MUST SEE... LIVE: September 18, 2014 Jens Voight apparently attempting WORLD HOUR RECORD!

A 43 year old Jens Voigt tells his legs to shut up one last time and then says SHUT UP HOUR... crushes it!

51.115km!

What a spectacular end to his career.

That was fun to watch. I'm a bit confused on past records though. According to the Wiki page, the UCI has separated trial attempts into "best human effort" and "hour record" and "unified". Prior records far faster than this one were moved to the"best human effort" category in spite of, at least in my opinion, using very similar equipment to Jens - at least nothing similar to what Merckx used. This record appears to be classifed as "unified". How does this qualify as beating Merckx's record when he did it on a drop bar bike, tube steel bike with wire spoked wheels? If it's not in the same group as Merckx's effort, then how is he the new champ with all the faster efforts out there on aero equipment? Is there's a more simplistic breakdown of the rules than Wiki has?

It appears that under the new regulations riders may use any bike allowed by the UCI standards for endurance track events in place at the time of the attempt, which discounts the bikes that allowed for Obree and Boardman's "superman" positions, obviously a significant advantage.

What will be a real testament to Voigt's effort is when a powerhouse like Cancellara or Martin challenges.

Yes, I'll be looking forward to seeing those someday. In my opinion, Jens's win margin over Merckx is probably largely an effect of his vastly superior equipment. I think the UCI rules are unfortunate. Although it's obviously standard proceedure in sports to not limit athletes to vintage equipment for record attempts, for some unexplainable reason it just doesn't seem right in this case.

Well, if we limited Usian Bolt to cinder tracks and long spikes, Bob Hayes would probably still be the World's Fastest Human. [IMG]files.cyclingforums.combig smile.pngOpen ↗[/IMG]

In addition to setting a WR for the hour, I'm almost certain Jens set a PR for NOT TALKING! That guy is a world class gabber - funny and irrepressible.

In any case, I caught the last 15 minutes of the ride and it made my palms sweat. I remember Eddy Merckx saying it was the hardest thing he'd ever done and that he would never do it again.

I'm sure Jens' record will not stand for long, but under the new rules it may usher in a new era in hour records, and that will be fun to see.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by Viking55803
In addition to setting a WR for the hour, I'm almost certain Jens set a PR for NOT TALKING!

LMFAO!

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by danfoz
It appears that under the new regulations riders may use any bike allowed by the UCI standards for endurance track events in place at the time of the attempt, which discounts the bikes that allowed for Obree and Boardman's "superman" positions, obviously a significant advantage.

What will be a real testament to Voigt's effort is when a powerhouse like Cancellara or Martin challenges.

Rominger crushed the 55km mark in a standard aero position... Why isn't that the goal?

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by swampy1970
Rominger crushed the 55km mark in a standard aero position... Why isn't that the goal?

In addition to the bike standards, the wiki for the hour record also states riders are required to be part of the athlete biological passport program.

Looks like they are creating a new ground zero.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by danfoz

In addition to the bike standards, the wiki for the hour record also states riders are required to be part of the athlete biological passport program.

Looks like they are creating a new ground zero.

So basically, that means only professionals can take the record and someone like Obree back in the day would be screwed...

24-year old Swiss kid named Brandle is attempting the Hour next Thursday.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by CAMPYBOB
24-year old Swiss kid named Brandle is attempting the Hour next Thursday.

Its good to see interest in the hour again [IMG]files.cyclingforums.comcool.pngOpen ↗[/IMG]

It is but I'll only really give a damn if someone aims for Romingers or Boardman's ultimate hour records. The records being set now wouldn't even take home the records set 20 years ago.

Quoted post said:

Originally Posted by swampy1970

It is but I'll only really give a damn if someone aims for Romingers or Boardman's ultimate hour records. The records being set now wouldn't even take home the records set 20 years ago.

someone like wiggans should go close to taking those records.

Maybe Wiggo will give it a go. He seems to be aiming for for faster track events so who knows - once he gets his track legs again it could get very interesting. I wouldn't be too surprised if he got 55km. 56? That may be a bit of a stretch without the superman position...