The Hour Record

http://www.cyclingweekly.co.uk/news/latest-news/jack-bobridge-going-set-hour-record-benchmark-149956

The benchmark is 56.375km. Until somebody beats that, it's still just a contest to see who can be best at not beating the true record.

That's a pretty silly way of looking at it considering the tech and position that Boardman used are banned for everyone else.

If you want to go that way, then the bloke in the fully faired HPV who did 80k is the Hour record holder and these UCI douchebags are fighting for nothing.

They said Boardman's IP record was unbeatable.. ha! Go for it Bobridge!

That's a pretty silly way of looking at it

Not really, as you have just pointed out Bobridge has beaten the 4km time Boardman set on the same bike in the same week that he did the 56.375, so there's no technological barrier to Bobridge beating the real hour record too. Bobridge has access to technology which wasn't even invented in 1996, so it's reductive to say that the hour record will never be beaten because you can't use the Superman position any more. How far would Boardman have gone if somebody had travelled back in time and given him a 2015 skinsuit?

Technological progression vs. artifical UCI limitations

Let Bobridge use 2015 shit AND the Superman position or whatever position he wants to use and see how far he can go.

UCI regulations change on an almost daily basis at the moment, the point is that the sum total of revised regulations and technological progress means that by 2011 a UCI legal pursuit was ridden faster than the UCI legal record of 1996. Position regulations have, if anything, eased in the last 4 years, and technology hasn't stood still either, so unless Bobridge has weakened he should be able to beat the real hour record, unless of course he isn't as good as Boardman when the distance is stepped up from 4km to 55km+

Yeah, so only 15 years of disadvantaged riders then..

Guess, we'll see. I'd love it, of course, if he beat the other 'unbeatable' record. He's riding at DISC though which doesn't seem like the smartest option. Why not ride at altitude? He'd must have the time/money to find a suitable track and enough time to acclimatise. Even the Swiss track is at a moderate 'tude. Seems like he's making it harder on himself. Then again maybe his new team won't let him or don't have the coin.

Yeah, so only 15 years of disadvantaged riders then..

Well, that's UCI dicking about for you.

I'd love it, of course, if he or anybody else beat the other 'unbeatable' record.

That's a proposition I can get behind. I don't really care who it is.

True. I'd very much like to see Wiggo do it over here.

I think Bobridge will set a good distance but I can't see him beating Boardman's ultimate record. He is the first real trackie to give it a go in this current round of attempts, so should easily beat Brandle's record.

However, he's never shown a top level time trialling pedigree on the road, so I'd think Wiggins would be able to beat the distance he sets.

http://www.cyclingnews.com/news/q-and-a-bobridge-on-setting-hour-record-benchmark

All I know is that, personally, I would like to take a fair chunk off [of the record]

I think he's going about this the wrong way ;)

Under-23 TT world champ in Mendrisio isn't too shabby even if not 'top level'.

Don't get me wrong, I think he's a quality rider, but with the hour record I think experience and the adaptations gained from ten years or so of pro racing give you an edge. Boardman was at his absolute peak when he set that record, a month or so after riding the Tour.

Wiggins should be able to beat Bobridge's likely record but I'd think he might be able to regain it, should he return to riding at World Tour leave after Rio.

Dowsett confirmed for the 27th.

Definitely. Bobridge basically went quiet on the road too which doesn't bode too well.
I hope he can get back a bit of career tracktion with this.

#perfecthour? Not with Campag it's not. :P

Alu brake tracks for the track?

Twin jibblies innit.

Bobridge won't be able to beat the 56km record at sea level. No-one can, in fact - with the current crop of riders and their CdAs/power outputs, as Boardman's CdA was just too low (<0.184) and his power too high (>440w)

Fuck, I didn't realise he was that good. What's the superman position worth over a more conventional position?

What's the superman position worth over a more conventional position?

Hardly scientific but http://www.kreuzotter.de/english/espeed.htm gives a CdA (for the default rider values) of 0.2815 for "Triathlon bicycle" and 0.2070 for the "Superman position".

What's the superman position worth over a more conventional position?

Depends on the rider really. I've got regular sized riders ~0.18x in "conventional" positions before, but it's probably in the region of ~0.015-0.020

Unless it was a carbon copy of this bike, I saw two guys standing with this on Haymarket about two hours ago?

I walked past and had a mega-perve at the bike but didn't know what/ who it was for. i didn't recognise either of the guys who were looking after it either (neither was Dowsett for sure), so just assumed they were super rich and had a penchant for track. Then just now, I was procrastinating on Road.cc and saw the below and the penny dropped.

Weird coincidence

http://road.cc/content/news/139169-canyon-reveal-alex-dowsett%E2%80%99s-hour-record-attempt-bike