“Sparctacus” to chase the Hour Record

CebuCycling’s Road Rage, a 2-day, 3-event road race, will be held this weekend. Registration is still open. For more information, please go to www.cebucycling.com for all information about the race.

The Hour Record (HR) used to be a blue ribband event. Great champions from FaustoCoppi to JaquesAnquetil to Eddy Merckx used to own the records. The last time there was a flurry of activity occurred between 1993 and 1996, when Chris Boardman, Graeme Obree, Miguel Indurain and Toni Rominger took turns in improving the record.

The HR is the record for the longest distance in 60 minutes on a bike in a velodrome. The first UCI record holder was Englishman Frank Dodds, who in 1876 rode 26.508km in a penny-farthing, a bike that had a very huge front wheel and a very small rear wheel. It had no chains.

For whatever reason, people were attracted to the event, maybe because it was a very hard endeavor. In October 1972, Merckx pushed the distance to 49.431km, beating the time of Coppi (45.798) and Anquetil (46.159), two of the prominent record holders.

For 12 years, Merckx record stood until technology and Francesco Moser came along. In the rarefied air of Mexico, Moser covered 51.151km in an hour with what was considered then as cutting edge- disc wheels and bullhorns for bars.For 9 years, the record stood until a Scotsman with a bipolar disorder bettered it with about half a K.

Graeme Obree was different. He wasn’t a pro and his bike was a DIY that included a part from a washing machine. He also had a strange fetal position on the bike where his chest and his hands were resting on the handlebars. He was a nonconformist and that created a lot of tension between himself and the UCI.

At that time, Chris Boardman was the darling of the Brits and the UCI. He was an Olympic champion and a pro rider. I think that he felt it was obligation to restore order the HR. Six days after Obree rode 51.595km, Boardman rode 52.270km but in a carbone fiber bike frame. And the challenge was on!

On April 27, 1994, Obree took the record back, with 52.713km. In a prior event, his shoe came off at the start so this time, he bolted his shoes to his pedals. Then came the stars.

Miguel Indurain, the 5-time Tour de France champion, was untouchable in the time trials. So it was obvious that he’d go for the record. On September 2, 1994, Big Mig traveled 53.040km. At last, cycling biggest name had restored order! But Indurain’s stood for just 24 days when his rival and one of the better Grand Tour rider, Toni Rominger, rode 53.832km. Fourteen days later, Rominger padded his record to a stunning 55.291. Now what was incredible in the records of Indurain and Rominger were that both were not only exceptional time-triallist but were also exceptional climbers. You can’t say the same of Boardman and Obree, who were “specialists” against the clock.

I really thought that Rominger’s record was unbeatable but on September 7, 1996, Boardman beat Romingers’ record by more than a kilometer, at 56.375km!

Now, it must be said that the bikes used by Moser in ’72 up to Boadman’s bike in ’96 were non traditional and the UCI thought that the HR was now a race of technology and not of men. (To be continued next week)