John_V 

So how come you aren't the current world record holder?

bikenh

I don't have things set up the way I need them...at least not yet. I working on things to get them set up the way I want/need them but I'm not there yet. I know when it comes to something like this you go into it properly planned because failure to plan is planning to fail. Yeah, you can make a half hearted attempt and rush right into it and get half hearted results. The better you are set up and have all contingencies worked out the better off you are. I wouldn't be riding in a park, open road riding only. I wouldn't see the same stretch of road more than once in the entire year. Yeah, a lot of route planning, which entails a lot of work to plan a good route that won't leave you sitting in a bad scenario you can't afford when you are trying to ride big miles everyday. It takes time to plan properly it doesn't happen overnight like so many people thinks that it can. I've been collecting/compiling data on my idea 12-16 hours a day ever since Labor Day last year and I still have a long ways to go before I even start to use the data to plan the route out. If you try to ride aimlessly you'll get aimless results. I know you have to know where your services are at and more importantly than that is you have to know what kind of services you are going to be needing so you can go find them and put them on a map that you can use to draw up the route. No services and your finished. No for something like this I wouldn't ride around aimlessly like I do when I go on summer bike trip, I'm not that stupid.

DrIsotope

The standing HMM'R record (Abraham) is 7104.3 miles-- which I don't understand, as Coker has beaten that number several times already. If she continues on at this pace, she should finish somewhere in the 85k-86k range. Do I think her number could be beaten? Probably, if someone managed to do the same type of attempt with more hours per day. On open roads? Only if the person making the attempt figures out how to survive without sleep, and avoids absolutely any form of mechanical problem, bodily function, or change in weather or wind.

bikenh

ou Remember Steve has restarted yet another attempt at the record earlier this month. Are you looking at his current attempt?

You're forgetting several details. Training is the secret to anything. You don't start off on day one and become Strausser like. It takes training...more importantly it takes the right kind of training. It's not about power output, that doesn't win any race including RAAM. It takes consistent training. I was on an 8400 mile bike trip two years ago where I was only getting 3-4 hours sleep per night throughout the duration of the trip. I wasn't riding high mileage, both because I wasn't planning to ride high mileage(still averaging 125 miles per day with a 227 mile day during the fully loaded trip), and because I wasn't riding with a pre-arranged trip plan. I was spending/wasting each evening, 3-4 hours, planning out where I was going to go the next day and looking at routing options and looking for possible campsites for the next night. In the morning I was spending/wasting another hour or more finishing off the planning and writing, yes writing, out the cue sheet. With better organization I could have been spent all that wasted time riding. Did I notice any effects due to lack of sleep or more importantly, lack of muscle recovery...YES. In the beginning I was dealing with the lack of sleep. Fought like hell trying to stay awake during the daylight hours for a week before I lost the sleepiness effect. It took a couple more weeks before I would get hit with the lack of muscle recovery, or at least what I'm guessing was the lack of muscle recovery given what was going on. By the time I had been out there about one month I lost all the effects of the lack of ... and just had smooth riding the rest of the time even though I was still getting the lack of sleep and muscle recovery. If you spend the time to train the effects out of existence they will disappear and not be a factor anymore. The problem is there's a saying I have heard many times now on different cycling related podcasts over the past year..."It take 6 weeks to form a new habit." I will expand that saying to what is really meant..."It's take 6 weeks to form a new habit...anything less and all you have is a hobby...hobbies don't win RAAM or go 100,000 miles in one year...habits do."

If you want to break 7 days, yes finished RAAM in under 7days, you need to become an ultra cyclist before the start of RAAM so the effects most people experience during RAAM will already be behind you and you will be in the HABIT of ultra cycling not in the hobby of ultra cycling. If you want the results you have to spend the time doing the training so you can get the results. This doesn't come from going out for 3 three day weekends leading into RAAM and riding 200 miles x 3 days, 250 x 3 day, 300 x 3 days, instead it comes from riding 20+ hours a day everyday for 6 weeks leading into RAAM. Training the body to get used to the lack of sleep and lack of muscle recovery. Let the body transform itself into an ultra machine through the training your putting it through. Yeah, 7 days has never been broken, simply because most people don't have the training time available and the mind set is such in 'ultra' cycling that you aren't supposed to train like that. I've seen otherwise through personal experience.

The only real mechanical problem that you would have to deal with on something like this is something like a broken frame if you are riding supported. The crew can carry the spare parts to fix the bike for you. If you are riding unsupported than yes, plenty can be a problem but even at that for the bulk majority of problems it isn't that much extra to carry what you need to fix the bike with you and with a little imagination you can general BS your way through most problems until you can get to bike shop. I always carry a couple of spare tubes and spare chains when I leave for a bike trip. I live in tax free New Hampshire so why not save money and carry a little extra weight on me by carrying the spare chains on me. Most problems can be fixed on the road. Granted in 85-100K miles you can expect anything to go wrong, including broken frames.

The weather changes all day, everyday, anywhere you go. You learn to deal with it and more importantly plan to avoid the problem areas when their problem area to beginning with. Even on a massive around the country bike trip(85-100K miles long) you can still plan your trip to avoid the problem areas when they are typically problem areas if you learn to stop and pay attention to what goes on around the country and when it typically occurs each year/every couple of years(ie. don't put yourself in California during the spring/summer months unless you want to deal with forest fires, don't put yourself around the Gulf Coast/east coast of the US during July-October unless you want to run the risk of getting forced off the bike by hurricanes, don't put yourself in the midwest now-early June unless you want to get swept away by a tornado...etc). Just learn when potential problems typically occur and you can plan your strategy to avoid the potential problem areas when they are typically problem areas. They are many on my list and fortunately with my roughed out route idea it avoids all but MAYBE one of them. Granted I've only played with the NE 1/4 of the US for routing thus far and everything was being setup the way I wanted it go for trying to route the rest of the country so once I get my full services list setup I don't think the route will change much other than to make sure I'm going by needed services each day...at the time of day when I want to be going by them.

No, I wouldn't do HAMR...I wouldn't do a supported ride which HAMR rules pretty much require. I would be my own support and tough it out. One/however many less person/people to deal with and less expenses as a result of it.

If you want different results, you have to think differently...err, if you follow the crowd...you will get the crowds results.

c.miller64

This is because she was not officially registered for a monthly record attempt at that time. She is now, though, and will have 3 overlapping attempts before she finishes out the year. Current status of those attempts is here-

https://tinyurl.com/HAMR-Month

John_V 

Whether some people think she did this right or wrong, this morning, just before noon, she surpassed the 76,076 mile record held by Kurt Searvogal with a month and 9 days left before her year is up. For those who believe that this was an easy task, please and by all means, go out and make the attempt to beat her record and get back with us in a year so we can see just how well you did.

DXchulo

Simply amazing. I think her new record will stand for a long time.

Her strategy paid off brilliantly. There's no denying that now.

unterhausen

pretty awesome, and it's going to be hard to beat it. I hope she crushes it in the next month.

jeffpoulin

I'm surprised her feat hasn't garnered more attention. When Searvogel broke the record, there were lots posts on various cycling forums, news articles, photos, and I even heard some co-workers talking about it. In comparison, Amanda seems to have escaped notice. Perhaps when her year is done and the final tally is known, her effort will be better recognized. I'm simply astonished at her physical and mental toughness. This will certainly be a hard record to break.

John_V 

Her parents are trying to keep the media attention low keyed for now so that it doesn't distract her. They will most likely be nice shindig on May 14 or the 15th.

c.miller64

Amanda's breaking of the record is now official.
Greatest distance cycled in a year (UMCA) | Guinness World Records

Zurichman2

I am somewhat of an ultra distance rider if I want to be having finished RAAM in 2006 as a 4 man team(Team Cyclonauts) This is what I have seen following Kurt last year and Amanda this year. I think Kurt might have had the harder task of doing his miles as he only had Alicia his wife as a support crew. Amanda has her parents for a support crew and lets not kid yourself 2 people versus one over an entire year of cycling is a big difference. I know Kurt had the miles in for training before his atttempt as I saw heard that he use to win the Big Dogs competion for many years riding 14,000 - 15,000 miles or so. I did see that Amanda did a shake down ride with her parents before the attempt by riding across the USA. I can't prove this but I also think Amanda has more sponsors than Kurt had. Finally I saw over on another bicycle website that I belong to that she has a few riders that she can trust to ride around but didn't like cyclists coming to the trail/park that she is doing loops on and them riding in front of her for the show and then slowing down causing her possible crashes. For this reason she isn't seeking a lot of attention and only wants people riding around her that she can trust and know. One of them are the Schlitters. How she can keep cranking out 230+ mile days in an environment that has walkers and all other kind of obstacles in front of her shows how strong of a rider she is. I think Steve Abrahams in England will have a rough go of it as the weather doesn't work out well for him there but I still wish him the best of luck in his attempt.

jeffpoulin

Kurt could have had 2 or more people in his support crew, but he didn't. It was his choice and I don't think it's fair to say that he had a harder task. Amanda is more than a *month* ahead of his record. Obviously, she chose the right strategy and executed it perfectly. That plan, coupled with her incredible physical and mental stamina is why she's been so successful. She may end the year with 86,000 miles or so, a stunning 10k more than Kurt. I would be very surprised to see someone beat that in the next 10 years (except for BikeNH, of course, who could easily do 100k miles in a year if only he wanted to. ).

Zurichman2

Thanks for that insight jeffpoulin. I followed both but didn't know much of the logistics of both. You are right in that you said that it isn't/wasn't fair to compare. What he did to beat the record and set the bar high for the next rider which now Amanda has done the same is incredible. I would agree with you in that I doubt anybody will beat her record for awhile. I don't know what kind of riding you do but a few back to back 100 mile rides does me in. This is such an incredible feat that both of these riders have done and puts them in some elite Company of which not too many people are there.

Zurichman2

Boy I just went back and read through all these posts. I can't believe all of the negative posts. Bikenh you take the cake. You kind of remind me many years ago or even now of all the guys bragging what they did in the service. The guys that did all of that or seen all of that in Nam don't and won't tell you much. I also see lots of negative comments on drafting. What the heck. RAAM, Furnace Creek 508(now Western 508) and other races are the only type of riding out there that forbids drafting. As far as Kurt or Amanda putting it out there that they only should be riding only 12 hrs. a day I don't ever remember seeing that and I followed Curt about every dy. They are just fast enough that they don't have to ride more than that. There was plenty of days when Curt had storms or whatever that he might have only ridden 12 hrs. a day but he might have been out there more like 15 hrs. or more. I never knew that Amanda had that accident. That tells me probably why she chose this spot as she didn't have traffic to deal with in her attempt. Having been hit a few times with car mirrors that is a worry she doesn't have to deal with and just concentrate on riding. What her and Curt have done is incredible and don't criticize either one of them until you at least go out and ride back to back 200+ miles in 90 or so days or more.

John_V 

I was riding on the south loop yesterday, dialing in my new bike, when she slowed down to tell me the news. She had a grin from ear to ear that nothing on earth could have wiped off her face. Then she took off like a rocket to put in more miles.

Zurichman2

Glad to hear that you were part of that.

John_V 

Around 9:00 am this morning, she surpassed the 80,000 mile mark.

DrIsotope

If she stays on this increased daily pace of ~267 miles per day, she should finish just shy of 87,000 for the year effort. Impressive by any measure.

kingston 

I mentioned this story in conversation the other day to my 18 y/o daughter who is an elite-level national swimmer and thought her response was pretty interesting.

DrIsotope

This is a common misconception held by the youth-- that there is some honor in "winning" through greater effort. Coker will have averaged 238.4 miles a day for 365 days, a feat that would be all but impossible to recreate on open roads. Searvogel did his effort almost entirely on open roads, and she beat his number in less than 11 months.

The only way I could see her number being beaten would be to ride laps around a super speedway somewhere (if the rules even allow that) because the average speed would have to be faster that Coker's moving speed, which is over 20mph. Remember folks: the goal is the most miles ridden in a single year. Not elevation, not states visited, nothing other than a distance number. Coker has averaged a hair over 2ft/mi of elevation for the effort. That's how you do 87,000 miles in a year. Efficiency.

Happy Feet

I don't find that interesting really. It just shows that while your daughter may be an elite swimmer, she knows very little about cycling. It is also a little telling that she could be so dismissive of another athletes incredible sustained efforts over an extended period of time. No matter the sport; most elite athletes can appreciate work when they see (hear) it.

Steamer

You know what they say about apples falling....

rickyk76

The feat is amazing as it is. It's funny how people sit behind the computer or on the phone and criticize her accomplishments. The record is for annual mileage. That's it. If she accomplished it riding the same 1 mile loop 86,000x it would count, and would still be amazing. Regardless of who did what before and whether some may perceive it to be harder than what she's doing now, it's all irrelevant. She's ridden the miles and that's all that matters. Personally, the mental fortitude it takes to ride 200+ every day for a year is just astounding to me. Yeah, can we break it down to math and say at 15mph for 14 hours a day every day it's not so hard, but the reality is, that's very hard. And no one here or anywhere else is doing it except this girl. Will someone beat it? Eventually. Someone will find a better loop, be able to go a little faster or a little longer, or a little faster for a little longer, and their accomplishment will be amazing too. I don't care how much support she has, how many sponsors, etc. Getting on the bike everyday for so long and so far is pretty fantastic. Congrats to her.

Spoonrobot 

No you guys are wrong, it's not a feat of anything. It's just riding a recumbent round and round in a controlled environment while conspicuously avoiding mentioning the vast majority of the miles are not on a normal bike. May as well assign mileage to riding a trainer and just ride indoors next time. The record as defined is meaningless when it can be accomplished in such a manner, at least the revamped hour record is only mind-numbingly boring for an hour. Not 8,760 in a row.

It violates one of the tenants of cycling records. If you are going to repeatedly ride around in a circle to achieve a distance record - you do it in a velodrome - on a normal bike.

lol that really takes the wind out of the sails when spoken plainly like that