Steven

By -

What of Steven Abraham and his attempt on the HAMR (Highest Annual Mileage record)?  Having lost about 6 weeks back in the spring with a broken ankle, the 2016 attempt was effectively dead in the water.  As of last night he had ridden a 'mere' 62,300 miles (Tommy Goodwin's 1939 record is 75065).  The beauty of the HAMR is that it doesn't have to be a calendar year so Steve re-set his trip meter in August and effectively started again.  This means that, at the end of this new 12-month period, he will have been riding 200+ miles per day for 19 months!!!  The man is clearly bonkers but you can't help admire him.

Meanwhile the Yank has been plugging away and had done 72,605 miles at the end of yesterday.  He actually started his attempt on Jan 10th so he has 17 days left to do about 2500 miles .  That is 'only' about 145 per day so he should comfortably make it.  I don't want to belittle his efforts (which are astonishing) but:

1.       He will probably beat the record by little more than 1000 miles despite having access to the very best kit the 21st century has to offer.  Tommy Goodwin set the record in 1939, long before lycra, carbon composites, high intensity LED lights and 22 speed gear sets.   Furthermore he has been riding in the US, where he can chase the good weather.  He has mostly been riding in Florida and I can tell you from my recent trip out there - it isn't the same as plugging away through a British winter!  There is obviously no way of making a true apples for apples comparison between the two efforts but in my book he would have to beat Tommy's record by more like 10,000 to really win.

2.       Steven is still going to be out there trying to take the record away from him.  Anyone whose response to a broken ankle isn't 'bollocks to that - I think I'll stop' but 'Ok, I'll just cycle an extra 36,000 miles'  is clearly pretty determined.

I suppose I should come clean regarding my own rather insignificant little annual mileage target.  With just 9 days to spare I did my 10,000 miles this year!  Embarrassingly, I was on 9,600 in mid-October so it has hardly been a spectacular sprint to the finish.  I don't suppose it is a figure I will ever achieve again, however I have a rather splendid little 2000 mile trip planned for late January, so 2016 will at least get off to a good start.  More on this in the new year.

PS  Alice Cooper

Comments

  1. Unknown25 December 2015 at 10:39

    Steve Abrahams frequently rides through our village and stops fro refreshment. He's almost got used to me cheering him on......

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Rage Hard

By -
Image
Leading a tour down the US West Coast isn't the worst way to spend 4 weeks and it has many compensations.  The weather is lovely, the scenery is off the scale and you get to drink magnificent craft beers and eat well.  Putting out the odd fire and springing pillocks from jail is all part of the sport. BUT, and it is a big but (you get a lot of big butts in Merica), the daily hotel check-in is absolutely the worst thing.  Regardless of how carefully you have checked the reservations there is a clenching of the buttocks as you approach reception.  Today the first contact was good....they had all 15 rooms and cats were allowed.....but they weren't ready.  No problem, I was 30 minutes early.  30 minutes later.....still no rooms.  Cyclists were arriving; hot, tired grumpy cyclists.  The receptionist had run out of fucks to give several years ago.  I asked to see the manager.  Out walked a thing that was once the manger but was now a barrel of lard with a head.  We exchan
Read more

Now That's What I Call Music Volme 4

By -
Image
Won't Stop Running/Golden Brown The 24-hour dysentery that has been working through the group has now reached me.  Bugger. Invisible  When making any on-line transaction in Merica is necessary to provide a telephone number and a valid zip code.  If paying by credit card this must match the zip code the card is registered to.  There is absolutely no provision for anyone without a US phone number and a card registered to a US address.  It's like non-Mericans don't exist or, maybe, just aren't worth bothering about. Some hotels and supermarkets have devices to scan photo-id. You've guessed it....these only recognise US driving licences.  For hotels you have to piss off and find your passport and in stores you have to wait while the manager is called to authorise the purchase.   We should retaliate and only serve Mericans in the UK if they can correctly pronounce Leicester Square. Wonderful Copenhagen Today we have ridden
Read more

Drinking in L.A

By -
Image
We are starting to entertain the very remote possibility that we will make it to the Mexican border! It continues to be an uphill struggle with mechanical and logistical challenges but we battle on. On Tuesday night our hotel was several miles from restaurants so we cleared a few seats in the van and sent out the simplest of instructions......form yourselves into a group of 6 and another of 7, decide whether you want to go to the harbour or downtown and pick a time.  What could possibly go wrong?  We had groups of 4, groups where most wanted the harbour but others wanted downtown, both groups wanting the same time...........I finally got off duty at 9pm, another 14 hour day! Yesterday we rode down through Malibu, Santa Monica and Venice Beach, the latter portion on a superb bike path through the beach.  Despite some heavy traffic in Malibu everyone enjoyed the day and we all arrived in Redondo Beach in high spirits.  Despite an already very high bar in terms of hotel in
Read more