge over the summer months to bring his average right back up there....and then falls back again gradually towards the end [same thing I'm guessing].
http://ultracycling.com/sections/records/data/hamr/byday.htmlNobody doubts Steve's resolve, staying power, tenacity, grit, steadfastness, call it what you will - he's in a league all on his own. Goodness knows those of us who have been even loosely on the fringes of the audax community have seen this over the years, and people have read of his endeavours here and elsewhere on the internet. It's rock solid and legendary. But this is not what the challenge is about, not solely any way. It's about miles, it's about speed, it's all about support and it's about getting enough recovery to continue day after day. And speed.
FWIW I agree with much of what LWAB has to say, especially this:
Alicia is the biggest advantage Kurt has had. She has kept him focused, studied the weather, sorted accommodation and so on. Every time Kurt has weakened mentally, she has adjusted the situation, arranged riding companions and brought him back on track. She has been (mostly) able to keep him riding, despite multiple efforts to destroy bikes.
Goodness knows how many
supermarkets grocery stores she's seen the inside of either!