235 miles a day for a year (Amanda Coker Challenge)

[Pale Rider]

Let's hope he hasn't thrown in the Tommy towel.

In the past, the benefit of a usefully long ride has been negated by a short one the next day.

Steve is showing about 70 miles at present, he could do with another 140, but that's a big ask in about 10 hours.

 

[User10119]

Sone fast bugger in red scalped me on the commute this morning - greeted me (by name!) with a cheerful good morning.

 

[User10119]

S'funny - it was a hundred yards or so from the school where I once (a bit before the moped incident during his first attempt) spent an ICT lesson helping the infants to make "Good Luck Mr Abraham" cards.

 

[ianrauk]

[QUOTE 5112863, member: 10119"]S'funny - it was a hundred yards or so from the school where I once (a bit before the moped incident during his first attempt) spent an ICT lesson helping the infants to make "Good Luck Mr Abraham" cards.[/QUOTE]
Hope you threw him some of the legendary Crinkly Lion cake to catch and eat.

 

[User10119]

I didn't have any actual cake on me! Had I been quick enough to catch him, of course, he could have had his pick of doughnuts (custard or jam or chocolate), caramel shortbread or dried mango/strawberries (for one colleague who quite bizarrely doesn't like any cake/biscuits/chocolate so gets fruit-based alternatives) from the cavernous cake-pushing ortliebs...

Mind, it's statistically much more shocking that he saw me riding a bike than it is that I spotted him doing the same, today being my most miles in a day of the year to date by a mahoosive margin. By the time I get home I'll have done at LEAST 6 or 7!

 

[Pale Rider]

In the past, the benefit of a usefully long ride has been negated by a short one the next day.

Steve is showing about 70 miles at present, he could do with another 140, but that's a big ask in about 10 hours.

Well, if you have a 'big ask' Steve is clearly the man for the job.

Yesterday's ride hasn't been uploaded to Strava yet, and the third party tracker seems to under-record distance.

But I'm all but certain Steve hit the Tommy target of about 210 miles, and probably exceeded it by 10 or 20 miles.

Two good days does not a year record breaker make, but if 210+ miles is the new par for Steve, he may yet squeak past Tommy.

 

[ianrauk]

Fingers crossed he can pull out a good few more rides like that during the rest of his year.

Go Steve.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Yesterday's ride was 223 miles.
2018-01-11 08:54 223.1 miles Thought I'd get 230 miles but had to stop and rest my hip about 30 miles from home. Seem to be getting better.
212.3 miles/day required for Tommy Godwin (1939) 75,065 miles.

 

[Dogtrousers]

A slight downward movement of the line

 

[Mugshot]

Steve Abraham
1 hr ·
Just sent my entry in for another attempt at the month record. You get 3 free attempts at the UMCA month (30 day) record during a HAMR attempt. I was hoping to run 3 concurrent Month Record attempts to finish on my last day of HAMR, but with being hit by a car, coming off on ice, being sleepy from my injuries and having to sort out endless technical problems, getting an entry in on time was forgotten about or put off until I had time. I had to make time today as I must give at least 21 days notice for a UMCA record attempt and today (12th Jan) is my last chance to get an entry in at all. So a morning and some afternoon lost to sorting stuff out and getting organised.
But my injuries are getting better and I'm feeling stronger. I'm still slowed down by my injuries. Still get tired from them and sometimes have to stop and sleep. This is setting me further behind.
I don't know if I can do what I originally set out to do in 2015. It depends on how soon I recover from my injuries and how much better I can go now that I am treating my condition. I need over 230 miles a day now. With a late start today, I will be lucky to get over 150. I don't expect to do much better tomorrow, so will get even further behind. But I do know that as part of my training, I averaged 236mpd for 30 days before I knew that I had a condition that was holding me back.

 

[Dogtrousers]

More problems for Steve after his two Godwin+ rides earlier in the week

Steve's stats as at 14 Jan 18
Days: 317, 86.8% of year, 48 days remaining
Dist: 104,091 km / 64,679 mi / 2.60 times circumference of earth
Total elevation: 400,745 m / 1,314,781 ft / 45.3 Everests
Avg daily dist: 328.4 km / 204.0 mi (Last 7 days: 278.0 km / 172.7 mi per day)
Avg daily elevation (Strava): 1,264 m / 4,148 ft (Last 7 days: 1425 m / 4675 ft per day)
Moving speed (Strava): 25.5 km/h / 15.9 mi/h (Last 7 days: 24.7 km/h / 15.3 mi/h)
Hours per day riding (Strava): 15.1 (Last 7 days: 13.8)
Projected total at overall daily rate: 119,852 km / 74,473 mi (328.4 km / 204.0 miles per day)
Projected total at 7 day rate : 117,433 km / 72,970 mi (321.7 km / 199.9 miles per day)

Required rates for various records
René Menzies (1937) 61,561 miles. Completed Dec 26.
Ossie Nicholson (1937) 62,657 miles. Completed Jan 02.
Steve Abraham (2015) 63,609 miles. Completed Jan 07.
9.3 miles/day required for Bernard Bennett (1939) 65,127 miles.
216.4 miles/day required for Tommy Godwin (1939) 75,065 miles.
237.4 miles/day required for Kurt Searvogel (2015) 76,076 miles.
456.1 miles/day required for Amanda Coker (2016) 86,573 miles.

Last 7 days
2018-01-07 09:41 169.2 miles Very slow with the injuries and wind. Had to sleep for a bit in a church porch. Maybe my injuries will be OK again by the end of the week?
2018-01-08 00:00 150.5 miles Lost time having to make a phone call then had to re-plan the route to avoid hold ups from cars and level crossings. Headed for home early and got sleepy, so went to bed. Thought I might wake up in an hour but got a full night. Hip is getting better thoug
2018-01-09 08:16 131.2 miles Feeling a lot better. Can almost walk again and less painful on the bike
2018-01-09 17:51 46.5 miles Early to bed
2018-01-10 06:26 118.7 miles Morning Ride
2018-01-10 15:05 99.1 miles Afternoon Ride
2018-01-11 08:54 223.1 miles Thought I'd get 230 miles but had to stop and rest my hip about 30 miles from home. Seem to be getting better.
2018-01-12 14:48 125.2 miles Very late start after a faffing fest.
2018-01-13 01:16 140.6 miles Slow, sleepy start. Sped up when I woke up.
2018-01-13 13:43 38.4 miles Ride to CTT Champions Night to collect the Team 24hr medal. Managed to stay awake long enough to collect the medal and eat some food, but not much else.
2018-01-14 09:44 135.9 miles Ride home from CTT Champions night. Had to get home in time to upload yesterdays ride. Fell asleep uploading so went to bed instead of going out again.

 

[Aravis]

Its heartbreaking to see Steve losing so many miles over the last three days, when the weather conditions were as perfect as you could possibly hope for in mid-January.

Making what seems a reasonable assumption, if there are 10 days in the remaining 48 where, for a variety of reasons, the most he can do is 175 miles, the target to match Godwin on the remaining 38 becomes 227.3 miles. It looks very difficult now, but what he can do in a final push remains to be seen.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

Seems to be slip sliding away. Come on Steve get the miles back up.

 

[Brandane]

I don't understand why he didn't do the same as his American rivals did, and do extended laps of quiet, well surfaced, flat routes in a more suitable climate. Was it Amanda Coker who did repeated laps around a national park in Florida?
I am no fund raising expert, but I would have thought that it wouldn't be beyond the bounds of possibility to get sponsorship from one of the many USA based hotel/motel chains to provide him with accommodation for a year while he undertakes this task.
Attempting this record on modern day UK roads and all that goes with it (traffic, weather, winter darkness, and poor surfaces immediately spring to mind) makes it a very dangerous as well as difficult in the extreme challenge IMHO.. Things were much different back in the day of Tommy Godwin with regards to traffic volumes and road conditions in general.
This record is after all all about miles done. It doesn't take into account the difficulty of those miles and is therefore not a test of how you cope with extreme weather, or climbing, or dealing with close passes from half awake drivers.

 

[tallliman]

^ I think Steve's motivation has been more about emulating Godwin than the overall record. Hence him doing it in the UK. I may be wrong!