The Hour Record

He lost 2.3kg in sweat in an hour 🥵

He lost 2.3kg in sweat in an hour 🥵

Tipper?

.5kmh increase at those speeds is big.

#insight

Dripper.

What was Bigham's time?

60min and about 16 seconds to finish the last lap.

He lost 2.3kg in sweat in an hour 🥵

He was 2.3kg lighter at the end of it but not all of it would have been sweat loss.

Since he probably burned (at a guess) over 2000kcal during the ride a good 300g of that weight loss would have been the stuff that provided energy. That weight is lost primarily through CO2 exhalation.

Also piss
(Possibly)

.5kmh increase at those speeds is big

Ganna needs another 0.5mph on top of what Biggles did for the hour record to be beaten for the first time since 1996.

55.55% discount site wide on Huub to celebrate until 19:00 this evening 🕒

Amazing performance. I didn't watch all of it, but he kept that black line like a train on rails.

Damn, I had 57 minutes at the bookies at 16/1. One day....

I watched the last 20-odd minutes of it. It was strangely hypnotic. He clearly paced it perfectly, neither dying at the end, nor having any excess energy to lift the pace.

The comments were occasionally interesting. One guy was counting laps, which was helpful. Campanaerts made the odd encouraging comment, then there was one from Froome just before the end.

A good interview with Dan Bigham over on Rouleur:

https://www.rouleur.cc/blogs/the-rouleur-journal/behind-the-scenes-of-dan-bighams-hour-record-part-one

Ganna be broken again on 8th of October

inb4 "how long will it take him"

Time is a human construct

Tell that to Dr Who

Just wondering, why Grenchen, I assumed lower altitude would be better? Swiss timing?

Probably because Bigham broke it there so Ineos now have a lot of data they can use to specific to this track and altitude.

assumed lower altitude would be better?

Classically, higher altitude was considered better. Now people seem to model individual response to altitude rather than using population averages, so people pick Europe (<500m) or Mexico (>1800m) to suit. Aguascalientes Mexico is expensive and risky for a European rider (semi-open, so control of the environment is impossible), so if the modelling says the record can be beaten in Switzerland, that's a safer bet even if they might do another few hundred metres on a good day in Mexico.

The track geometries are also slightly different, so the modelling will include different amounts of tyre scrub when deciding between Aguascalientes and Grenchen.

Great insight, thanks. So with regards specifically altitude. Why was/is higher thought to be better? Less air resistance outweighs less O2? I understand the other perceived benefits re.Bigham and knowing the environment/variables etc. All of these considerations make the whole thing increasingly interesting.

Less air resistance outweighs less O2?

That's the traditional understanding of the balance.

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Such a fine balance, I guess based on the riders physiology/power too. Thank you.

Presumably also being able to train at that track as much as he wants, sleep in his own bed maybe, have a quick drive rather than a long haul flight, less covid risk and home the day after to start off season.