The One Hour Record

SaintAndrew said:

i think the biggest thing with merckx is he made just oe attempt. obree, for example, made two attempts back to back, and spent a ton of time playing with his riding to get it right. boardman as well. so yeah i think you're right merckx could have done a better one if he'd messed around more but the guy just didn't wanna do it again.

i think the hour record has lost its reputation since ondrej soskena took the record from boardman

velodrome.co.nr said:

i think the hour record has lost its reputation since ondrej soskena took the record from boardman

I'd have to disagree with that. Sosenka is the better of the two in the one hour. Remember Boardman's specialty was not the hour. He was better at the short events, and it's pretty amazing that he was actually able to set the hour even though that wasn't his game. Remember they used to call him Mr Prologue in the Tour de France. He was a force to be reckoned with in the very short races. An hour takes a different physiology. He would not win the longer TT's in the Tour.

SaintAndrew said:

i think the biggest thing with merckx is he made just oe attempt. obree, for example, made two attempts back to back, and spent a ton of time playing with his riding to get it right. boardman as well. so yeah i think you're right merckx could have done a better one if he'd messed around more but the guy just didn't wanna do it again.

"Never again," he said. 😉

Here's a study that suggests that fluid should be consumed before the TT, not during, if it's one hour long. This means warm up, drink, and then ride. You're not going to get any benefit by drinking during the One Hour. It will only be a distraction.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?cmd=Retrieve&db=PubMed&list_uids=14669933&dopt=Abstract

gntlmn said:

I'd have to disagree with that. Sosenka is the better of the two in the one hour. Remember Boardman's specialty was not the hour. He was better at the short events, and it's pretty amazing that he was actually able to set the hour even though that wasn't his game. Remember they used to call him Mr Prologue in the Tour de France. He was a force to be reckoned with in the very short races. An hour takes a different physiology. He would not win the longer TT's in the Tour.

Well, I reckon he could have had a bloody good go... Boardman also holds the record for the Duo Normand (along with Jens Voigt) in an untouchable (so far) 1:04. That's a long time trial (54k), on the road, taking about an hour, on a hilly course, and plenty of other talented TT-ers have tried and failed to beat that time, including Sosenka, this year, who didn't even come close! (although it was pissing down).
For those how don't know about the Duo, see www.duonormand.com .
It's just about the only event in the world where nobbers like me can compete on the same course, on the same day, as everyone up to world champions and pros. There weren't many pros there this year because of clashes with the Vuelta and Tour of Poland, but next year it'll be back to a neutral date and most of the big teams will send riders. I can recommend it – but then I live ten miles down the road so I'm biassed.
Thinking about it, this means I'm probably the only guy on the forum who's raced both Boardman and Sosenka! Sort of...

Eastway82 said:

Well, I reckon he could have had a bloody good go... Boardman also holds the record for the Duo Normand (along with Jens Voigt) in an untouchable (so far) 1:04. That's a long time trial (54k), on the road, taking about an hour, on a hilly course, and plenty of other talented TT-ers have tried and failed to beat that time, including Sosenka, this year, who didn't even come close! (although it was pissing down).
For those how don't know about the Duo, see www.duonormand.com .
It's just about the only event in the world where nobbers like me can compete on the same course, on the same day, as everyone up to world champions and pros. There weren't many pros there this year because of clashes with the Vuelta and Tour of Poland, but next year it'll be back to a neutral date and most of the big teams will send riders. I can recommend it – but then I live ten miles down the road so I'm biassed.
Thinking about it, this means I'm probably the only guy on the forum who's raced both Boardman and Sosenka! Sort of...

I'm having a hard time seeing more than thumbnail photos on that thread. I see something to the effect that voight/boardman duo set a record in 1999. It's kind of hard to figure out what's going on with that. Anyway, what's that? Two people draft each other, trading off who's pulling and who's in tow? That must be what it is because a combined time of two riders riding separately could not possibly be 1:04. It would have to be a higher number.

I can't really comment on that course because I don't know the terrain and what it's all about.

What I meant about Boardman is that he had the ability to rise to the occasion in the one hour for a one day event, even though he didn't fare so well in it when it was part of a multi stage grand tour. Again, it goes back to physiology. Some people have better recovery ability on a day to day basis, and they do better in the tours. Certainly, Boardman was able to go beyond his specialty for a one day standalone event. Let's face it. He had the world record for several years until Sosenka broke it. If it were easy for joe rider to break it, he would have done it. Also, it broke Merckx' record. Chris' specialty was a shorter race though. That's why I said it was amazing he was able to get the one hour. I suspect that his ability to concentrate for a well rested one hour event was superior to most pros.