205 miles in a day (Tommy Godwin Challenge) - the Discussion thread

[Dave Davenport]

The weather and gritted roads will be taking a toll on the bike components.

 

[mcshroom]

I saw that on one of his bikes the chain needed changing. And a report today says that the bearings on one of his front wheels seem to be shot.
Not much else.

He's had a cassette change as well recently (swiss hat was on about changing it last week), and it looks like the lighting has been upgraded a little from the Crees he started with looking at the rechargable photo

 

[tommaguzzi]

Unless Tarzan reaches Godwin's mileage before Steve does. Far too early to conjecture, but the "interesting" part of this competition will be when Steve starts hitting his larger mileage days in Spring/Summer. Will Tarzan be able to keep pace then?

What a year to look forward to

You miss the point. It doesn't matter if tarzan does 90,000 miles in 300 days and goes on to do over 100,000 in a year, the record is for 365 days and Steve will post his 365 day total before the american. So as long as he betters Tommy's total then the record will be his even if it only lasts until Tarzan completes his 365 days.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

You miss the point. It doesn't matter if tarzan does 90,000 miles in 300 days and goes on to do over 100,000 in a year, the record is for 365 days and Steve will post his 365 day total before the american. So as long as he betters Tommy's total then the record will be his even if it only lasts until Tarzan completes his 365 days.

I didn't think it worked like that. If Tarzan outdoes TG's record before SA - that is, in under a year - he will still have taken the record only he'll have done it in fewer days than TG. It's total within a year that counts, not total for all 365 days.

As it is, SA had a ''lead'' of 1512 miles over Tarzan and he's currently averaging 15 miles a day more than SA. So, assuming constant superhuman effort from the pair of them, Tarzan and SA would be neck and neck in 100 days.

 

[MichaelO]

You miss the point. It doesn't matter if tarzan does 90,000 miles in 300 days and goes on to do over 100,000 in a year, the record is for 365 days and Steve will post his 365 day total before the american. So as long as he betters Tommy's total then the record will be his even if it only lasts until Tarzan completes his 365 days.

Tarzan just started the calendar year off with 10 zero mileage days. He could still beat (both) TG's over the calendar year...

 

[Dave Davenport]

That's the way I see it, whoever reaches TG's total first will have taken the record regardless of what then happens.

 

[tommaguzzi]

So its a race to 75,0066 miles then?

I thought it was a One Year Time Trial.

 

[jay clock]

All the reports say that Tommy Godwin broke the record in the October. So if Tarzan beats the Godwin figure, and happens to be higher than Steve at that point, he will be the record holder

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

So its a race to 75,0066 miles then?

I thought it was a One Year Time Trial.

That's how I understand it. The year is the time limit - you can do it in one year but not over longer than a year. Similarly, if Wiggins goes out later this year and takes the 1hr TT world record in 57 minutes, he'd be perfectly entitled to stop there and then. He wouldn't though....

 

[velovoice]

All the reports say that Tommy Godwin broke the record in the October. So if Tarzan beats the Godwin figure, and happens to be higher than Steve at that point, he will be the record holder

That can't be right. If Kurt passes Godwin's 75,065 before Steve (and so is higher than Steve at that point) but then Steve passes him and stays ahead right up until midnight 31.12.2015, Steve breaks Godwin's record and is the new record holder, not Kurt. Each rider has specified (and had approved) his own start date and end date for the one year record attempt. If Steve does it within his alloted time, he does it, regardless of what anybody else may be doing who has a finish date after Steve's.

The alternative, when you play it out to its conclusion, just makes the entire challenge null and void.

 

[velovoice]

That's how I understand it. The year is the time limit - you can do it in one year but not over longer than a year. Similarly, if Wiggins goes out later this year and takes the 1hr TT world record in 57 minutes, he'd be perfectly entitled to stop there and then. He wouldn't though....

Wouldn't he be a DNF? Surely you've got to cross the finish line, whether that's a fixed point in time or a fixed distance.

 

[Sea of vapours]

All these 'must be a year: no more, no less' arguments are ... 'questionable'.

Suppose
a) there was only one cyclist attempting to break Tommy Godwin's record and
b) that they reached the magic number in October, then stopped pedalling, then surely
c) they have broken Tommy Godwin's record. It's not really tenable to say that they haven't broken it unless they carry on cycling 'til the end of the year (is it?!).

Simple.

 

[tommaguzzi]

One hour record or one year record its the same thing, you cannot submit your result until the hour/year is complete whether you are still riding or not. Steve started before Kurt so he will be first to submit his mileage therfore will take the record if he has more than Tommy's total.
Kurt could have done 10,000 miles more than Steve and stopped pedling in november but he still cannot submit this result for verification until one year after he started.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Wouldn't he be a DNF? Surely you've got to cross the finish line, whether that's a fixed point in time or a fixed distance.

I understand the fixed distance to be 75,065.1 miles. Within a year. Looking at the Ultra-marathon cycling association's rules (which are rather unhelpful on this issue) there's the added complication that no sanctioning body approved TG's mileage. So, assuming that Aussie who hit 65,657 miles before TG had his record sanctioned, either of our 2 contenders will be vying for the record between themselves as soon as one or both hits that mileage.

 

[velovoice]

All these 'must be a year: no more, no less' arguments are ... 'questionable'.

Suppose
a) there was only one cyclist attempting to break Tommy Godwin's record and
b) that they reached the magic number in October, then stopped pedalling, then surely
c) they have broken Tommy Godwin's record. It's not really tenable to say that they haven't broken it unless they carry on cycling 'til the end of the year (is it?!).

Simple.

As long as their mileage during that year is verified....
Nobody said the attempt doesn't count if a lorry hits an official challenger before his year is up, simply that verification won't be done til the year is up.