[Closed] Can we have a whip round for Graeme Obree

For me, he doesn't need to do anything to justify his place in cycling's history. A legend. Total respect.

Saw the man himself today on a bike wi regular size chainrings - that 67 tooth monster makes my thighs hurt just looking at it

Respect

[IMG] [/IMG]

Not much clearance for any off road detours there.

Bash guard is optional.

That has to be the raddest bike i've ever seen.

I've got the book and the dvd, but I can't finish either it's just too bloody painful. What the industry has done to this great man puts me right off. The story continues.

Bikeradar piece today: [url] http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/graeme-obree-dumps-hour-record-plans-23985?CPN=RSS&SOURCE=BRGENHOME [/url]

Cheers, al.

much as brant - he was a legend in my eyes a long time ago.

shame - i literally watched the movie last night again and thought - **** me anything really is possible - i wonder what happened to his latest attempt!

Shame about the hour attempt though. I'd love to have seen him stick it to the UCI again.

Yeah, I read his book, watched the film (bit daft that one), read the book again and did a bit of research to get the truth. Brant is spot on, the man is very impressive and it's a sad story of the way he's been treated. I'm astounded people in the business aren't queueing up to back him (obviously the're not because of his mental state and subsequent unreliability) but look how well he can perform when he's not ticking all the boxes, imagine how good he'd be with the right support...

He is an inspiring personality.

much as brant - he was a legend in my eyes a long time ago.

Brant's a legend!?

he did have a cowboy hat once, people still talk about that...

I don't think it's a lack of industry support, it's more that he doesn't want it. From what I've read he likes to work on his own with no interference from outsiders.

The bloke is a complete hero in my mind, an inspiration to me and thousands of others. Sad to read the latest news.

I still don't quite understand why the bike didn't work on the banked track? Can anyone explain?

is it something to do with pedal strike?

I understand there's a min BB height on normal track bikes, maybe his design put the BB and pedals too low?

i'm quite prepared to be put right on this, but assume that it was to do with the extreme arm stretch making it too difficult to control/support the upper body with the g forces on the banking?

yeah, the article said it was to do with arms and bike control on the banking. At hour record speeds you don't have to worrry about pedal strikes, I think Indurain used 180mm cranks for his 😯

aha I stand corrected.

Maybe he should make a carbon fibre support connected to the top tube that he can rest his chest on...

😉

If you read Hutchinson's book about his hour attempt, he also designed a bike with very long reach. The key is in the constranits applied by the UCI that seek to have everyone racing against Merckx's 1972 record.

Obree is a fantastic lateral thinker, and someone whose ability to push himself is exceptional, but the yang to that ying is a continuing fight with heavy bouts of depression, which, as any person with depression will tell you, can be a wall impossible to scale at times.

He is, as others have pointed out, one of the truest legends of cycling. And, in a sport, where every year there is someone else thrown up as a "legend", he's the very rarest of them: the real deal.

[rant]

As far as I'm concerned, the UCI, BC, all of those, they aren't [i]my[/i] 'governing bodies'. I don't know why we put up with this shit again and again. Why don't we as riders tell these organisations that we don't want or need them, and we can create our own events, our own records and champions.

BMX used to be controlled in this way, with big companies making all the bikes and choosing who to sponsor and funding the mags and videos. But BMX took control and now tiny rider owned businesses run the show. If all the top riders boycotted the UCI World Cups for a year and started their own series run exactly how they wished it'd be ace. And all of the events for the rest of us can be run quite happily without our 'governing bodies' governing us. **** off BC, **** off UCI !

[rant/]

seems pretty mad to insist on some arbitrary moment that then becomes the standard for the event - this doesn't happen in any other sports (maybe it does - anyone?)
so mile/1500 runners have to wear black plimsoles
formula 1 cars have to look like wheeled cigars (mind you they did look nice....)
female swimmers must wear comedy frilled suits from the 20's

I could see the point if it actually worked, but it can't really. what are you actually trying to prove? that x is a greater athlete than y. you can't do that because of all of the other technology advances in diet, training regimes, sports medicine etc. boardman's hour was a supreme effort, but he used all sorts of modern aids outside of the event itself, so why limit the kit he uses during the event.