Jens Goes for the Hour

http://velonews.competitor.com/2014/09/news/jens-voigt-targets-hour-record-september-18_343798

“I look at this as one last present for my fans. I want to give them something to smile about — before the final curtain falls. But also I want to do a good performance. This is not a circus act. The ‘hour’ has lost some of its magic over the last years. Maybe my attempt could kick off a new round of hour-record attempts. I could establish a mark for everyone to give it a try. Make a bridge, you know. I raced against Boardman, Indurain, and Sosenka. And I’m racing with Fabian and his generation. If I make it, it would be sandwiched between those names. I can pave the way for them. I have no illusion to keep the record once Fabian and other specialists start having a go. But I kind of like the idea of telling me grand children about it, when they sit on my lap when I’m 75.”

It would be cool to have him, Wiggins, Cancellara, and Martin all have a go at it over the next year.

They should all be able to break 50km on a pursuit bike.

They modified the rules awhile back and the official hour record needs to be set on a regular track bike.

First he goes for the hour….then 48 hours later joins in a charity ride in England for a friend to raise awareness for Epilepsy.

Wasn't he supposed to let the bike rest?

I am not trading music with Jens…record attempt is tomorrow, broadcasted live.

Q: @BWSimons: What’s on Jens’ 60-minute playlist?
A: We asked him, and this is what he said:

Warmup:
• REO Speedwagon “Keep on Loving You”
• Brian Adams “Summer of 69?
• Journey “Wheel in the Sky”
• Air Supply “Making Love out of Nothing at All“
• Metallica “Turn the Page”

Hour Record:
• Republica “Ready to Go”
• P.O.D. “Feel So Alive”
• Metallica “One”
• AC/DC “Hells Bells”
• AC/DC “Highway to Hell”
• Farmerboys “Here Comes the Pain”
• Ugly Kid Joe “Goddam Devil”
• AC/DC “Thunderstruck”
• Black Sabbath “Paranoid”
• Metallica “Frayed Ends of Sanity”
• Europe “Final Countdown”

Cooldown:
• Metallica “Nothing Else Matters”
• Cranberries “Zombie”
• Kansas “Dust in the Wind”
• Air Supply “All Out of Love”
• Lita Ford/ Ozzy Osbourne “Close My Eyes Forever”

http://www.trekfactoryracing.com/news/hour-record-twitter-qa

Live now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjjM2tI6THs[HTML_REMOVED]feature=em-lbrm

He's done it!

He's done it!

Shut Up Hour.

Merckx about his own attempt:

Merckx was known for his hunger to win everything he raced and invariably did so, but when he set his record in 1972, the Cannibal said it was the hardest thing he had done in his career. Something he reiterates 42 years later.

“Getting off the bike, I felt like a paralytic, with the impression that I planted needles in my buttocks. I drank gallons of water and beer, without being able to urinate, and for three or four days I couldn't walk,” he told the French paper. “I went too fast it was in my nature, and nothing could stop me.”

So cool to see Jens close out his career like that. I watched the last 15 mins of the live stream, and the energy of the crowd kept building and building. I got goosebumps as he approached the record. I always really liked Jens.

I also see nothing much wrong with his music choices, except maybe Air Supply… ;)

Merckx about his own attempt:

Whereas Jens looked like he was ready to go again.

Word is that Time withdrew at the 35.76k mark mumbling something about a mysterious stomach ailment.

Matthias Brandle hour record attempt live now.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VYqVdAI-1zw

Well done Brandle.