Attempting the world hour record is not for the faint hearted. There’s no prize for coming second, no silver medal, no bottle of Champagne, no kiss from the pretty girl. Unfortunately this was the result of Jack Bobridge’s attempt on Saturday night.
Greame Obree, the hour record breaker in 1993 and again in 1994, commented to Cycling Tips after watching Bobridge’s failed attempt “I saw him lying there. With the silence of the crowd, it was like somebody died.” And Jack pretty much agreed, Tweeting: “Now that’s as close to death I think I’ll ever be without dying.”
Champion Australian track rider Brad McGee unsuccessfully attempted the record in 1997 and told News Corp. that it left him a broken man. “I was destroyed and it wrecked me for the rest of the year” McGee said of the ride that sent him into a cycle of injury and illness lasting months.
When the UCI changed the rules for the hour in 2014, Jens Voigt promptly used the event as a painful but high profile way to punctuate his illustrious career. 205 victory laps if you like. Who better to give the event glamour and prestige.
Other riders rushed to cash in on what they hoped might be a ‘cheap’ record. They want to get their name in the record books before a recognised time trial champion like Bradley Wiggins smashed it out of reach.
Jack will tell you it’s already at a formidable mark. “I take my hat off to (current record holder) Brändle. That’s one hell of a record”.
Having witnessed the unsuccessful attempt in Melbourne, cycling fans now understand that it’s like no other race. There’s no prize for falling short.
I wonder how many people contemplated the consequences of a failed attempt. The uncomfortable emptiness. The hollowness of ‘well at least he had a go’.
Teams and manufacturers understand the record’s marketing potential and have shown a lively interest in it for years now. I anticipate that Sky and Pinarello will milk the Wiggins hour for all it’s worth.
My crystal ball sees Wiggins setting a new impressive mark, but then what? I doubt the challengers will continue to line up in the way we’ve seen over the last few months.
Tony Martin is another obvious contender, but I suspect that in the long term new attempts will be occasional at best and reserved for the stellar time triallers of each generation.
Purely from the spectator’s point of view that’s not such a bad thing. It’s pretty dour television viewing.
I used to think road time trials were a bit dull because riders parade through one by one rather than racing each other in real time. But at least the scenery or the weather changes.
The telecast from Melbourne didn’t show telemetry of the average speed, or Jack’s position in relation to the record. In a race that is all about distance and time that information is vital to keep us excited about what’s otherwise a mechanical and repetitive 60 minutes.
I found myself longing for the virtual blue line that bobbed along in front of the Ian Thorpe’s fingertips in Olympic swimming events.
In a road time trial the riders start just two minutes apart. We can cut between riders on the road and establish the rising and falling timegaps. The hour is like a time trial that lasts, well, for months or years.
I might be out of step in not getting excited about battles against the clock. I prefer the thrills of racing man on man. However the popularity of Strava tells me that a lot of cyclists pro, semi pro or amateur get a huge kick out of counting the seconds. They probably enjoy watching a time trial more than I do.
No matter. One thing I won’t argue about is the spectacle of an athlete giving his all. So yes, I’ll still be following Rohan Dennis’ attempt with interest.
Maybe Jack didn’t ‘win’ on Saturday. He didn’t get to stand on a podium, wave flowers and do a hokey bite into a medal. He didn’t get his name in the record book but he won something that couldn’t be seen on TV.
If he couldn’t see it at the velodrome, I hope he felt it. He won the respect of thousands of cycling fans for taking his mind and body to limits most of us can’t comprehend.
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