chasm54

That's interesting, thanks. As far as Kurt using Steve as pacemaker is concerned, I'd say that could cut both ways. Might get psychologically difficult if he fell a thousand miles or so behind, for example. I'd say Kurt's principal advantage is the weather, at least at this time of year. I guess that might reverse itself in the summer - not that I know much about summer in Arizona...

LWaB

A thousand miles isn't actually very much in this game. Given how many days Kurt started after Steve, he could easily make that up after Steve finished riding on 31 December by sitting behind a paceline or even a motorbike and never taking a turn at the front.

RomansFiveEight

What about the original rules did he not like? Just out of curiosity.

LWaB

A too long and too boring story. Basically the first draft was too similar to UMCA's point-to-point rules, which are impractical for this sort of record.

StephenH

Reminds me of a Chuck Norris joke, "How many pushups can Chuck Norris do?" Answer: "All of them." If you're putting in quite a few miles and some other guy rides a little more, well heck, just up the ante and ride a few extra miles and beat him! But if you're riding "all you can" anyway, it doesn't make any difference if the other guy is a mile ahead of you or a thousand miles ahead of you or what, you're pretty much going to do what you were doing anyway. So I don't see a big advantage to starting 10 days later or earlier, and suspect there were additional factors involved.
In Steve's case, it would have been to his advantage to get the race set up for a calendar year, since that's what he was doing, and if he had any input into it, I'm surprised that didn't happen.
It wouldn't surprise me if neither rider made the year, not because I have any misgivings about either, but because it's just such a huge task with no room for error.

In the case of the female record, I think there's quite a few women that could beat that rather handily if they had the time/money to spare and the inclination to do so. More a matter of desire and opportunity than athletic ability.

c.miller64

I think mandatory support vehicles/crew was his biggest concern.

RomansFiveEight

That makes sense. Given that both of these guys seem to be not going very 'far', I imagine a support vehicle is more hassle ($$$) than it's really worth. Although; admittedly, as a 'spectator', I think it would be WAY cooler if these guys had 80,000 mile routes planned. Like a jaunt across the southern US snaking it's way up and by mid-summer, hitting the Canadian border and maybe all the way to Alaska, getting back down south by late fall and returning to Florida by late Winter after clocking 80,000 miles (for the American guy). To get to 80k miles it would require a lot of zig-zagging and looping but it would be so much cooler than running around the same general area day in and day out.

billytheshoe

Kurt's website says he's planning to get to 48 states during the year, so he's doing the sort of thing you suggest.

DXchulo

Were they going to require an official the whole time, too? I helped crew for a state record a few years back and it was certainly an interesting experience.

c.miller64

I think so, though I wouldn't swear to it.

dwmckee

I see this as having a bizarre ending. Since the record is for 365 consecutive days, a rider could ride a 366th day and lop off the first low mileage day and besting his previous 365 day total. Then another contender close in the running could maybe ride 3 more days to retake the lead by lopping off his first 3 days of the previous year. The contenders could keep riding indefinitely as long as they are riding longer mileage at the end. They could keep setting new 365 day records and surpassing each other. It might not end until all but one rider is still able to ride longer miles. Bummer, I have to go to work tomorrow...

DXchulo

Is that true or does the UMCA make you announce your dates ahead of time?

Either way I do think it makes more sense to just stick to a calendar year, minus one day on a leap year.

LWaB

Riders have to announce start dates at least two weeks before they start their attempts.

DXchulo

It looks like Steve crashed yesterday and has a broken ankle. I can't imagine how frustrating it must be to make it this far and have that happen.

chasm54

He didn't exactly crash - someone riding a moped hit him. Cyclist attempting to break long-distance record is hit by moped | Travel | The Guardian

He's well ahead of schedule. I shouldn't be at all surprised to see him back on the bike in three weeks and still trying to crack Godwin's distance. It'll put him well behind Kurt, though, so that might deprive him of his place in the record books. Deeply frustrating, I agree, and indicative of just how many things can go wrong in an attempt of this magnitude.

StephenH

If I was him, assuming he can't ride right now, I'd take a nice long month or two-month break, make sure I was all healed up, get back in shape if necessary, get all my bikes in shape, reconsider how everything was working out, and then, if it all looked favorable, RESTART the time. He's not quite 3 months in at the moment.

Meanwhile, I don't remember if it got mentioned in this thread, but I think a guy in Australia just started.

chasm54

That all makes perfect sense, Stephen, but the guy is an ordinary working man with limited resources. There's probably a limit to how much time he can go without earnings, despite the support he gets from on-line contributors. So just restarting the clock may not be a simple matter.

DXchulo

Is he on Strava?

StephenH

Sorry, I had it wrong, it's been announced, but he doesn't actually start until April 11th. HAM?R 2015: Miles Smith of Australia to join HAM?R on April 11th | UltraCycling News

chriskmurray

This could be a solid plan if he can keep his mental game intact but he seems to still be doing great on that front from the updates I have read.

One probably could simply be finances, this is already a very expensive endeavor and it sounds like Steve is far from independently wealthy so he simply might not have the funds for it.

Machka 

I figure all three will experience sickness and injury at some point during the year. So Steve might be able to take 3 weeks off now and then continue cycling and be OK, because the other two will also likely end up taking the same amount of time off at some point later too.

Just a speculation.

ronfinch

SStarting three months after the other is such a big advantage, it should be a calendar year really.

LWaB

Many of Steve's supporters have said that they'll continue contributing so I expect that finances won't be a major factor in whether he restarts or continues.

chasm54

Bump. He's still going, having resorted to a recumbent and pedalling with a cast. Somewhat behind schedule but could still make it past Godwin's total in the calendar year if nothing else goes wrong. Remarkably determined guy.

Machka 

Thanks ... I was actually wondering if he was still going.