The worst idea I have ever had

39.2km.

It was painful, it was hot and it was a little bit windy. But overall the conditions were pretty favorable. Last Sunday would have been a better day for an attempt but I can't complain about 80 degrees, clear sky and fairly mild wind (for Kissena).

My goal was to break 40km and I came pretty damn close. Had I done this on a better velodrome (read: not bumpy or windy) I probably would have and that's good enough for me.

Already there are some pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/nickjames/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/21494593@N00/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/14060984@N05/sets/72157602145075017/
http://www.flickr.com/photos/thelivest1/sets/72157602149945677/ New!

Some pictures from Will:





And a picture from Gui:

The Time

My record attempt will start some time between 2 and 3pm on Sunday September 23rd.

The BBQ will hopefully be underway by 1pm.

Special thanks

There are a lot of people that have helped me out a lot in the past few months during my preparation for the hour. I'd like to take a moment to thank them all:

First and foremost Dave from Bike Works. He has given me discounts on equipment, lent me his disk wheel and has been very encouraging. He also hooked me up with an awesome Bike Works skinsuit which I will be wearing during my attempt.
Additionally Tyler and the guys at Affinity Bikes ordered me a Lazer TT helmet.

As for individuals not associated with bike shops:

Chombo for making the flyer
Chris M who is lending me his Specialized Tri-spoke
Lee who is lending me aero-booties and for helping with timing during the 30 minute TT
Chris VD for lending me a stopwatch
Chris Y for helping with timing and driving me back home from the track afterwards
Will for helping with timing and taking amazing photos
Ceya for his training advice
Alan for helping me get a USAC official
Andres for promising to bring the grills for the BBQ
Squid for the promotion
The thursday morning crew

And everyone else for your support and well wishes. I'm doing this for you guys (okay that's a lie - I'm doing it for myself, but your enjoyment is important to me).

Pictures from the test run

I may or may not be fast enough, but I certainly look the part.

New Flyer!

Test run

I went to the track yesterday and did a 30 minute TT as a test/practice-run of my hour record. I did 48 complete laps in 30 minutes and did 49 laps in 30:13.91.

The formula used by the UCI to calculate the total distance is as follows:

D = (L Pi x TC) + Di C
Di C = (L Pi x TRC) / TTC

where: D = distance covered in the hour (or half hour in this case)
L Pi = length of track
TC = number of complete laps before the last lap
Di C = additional distance
TTC = time of the last complete lap
TRC = time remaining to ride at the beginning of the last lap

Using this formula my distance for the 30 minute effort was 19.467km or 12.096 miles.

Here are some fancy graphs I made:

Getting sick

For the past 5 or 6 days I've had a slight soreness in the back of my throat. The kind you wake up with and think "it's nothing" and then the next day you are full blown, can't-get-out-of-bed sick. Except it hasn't progressed to that point.

I've increased my vitamin intake, particularly vitamin C (5-8 grams daily at the moment). As of today my throat is no longer sore but I am feeling sluggish and my nose/head is congested.

I'm really hoping that this goes away within the next day or two. At the very least I hope it doesn't interfer with the attempt itself.

The good news is that I received the permit for the velodrome. I have talked to Alan and though he won't be able to officiate himself, he did say he could find someone who can. I have my aero-bars, skinsuit and TT helmet, and I should be picking up my disk wheel, aero-booties and tri-spoke this weekend.

I've also been looking into phosphate loading, which involves taking sodium phosphate for 4 days prior to the event. In several studies it was found to increase performance on a 40k TT by up to 8%.

I hope I'm ready.