Steven Abraham, Kurt Searvogel chase Tommy Godwin's year of cycling record

75,000 miles this year

http://www.cnn.com/2015/01/01/sport/cycling-record-attempt-abraham/index.html?hpt=hp_t4

 

Yeah, well, I'm modest like that... yeah, right. Might write a book about 75,000 miles. Would have to be a ghost writer; I can't imagine even a chunk of that. Duh! My mileage fraction this year is about 1/20 of that...

 

WOW.....200+ miles per day on a Bicycle.....:goodluck:.......42,000+ is my absolute best yearly mileage on a Motorcycle (2009)...makes that seem rather paltry by comparison.....

 

Cyclists test the limits of their abilities - Highlands Today



Highlands Today

Cyclists test the limits of their abilities
Highlands Today
Kurt Searvogel changes a set of wheels on his recumbent bike, one of three bikes he uses, before riding to warm up for the Bike Sebring 12/24 hour bike race on Friday afternoon. Searvogel, from Arkansas, is attempting to break the annual mileage record ...




Continued...

 

Williams: Update to the HAMR challenge - Jackson Clarion Ledger


Jackson Clarion Ledger

Williams: Update to the HAMR challenge
Jackson Clarion Ledger
I am fascinated by the UMCA's Highest Annual Mileage Record Challenge. Earlier this year I documented Arkansas ultra-cyclist Kurt Searvogel's attempt to best the record. I have also blogged about the history of the record and England's Steven Abraham's attempt.On February 16, both Searvogel and Abraham were still riding steady.

Kurt had been riding for 38 days, as he started his attempt on January 10. Since then, he has already ridden 7,645.5 miles at an approximate average of 19 mph. His longest ride to date is 263 miles on February 14 during the Sebring 12-hour time trial. His shortest ride was 120.5 miles, on February 13, as a recovery day before Sebring. In comparison with the record-holder, Tommy Godwin, Kurt has 1,795.5 miles more in the same time period. Remember, however, that Godwin started out riding fewer miles during the winter and ramped up his mileage later in the year to well over 300 miles a day.

The day-to-day mileage has not shown much wear on Searvogel, but the same cannot be said about his bikes. He started with a Cervelo, two Giant road bikes and a Bachetta CA2 recumbent bike. His fleet has suffered from broken derailleurs and areo bars. The handlebars on the Cervelo snapped right off! The rear carbon triangle on one of the Giants broke into two pieces....




Continued...

 

The Age

Steven Abraham, Kurt Searvogel chase Tommy Godwin's year of cycling record
The Age
At 5am on New Year's Day, 1939, in the depth of the northern winter, Englishman Tommy Godwin got on his bicycle and went for a ride of 234 miles (376 kilometres). It was the first ... Already there has been controversy from observers regarding the ...

and more *******


Continued...

 

Put me back on the trike! Steve Abraham to resume Year record attempt - road.cc



Put me back on the trike! Steve Abraham to resume Year record attempt
road.cc
Steve Abraham is to resume his attempt on Tommy Godwin's Year Record on a recumbent bike but he will be using just one foot, after sustaining a broken ankle last week when he was hit from behind by a moped rider suspected of being under the influence of alcohol.

Abraham, from Milton Keynes, has been discharged from hospital after an operation to fit metal plates in his ankle after the incident in Wellington, Somerset last Sunday, says his crew chief Chris ‘Hoppo’ Hopkinson in a message posted to Facebook, and is now recovering at home.

“He has decided to continue with the record attempt and as a team we are very seriously considering running a concurrent record attempt, starting sometime in the late summer this year after Steve should have made a full recovery,” said Hopkinson.

The efforts of Abraham and the American ultra-endurance riders Kurt Searvogel and William Pruett to beat Godwin’s record of 75,065 miles set in 1939 are being carried out under the supervision of the Ultra Marathon Cycling Organisation (UMCA).

Hopkinson said that looking to start a fresh attempt on the record, while continuing to add to the distance he has been racking up since the start of the year, “is within the UMCA rules for this record attempt, so neither record attempt would end if he started again in the summer.”

Next Saturday, cyclists are being urged by the UMCA to ride 205.6 miles – or as much as they can manage – in what is being called the Highest Annual Mileage Record (HAM’R) day, a tribute not only to Godwin, but also the three men currently attempting to beat him.

Hopkinson said: “Steve is due to lose his advantage on the current record (and be roughly at the same mileage Tommy Godwin was at the same time of year), strangely on 11th April, which is HAM'R day.

“To mitigate that loss we are now looking into Steve using a recumbent trike. Steve has asked several medics and doctors whether this was wise to do (when he was at hospital) and had no negative feedback.

Riding a recumbent trike will mean that he can sit in an ideal position for recovery from his injuries, with the ankle raised. So as far as the injured ankle is concerned, it should be no different to sitting on his couch at home. Being outdoors will also give the benefit of extra vitamin D, which is very good for his bones.”

He made clear that the idea is for Abraham to try and..




Continued...

 

Two men race to beat 76-year-old mileage record - velonews.competitor.com


In 1939, Tommy Godwin set the world record for highest annual mileage ridden by bike: 75,065 miles.


velonews.competitor.com

Two men race to beat 76-year-old mileage record
velonews.competitor.com
Few individuals are able to ride 75,065 miles on a bike in their lifetime, let alone in 365 days. But this year, two men are trying to do just that.

The Ultra Marathon Cycling Association has decided to bring back a record with a long history — the Highest Annual Mileage Record (HAM’R). The number to beat: 75,065 miles in 365 days, an average of about 205 miles per day.

Two men have been battling toward the record since January, but just recently the race became a bit more interesting. The contenders are 41-year-old Englishman Steven Abraham, who set out to beat the record on January 1, and 52-year-old American Kurt Searvogel — better known as “Tarzan” — who started his attempt shortly after, on January 10.

Unfortunately, on March 29, Abraham was involved in a collision with a suspected drunk moped driver and broke two bones in his ankle, forcing him to have surgery. For him, quitting the race three months and 17,000 miles in was not an option. Steven and his team have decided to keep going with his current record attempt — on a recumbent Tricycle — and possibly run a concurrent record after he makes a full recovery in August.

Chris Hopkinson, Abraham’s route manager, released a formal statement via Facebook on April 3.

“Riding a recumbent trike will mean that he can sit in an ideal position for recovery from his injuries, with the ankle raised. So as far as the injured ankle is concerned, it should be no different to sitting on his couch at home,” the statement reads. “Being outdoors will also give the benefit of extra vitamin D, which is very good for his bones.”

The record was started in 1911 by a weekly cycling magazine. The first ever record was set by Marcel Plaines at 34,666 miles. His record stood until...




Continued...

 

Steve Abraham back on the road pedalling a recumbent with one leg - road.cc



Steve Abraham back on the road pedalling a recumbent with one leg
road.cc
Abraham rode almost 55 miles yesterday, pedalling a modified IceTrike recumbent with just one leg.

Most of the ride comprised 17 laps of the circuit at Milton Keynes Bowl.

The ride was a test to see how Abraham copes with riding the recumbent, and to chart a safe route to the Bowl circuit.

Today Abraham will try and ride a normal shift on the (recumbent) bike so that he and his team can assess what he is capable of using just one leg and after two and a half weeks inactivity. Steve's team expect him to improve by 10-15 percent over the next two weeks, and he'll be aiming to maintain that pace until he's capable of walking — and riding — again.

"We believe this approach mitigates the losses against the record and gives him a chance to recover from the accident whilst minimising the distance he'll have to make up once he gets back to full fitness."

Abraham is now around 550 miles behind Godwin's schedule. If he is able to return to riding then he will be able to limit the damage, and then...




Continued...

 

CYCLING: Quest to cycle 75000 miles in a year hits major setback after crash ... - MK


MK News

CYCLING: Quest to cycle 75000 miles in a year hits major setback after crash ...
MK News
Being able to ride with just 'one-and-a-half-legs' Steven has been continuing his record attempt on a ICE recumbent (three wheeled bike) that was specially designed to put all the pressure on the working leg.

He said: "It is an ICE recumbent trike that are made in Britain, we want to keep this as British as possible and the other option was from Australia but it is a pretty standard recumbent trike and ICE are better.

"I rode it one legged for one or two weeks and ICE built a support for my broken ankle so I didn't need to use that.

"I was going round and round all day on Milton Keynes Bowl all day long and I did about 150 laps of it during 10 hour days."

Steve has just recently transferred back from the recumbent back to his regular two wheeled bike and set to start another concurrent record attempt in order to give himself another chance of reaching his target.

He said: "I have learnt from this attempt and I think I know a better way of how to go about it and it will be good when I get back to full speed.

"I don't know if I can do it and I don't know if I can't do it so I will have to push it hard at the end of the year."

Steven's routes are random...



Continued...

 

These Two Cyclists Will Ride 150000 Miles This Year - Bicycling


Kurt Searvogel heads up through Illinois, in search of great riding weather as he tackles the year record.
Bicycling

These Two Cyclists Will Ride 150000 Miles This Year
Bicycling
When Tommy Godwin set cycling's*year-long distance record in 1939, he didn’t just slightly outpace his predecessor: He smashed the record so hard that no one for the past 75 years has been able to come close. In just 365 days, Godwin—a vegetarian, an amateur cyclist, and a man riding a bike that was, well, built in the ‘30s—rode 75,065 miles. That averages out to about 205 miles a day, for those doing the math.

The record hasn’t been matched, and no one has come close. That’s partly because the record ceased to be sanctioned until recently, and now that it’s back on the books, two men are trying their hardest to beat*Godwin’s mileage by early 2016. Steven Abraham is a cyclist from England with a pit crew of devoted followers that rivals that of a pro team. He’s putting in the miles on custom Raleighs and now on a recumbent as he recovers from a car accident that broke his ankle. And then there’s Kurt "Tarzan"*Searvogel, who’s known for his feats of endurance. He’s ticking away miles in the States and chasing good weather on his three different bikes with his companion and one-woman pit crew, Alicia Snyder.

We chatted with them both earlier in the year, but now time is about halfway up for both of them (though Searvogel started two weeks after Abraham and won’t finish until two weeks after Abraham’s attempt is complete). And despite some trials and tribulations…




Continued...

 

Kurt Seavogel aiming to ride more than 75000 miles in a year - ESPN


ESPN

Kurt Seavogel aiming to ride more than 75000 miles in a year
ESPN
All the while, Alicia drives their van, which carries equipment (three bikes, including a recumbent). She brings Searvogel food and water and ... Since then, he's focused his intensity into becoming an Ironman triathlete and competed in a variety of …




Continued...

 

The Guardian​

High hopes, disaster and a new start: a year in the saddle for record chaser
The Guardian
A crash left Briton Steve Abraham far behind his US rival in the race to cycle the greatest number of miles in 12 months. But he's not a man to give up easily.

Everything about him so unassuming: his spartan living room full of bikes, bare lightbulbs, another bike fancier making his dinner in the kitchen. That was at the end of January, and he’d been going since New Year’s Day.

On 10 January, Kurt “Tarzan” Searvogel, a different kind of beast altogether, set off on the same bid across America. Abraham quietly backed himself.

In March, disaster: a moped (“careless moped”, corrected one of Abraham’s admirers, who by coincidence lives on my road) hit him from behind. Abraham doesn’t go in for recriminations. “Oh, he stopped all right. It was me that fled the scene. It was either lose five hours in an ambulance in hospital when I was all right, or keep going when I wasn’t all right.” But he only got about 10 miles before the pain stopped him. So began an arduous process of one-legged recumbent cycling, total denial and bitter disappointment.

In January, I met him at the end of a 196-mile day. This week, I caught him at 7.30am, waiting for his breakfast to be ready, staring at his microwave with the intensity of a cat looking at a guinea pig. “I was just going to Go One-legged, until the ankle got better, in Milton Keynes Bowl. But I just couldn’t do enough miles doing that. Hundred miles in a day was a good day. But I needed 200, so I was losing 100 a day, and I’d already lost thousands because I’d had 17 days not riding. I just couldn’t get quick enough.”

Naturally, he was back on the road before his ankle was strictly ready, and that didn’t go so well, either. “I went pretty well in June but I was trying too hard.” He ran himself into the ground, he said. And the record was out of the window. It is an epic tragedy, told in miles and a very neutral voice.

He must have been disappointed, surely? “Not really, because I knew that kind of thing could happen.” The ...


Continue reading...