Yearly Distance Record Attempt (Tommy Godwin - 75,065mi/120,000k)

If they are reasonably closely matched, may be. But I recon Steve has the upper hand in this one, and suspect the others may not be close enough to bother with dragging it out, come year end.

Who knows, anything can happen - will be a lot of fun following this and a few tense periods ahead, I'm sure.

I don't know what the other guys have done but Steve is certainly the right kind of rider for this attempt.

I haven't been able to find reference to similar multi-day experience in the others that Steve has, and Searvogel seems to have specalised in 12 hour events, not 24 or longer. We will soon start to see though.

Good luck to them all really. Steve might put everyone off if he keeps on putting in the milage!

this is great, cycling all around my area, donated

I think the UMCA have specified that it counts from the day yuo say it has started.

@grahamlaming True but Kurt will hold that advantage through the year. It means he will always know if he has to temper his efforts up or can pare them down a bit and still retain the effective lead.

The good thing for Steve is that, even if Kurt and William do beat him, they're unlikely to be able to do it on the same day that Steve does so even if it is for only a short while he will be the record holder.

Of course this is such a precariously balanced record that other than a bit of gaming the system, you can't play many gambits after you've started. Steve has the right idea on this, you ride your own way, to your own schedule and against the current record. Worrying about any other attempts while doing your own will only affect you negatively. Steve is planning to break the record by around 5000 miles which is pretty substantial given just what he's trying to do.

Thats a good point, I think if Steve beats Tommy Godwins record then thats that for him and he will have achieved what he has dreamt of. If it gets beaten 5 days or 5 years later it doesnt actually mean as much.

Though whatever happens its all pretty extraordinary

It is a bit odd that three guys hit it at the same time after no action for so long. Or were there previous attempts? I didn't think UMCA put their stamp on this until quite late so how long have the other riders been preparing for it?

There were a handful of abortive attempts not long after Godwin and one that claimed around 82000 miles but wasn't accepted and was heavily discredited.

Steve's pondered it for a while and the thinking is that, it having been discussed around the internet for a bit, his decision to have a go has prompted the other two to chuck in. Not much is known about them on this side of the pond so they may have been considering it a while.

Steve and his crew were instrumental in getting the UMCA to set up a system of invigilation and verification. Guiness would have wanted at least £5000 to verify the claim and probably a lot more besides to monitor it. However, they effectively refused point blank to get involved on the grounds that they considered the record too dangerous to break. I think they've been caught out before by getting involved with record attempts that were very risky.

Yeah I've heard of the ones happening back in the day (probably from that guy's Godwin website, the one who was tweeting daily distances) but nothing about attempts that are recent history.

Is it a risky record though? I mean, there's risk with riding for so long but it's not like a freediving record or something crazy dangerous.

Steven Abraham is now on Strava.

I am pleased to say that we have now added a Strava activity feed for Steve to the website at http://oneyeartimetrial.org.uk.
If you are on Strava, we highly recommended you follow Steve, it's going to be a great year.

Steven Abraham, his record attempt
Steven Abraham will attempt to break Tommy Godwins 1939 record of 75065 miles in 2015
ONEYEARTIMETRIAL.ORG.UK

Yeah, posted his first ride before..

http://www.strava.com/activities/235354357

oops..

steve's well on his way for a nice day out on the norfolk coast in lincolnshire?

There's a good piece by Jack Thurston about this on the Brooks' blog.

http://blog.brooksengland.com/wps/ride-eat-sleep-repeat-x-365/

Thanks. Was on my phone, refereeing a fight between the 5 year old and the 2 year old, so couldn't post the link.

(It's a mis-match btw, the 5 year old understands the Queensbury rules, whereas the little one can bite, scratch and gouge).

No probs, I'd just seen it posted on my twitter feed so it was handy.

When my brothers and I fought there were definitely no rules and lots of Dad's powertools and various bits of hardware were turned into weaponry so I think you're probably doing alright not having to attend a hospital every week to explain another broken eye socket or puncture wounds. #stophammertime

That website needs cumulative miles.

Yep. You can probably get that from the tracker but it'd be good under the clock as well.

RG

but srs for a mo, if you email his website and request the itinerary, and would be prepared to cycle with him for a bit/day (just like tommy godwin had support bitd), he'd be appreciative of the company and more importantly the drafting (and it's not contra to the rules)

@hippy

Yeah, when I start riding again I might try and head up to where he is and tow him along for a bit. He should ride to all the TTs and grab a tow at pace so he can go to bed earlier :)

This should be in the proper thread.

done!

Thursday 1st Jan - 222.7 mi, 18:58:10, 7,129 ft

Friday 2nd Jan - 187.0 mi, 13:45:02, 6,660 ft

Saturday 3rd Jan - 187.1 mi, 15:04:53, 2,846 ft

Are they publishing his routes in advance? Perhaps they could do that so when lazy ultra riders finally decide to start riding again they can give him some encouragement/towage?

wonder if this could get a bit forest gump