Right then, that’s that. Bradley Wiggins is superhuman, we knew that, but it turns out that actually, he’s even superer than we thought. He has absolutely pasted Alex Dowsett’s world record, but what’s almost as startling is how quickly he recovered. What a man.
Lastly, Wiggins thanks his wife and kids, and says that this was the most emotional ride he’s ever done. His mates were on it last night, and then, in the hotel amongst their hangovers, he went to have his hair and shaving done. “What you up to today?” asked the barber.
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It turns out he was listening to music, but couldn’t hear any of it, such was the noise.
“I always compare myself to the greats, and just glad to be in the company of those guys,” he says, when asked if he’d disappointed at not quite hitting his target. “Just to get up there and put yourself on the line takes a lot of courage.”
Wiggins is there to be interviewed, but theh crowd won’t let him speak. “I’m just glad it’s over... the closest I’ll come to know what it’s like to have a baby.”
Four Olympic medals, seven world titles, one Tour de France, and now a world record. Effort.
It’s not often legitimate to use the word “awesome”, but that was awesome and then some. People - and Bradley Wiggins in particular - are ridiculous.
There’ll be no regrets about Wiggins not getting closer to 55km says his coach - but he agrees that the record isn’t quite beyond reach and notes weather that’s hotter than ideal.
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Wiggins sits again, towel around his neck like in the Dynasty opening credits. His face contorts in pain, he drinks something, and composes.
Back on the bike he gets, and the victory lap is underway. I have no idea how he can even open his eyes, let along persuade life into his legs.
Official distance: 54.526 km!
So, not quite what Obree felt was unmatchable in this generation, but not far off.
Off he gets, and raises his bike aloft above his head! That seems to have been the last of his strength, but he recovers to hug his wife and his kids. Still, he’s not had a sitdown. I need one.
Somehow, Wiggins is still going around the track, punching the air, and not collapsed in a heap rocking gently.
And he stops! That is an astounding effort of mental strength and physical power! Bradley Wiggins is a ridiculous humanoid!
Five, four, three, two one! 218 laps!
The record hasn’t been beaten, it’s been taken apart!
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30 seconds to go! 216 laps in the bag!
The previous record was 212.
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Wiggins grits his soul and synapses and paces once again! This is spectacular!
But how far can he go! A minute left!
Wiggins is just about to crack the record. AND THERE IT IS! BRADLEY WIGGINS BREAKS THE HOUR RECORD
We are very small.
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The celebratory music starts, as Wiggins nears the target and the end. We’ll have a wait even at the end of the hour, as they measure the exact distance from start to finish. Four laps to go to beat the record, 2 minutes 40 to see how many more he can do.
Oh my days, the average speed is actually increasing! Clearly, Wiggins has no interest in returning to do this again, lest someone beat it.
198 laps completed, 54:26.541. AMAZING!
Wiggins is slowing, his form’s ebbing and shoulders are sagging slightly. But he’s still right at it, and I’m minded of something Mark Cavendish once said of the Tour de France: “it means something to suffer that much.”
Nine minutes to go, and the consistency is phenomenal. He’s more than 1:44 inside the target time, but it’s now about by how much he can annihilate the record.
Lap 182 50:00.497 - world record pace is 52:00.888. That is loads, and Wiggins is pushing through - the crowd are going absolutely spare.
“In 15 minutes you’re gonna be finished and you do what the hell you like with the rest of your life,” explains Wiggins about the closing stages. Sounds pips.
“How about this for a nuts cycling challenge,” tweets Martin Sykes-Haas “Mount Ventoux on a Boris Bike.”
This is amazing discipline from Wiggins. He’s on lap 170 and more than 1.42 inside the world record pace, though Andy Bradshaw disagrees with Graham Obree.
“Whatever Brad does, Dowsett will be very close to beating when he tries again, he said he’d not given everything and the Manchester velodrome is a lot slower & doesn’t have the climate control Lee Valley does.”
Thanks to Mark Bowden for sending in this Open University video detailing the history of the one-hour record.
“Cycling has a limited range of movement and little to no joint impact meaning you can bypass those negative effects,” explains Christopher Ashley of welovecycling.com “This allows the athletes to push muscle and cardiovascular beyond what a runner could achieve in similar conditions.”
Wiggins is still powering through; he said that the last 12 minutes is the last, so you’re pushing through til the end, but this third one is horrendous. We can’t see his face, but he’s making it look exceptionally easy. Lap 157, 43:07.090.
“Does Wiggo still have his beard?” asks Andrew Benton. “There must surely be ‘streamlining’ issues if he does. Anyway, isn’t Wiggo such a brilliant advert for sports funding? All aspiring sports people need an environment in which their talents can develop.....”
He doesn’t, and the funding question is an interesting one. Is UK cycling so successful because it has more money to spend than more or less every other country?
“Half the issue with the hour is the heat,” reckons Andy Bradshaw. “It’s near enough impossible to shed the heat the body’s producing especially in a velodrome that’s heated and humidified to a specific (i.e. stupidly hot) optimum temperature & humidity. I strongly recommend people look up velocast.cc’s wonderful hour record podcasts. It is a payed for podcast, but well worth it for cycling fans.”
“It starts setting in that this is quite difficult ... at that stage people back off” says Wiggins of the third block. His focus, though, is something else. Lap 1378, 37.54:096 - world record pace is 36.35:650. If he can keep this up, no one is getting near whatever time he sets for a very long time.
Lap 126, covered in 34.36:228, world record pace is 36.12. Wiggins looks strong, not deviating from his black line, and what a phenomenal athlete he is.
“While I get that this is a seriously tough challenge, why is it any different in terms of effort from say, a crack at the half marathon world record?” asks Paul Roome. “That also takes about an hour, you have to be at the top of your game, you need a sustained effort that leaves you empty at the finish (see Mo in NY last year) and it’s actually something that lots of people train for so its properly competitive.
I don’t get why this is being built up as something so monumental when it just seems a bit novelty. Will you be live blogging next time Mo runs 21.1km?”
I guess this has amazing history, and also, it’s not about a defined distance, but an absurd amount of time. Cycling is basically a suffering competition, whereas running, even distance running, isn’t quite the same - as far as I understand it.
“How about Dave Sims. Attempting the Tour de France this year on a Raleigh chopper,” suggests Brian Ulyett. Does he have trick nuts?
Wiggins is at the half hour, and he’s -1.13:47 inside the pace. This is amazing!
“In October, I crashed my bike while commuting (Coalville-Hinckley, 27-32 mile round trip; part-time though)“ emails Joseph North. “I got my Mum to pick me up, and started my library job half an hour late. In the evening, I mentioned to Mum that something might be wrong with my shoulder, but she said to ‘just take two paracetamol.’ After my second day at work, I went to see my GP, then A&E...and had broken my collarbone. So, two days at work with a broken collarbone...that’s a pretty impressive level of suffering/pain resistance, isn’t it?”
Not bad, but not quite in the competition given the accidental nature of its occurrence - all the more so if it was salved by your mum kissing it better.
Andrew Benton has further thoughts as to that which Wiggins should be listening: “Chris Froome’s post-TDF victory interviews should be fairly motivational I’d have thought. Or maybe his knighthood discussion with the Queen....is it possible to have two knighthoods?”
Not if you despise publicity. But joshingbantz aside, he is making this look so easy; already the discussion is whether, but how much. The second set of 12 minutes is despatched - “it should start to bite a little bit”, he says of that stage.
“When doing my regular half hour on the elliptical trainer yesterday,” brags Mark Turner, “I tried upping my normal 60rpm rhythm to 65rpm in homage to Wiggins and his record attempt and can confirm that humanity is insane.”
Ipso facto end of, as they say.
And, tangentially, Allan Plato sends in this remarkable finish from 2011 Manchester Track Cycling World Cup.
Meanwhile, Wiggins is getting this did. 79 laps, 21:42.942
“I had to watch Mad Max recently. That’s 2 hrs I’ll never get back #Suffering” tweets Guy Hornsby. “This is proper superman stuff, prediction: 54km.”
Probably the worst film I ever saw in the cinema:
“Basically Wiggo should have playing cards in his spokes and tassels on end of the handle bars,” emails Andy Bradshaw. “More seriously Carlton Kirby’s going to explode after about 36 minutes in.”
I fear for him. This record should really have to be done on a Raleigh Burner, preferably with a hard person in pursuit, keen to expropriate it.
“He ought to be listening to the Terry and June theme on loop for the whole hour,” tweets Rob Michael-Phillips.
The first 12 minutes are fine, apparently - so says the man. And he’s at 12.51 now, the opening block complete, and lap 47 just beginning; all looks chill.
I’d have ultimate respect for Wiggins if he inserted a few of these into his wheels.
Just the 29 laps in 8.01 so far. They say the first 230 are the hardest.
Another suggested accompanying song. This might be worse than actually doing this.
Anyway, what’s your finest feat of suffering? A few examples from my youth:
Necked a bottle of oil and of vinegar, played slapsies, but with punches to the jaw (straight shots only) eaten bits of table, watched Ireland-England earlier. Send in your entries, and I’ll pick a winner later.
Wiggins is seven seconds inside the record so far - he’s done ten laps in just under three minutes.
So, what tune should Wiggins have in his ears? How about:
I’ve no idea where the commentator has to go, such is his pitch already.
And off he goes! Before the ads were quite finished!
There’s a right old racket inside the Lee Valley VeloPark, where the experts think Wiggins’ll go consistently - unlike Dowsett, who went off slowly, slightly feart of the agony that awaited.
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Here he is, in blue singlet with red sleeves and tatt sleeve - he’s out and touring the arena, whilst hating fame. I shudder at the mere contemplation of contemplating his imminent pain.
Obviously there’s a Quadrophenia advert in the break. He just wants to be different (and unfamous).
Here’s @Bartlebeatle on Twitter: “An apt metaphor for being a fan of Miguel Indurain: Following a surprisingly delicious vegetarian meal in Spain, I asked the waiter in v.poor Castillian: ‘nada carne?’ His response, ‘...maybe a leeetle beet.’”
Wiggins is warming up, and there seems a uniform belief that he’ll sort this.
Graham Obree, a former holder of the record, reckons that anything below 55km is beatable in this generation; anything above, and it’s gone. Read more about that here.
The target: Wiggins needs to reach beyond the 52.937km set by Alex Dowsett on 2 May this year.
“Cycling in its purest form,” reckons Wiggins, who’s removed his sideboards in favour of a rugby league-style straight across the top of the ear look. One can only assume he chased them up his face after repeatedly failing to trim them evenly, or perhaps it’s an aerodynamic thing.
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Odd behaviour: Johan Bruyneel, an architect of US Postal and Lance Armstrong’s doping, is trackside. What’s all that about, then?
Old friends reunited: Indurain and Bruyneel at Wiggins' hour pic.twitter.com/LF1N2GHR4M
— Richard Moore (@richardmoore73) June 7, 2015
“Is this novelty or is it actually held in repute by cyclists?” asks Warren Heyman. “Is it the cyclist equivalent of the Trinity Great Court Run that Seb Coe completed once on Grandstand?”
Nope, this is legit: check out the incredible Eddie Merckx in Mexico City in 1972. So extreme was his effort that several of his support team were compelled to tears and at its end he was carried off the track, uncharacteristically conceding that “the pain was very, very, very significant”.
Spraying deodorant on your arm for ages, listening to Coldplay, eating warm ketchup; human capacity for suffering takes many forms. And, this evening, Bradley Wiggins will showcase another, aiming to break the world record for distance cycled in an hour. No hills, no opponents, no width restrictors, no nothing, just him, his legs, his lungs and his nervous system, all working together in perfect disharmony. Whatever happens, this will be remarkable.
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