An Amateur and the Hour Record

Ever wonder how difficult it would be to ride a track bike in a velodrome, as hard as you can for an hour?

Kevin E. shared this great article with me:

Putting the hour record into perspective: How does an amateur compare?

It really helps to put the record into perspective and give a great insight into this amateur's effort.  There is also a great graph showing the speed per lap versus distance for Bobrdige, Brandle, and Voigt.  Shut up legs is clearly effective for Jens!

I do wish it would have listed the weight of the athletes when discussing their average power, or perhaps shown the value as watts / kilogram.  That would have been interesting to see.

Almost every competitive cyclist knows what it means to go HARD, and most of us really push our limits.  However, having had plenty of experience and fortunately success at 24 and 12 hour mountain bike races, 100 mile mountain bike races, long road races, crits, 'cross races, and time trials, I can tell you first hand that they're all hard in their own way.   But the mental and physical punishment of riding for an hour at max effort on a track--well that is its own animal right there.

Keep this article in mind next time you have a 20 minute threshold interval, and maybe it will seem just that much easier.  A great read and you can just imagine the pain!