Thanks for all the messages of support. I haven’t had a chance to read them all yet, but thought I’d update on how it all went in a blog post:
It was disappointing to abandon the 24hr record, but at least we got the 12 Hour Guinness World Record (at 252.04km)!!! Note this is the official count. Each lap is 390.76m (not 390m).
I’m having another attempt at the 24hr record this weekend. Hopefully the wind isn’t going to do what it did in November. The weather forecast is looking good for Saturday.
I think Ken as said that for long “not so fast” rides, going ungeared is better (at least for him) because he has to push less on the pedals and thus keeps fresher muscles.
Less than 2km difference in 24 hours! Must’ve been quite exciting towards the end…
But you made it, and I‘m happy to congratulate. What a ride! Wish you a fast recovery.
An interesting read. Glad, that the hedgehogs are fine (and you didn’t UPD, of course). And it would be hilarious if the hole thing could count as a successful everesting attempt!
Super impressive riding. I tried riding a loop for as long as I could once and still came up nearly a kilometer per hour slower than you – and had 18.5 hours to go! Can’t even imagine.
I saw a photo showing a bloody thigh. How did that occur? Rubbing against the saddle?
Hedgehogs were fine. I was expecting them to come out at night, because they’ve been doing that for a while. I also had a spare wheel in case of a puncture if I ran over them!
When I turn a bit hard, my chunky thighs rub on the side of the tread. That’s over 24hrs, so didn’t lose as much skin as the first attempt in November.
It’s times like this, when I realize that I might not be turning hard enough. Not that I want to rub my thighs raw. But up to this point, I don’t think I’ve ever been at risk of bloody thighs from my 36er. To be fair, I’m nowhere near the rider that Ken is. Yet. If ever. However…that puts things into perspective, a bit.
We can all learn from each other. Sometimes we learn to ride better. Sometimes we learn to ride harder. Sometimes, we learn a new level of expectation(s).
Consistently though, I have to thank my son.
Back in 2017 or 2018, he recommended that I frequent this forum. Being a member here has made me a better rider. In skills, and expectations, and not necessarily in that order.
First, as I’ve told you on other places : congratulations for your amazing achievement.
Secondly, thanks for not pushing the record to far and letting us mere mortels believe it is beatable.
About the everesting, I’m pretty sure your data are wrong. I’ve just watched your other attempts on this track and they all seem to give the same data (15 - 18 m climbing for each loop). However, if I calculate, I get:
15000 m / 1165 loops = 12.88 m for each loop.
The track being a loop, you climb for half of it, which is 195.38 m
Because of Pythagore, the horizontal distance is sqrt(195.38^2-12.88^2) = 194.96 m
This gives an average gradient on the uphill part of 12.88/194.96 = 6.60%
If it was actually 3% uphill for half the loop, the total climbing wouLastly have been around 6825 m, less than an everesting. And honestly I would be really surprised if it was even 1% average (on the steepest half of the track).
Lastly, I think your setup is sub optimal due to the aerobars being too close from you which doesn’t allow you to breathe optimally (your elbows are basically touching your ribs) and might not allow you to put that much weight on it, which puts more weight on your butt and thus increases chaffing and pain in this area. Maybe a better setup would also allow you to turn more consistently and not touch the tire (resulting in less skin damaging and suffering).
Besides all those negative points, I really want to say once more:
CONGRATULATIONS!!! That’s an amazing accomplishment you have done (and I believe your crew was as incredible as you are).
Then, you go on and tell him that his setup is not optimal.
Please don’t complain when the next thing he does is optimise his setup and smash that record . It’s your fault if us mere mortals stop believe it can be beaten .