FOR AN HOUR THERE IS NO UNIVERSE ... JUST A BIKE
SAYS FLYING SCOT GRAEME OBREE
THE knighthood is in the bag, the Grand Tour and Olympic titles secured f or posterity. The man himself speaks of feeling ‘obliged’ to have a crack at the one cycling prize held above all others by the hard men of the road and track.
Most have no doubt that Sir Bradley Wiggins i s capable of breaking the world hour record, that glittering reward for grinding endurance once claimed by such greats as Eddy Merckx and Francesco Moser, when he climbs aboard his conventional time trial bike in London tomorrow.
And, if he is willing to push himself into that danger zone beyond all known limits of the human body and mind, the former Tour de France champion may set a mark destined to still be standing long after all of his current rivals have free-wheeled off into retirement.
Much will depend on whether Wiggins can find a way to need the glory as much as he wants it. If he can take the same approach that led Graeme Obree to twice smash the hour record, almost nothing is beyond Sir Bradley.
Obree s ees i n Wiggins t he potential for a ride of era-defining supremacy. As long as he’s ready for the physical and mental torture.
‘You can do everything you think is humanly possible — but there is still an extra kilometre to be squeezed out before you actually die,’ said Obree. ‘ That’s the gap between what you think is possible and what can actually be done.
‘Basically, you have to set out at a pace you probably can’t sustain. Bradley isn’t quite in the same position because he’s targeting a record he knows he can break. Let’s say he’s capable of 55 kilometres. It’s not as if the record is 55.2km.
‘For Bradley just to break the record, he doesn’t have to have that same mentality that makes people storm machine-gun nests. So I would be very surprised if he doesn’t break it — even without pushing himself beyond the edge.
‘There is a chance for him to do something very special. He can reach into himself and say: “You know what? I’m 35, this might be the last huge thing I do in my life.” He can leave every shred of himself out on the track.
‘With his physical capacity, if he can wring himself out, really go beyond the limit, it will be hard for any human being of this generation to beat him. I think we’d be looking at a record to stand for 20 years. That’s how good Bradley can be.’
Obree famously broke the record on a bike built from all sorts of odds and ends, Old Faithful being put together specifically for the purpose of producing a more aerodynamic riding position and better power.
All of the work by man and machine came together on a track in Norway in July 1993 — though not quite immediately. Obree failed with his first crack at the record, went to bed distraught, then got up and smashed the old mark of just over 51km less than 24 hours later.
That record lasted less than a week, Chris Boardman steaming in to better his achievement on a bike that looked as if it had come straight f r om NASA. But t he Flying Scotsman reclaimed his place at the top in April 1994 by moving the record out to 52.713km.
The f or mer World Pursuit Champion, trying to explain to the uninitiated how it feels to give yourself over to the ultimate chase, said: ‘ For that hour, there is no universe except the black line, your bicycle and your schedule. Nothing else matters.
‘Halfway through, thinking doesn’t even come i nto i t. It’s about survival and a drive to get every last ounce of effort from your body.
‘It’s in there that you find the huge gulf between want and need. That need, as opposed to just want, is to work an extra one kilometre.
‘Imagine somebody holding a gun to the head of someone you love, saying they will be shot — you’ll find that extra kilometre to save them.
‘It’s the same thing that can see two physically similar human beings jump off a sinking ship, one makes it to shore while the other gives up and dies. Nobody knows if they’ve got that until the situation arises.
‘I knew what it was like not to break the record. I famously failed to break it then woke up and broke it the next morning.
‘To me, the pain of not breaking it was unbearable. I needed it like I needed air and water, because I couldn’t have survived emotionally without it. I do hope Bradley is not as emotionally ill as I was back then! But you certainly have to need it — not just want it.
‘I’ve seen a lot of great riders throw themselves against the barbed wire going for this record, because they didn’t understand it completely.
‘Within cycling, it’s a record that stands above everything. You only need to look at the heritage, how hard it has been to break, how many great cyclists have tried and failed.
‘ I actually broke three world records that first time around. I broke world records for 10k and 20k. But the hour record is the one everyone talks about still.
‘Over the course of my career, I broke 10 world records. Yet everybody says: “Graeme Obree, twice world hour record-holder.” It overshadows everything.’
‘Battle Mountain — Graeme Obree’s Story’ — will premiere at The Edinburgh International Film Festival on June 24 and screen for a second public viewing on June 25 at Ci n e world, Fountain Park, Edinburgh.
Sir Chris Hoy will be among the big-name riders joining Obree for the Flying Scotsman Sportive on June 21. Entries close on June 16. For more i nf ormation vi si t www.obree.com.
“Bradley could set a record that lasts 20 years”