100 Mile world record attempt on March 10th

[naturequack]

Best of luck Phil!
What is your estimated start time? I want to be checking in tomorrow.
May the weather be sunny and warm.

Geoff

[vookash]

It's just hours.... good luck!

[magnustudios]

2 hours until I start. Hoping to ride from 11:30am to 6pm EST.

Thanks for all the support everyone.

It's currently -6c, and should rise to -3c for most of the ride. That is colder than I wanted an will make this really difficult, but I'm still going for it!

Yes, that graph is what I meant. I might change the units to minutes, since we are talking about six hours of riding. I would also probably change the sign of the time deviation to show how far ahead of the record pace you were riding. It is generally more pleasing to see good results in the upper right quadrant of the graph rather than the lower right.

Have a great day tomorrow! When will the results start appearing online? Will you post a link?

Scott

Cool, thanks for thinking this through. The graph now shows bars for lap deviations in seconds, and the line in minutes. Maybe a bit more confusing, but hopefully both will show on a meaningful scale once I'm going. And it's flipped to show second/minutes ahead as positive on the y-axis.

For all the info live, you can just watch that spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/...ubWNXQVE#gid=0

It's also embedded on the website at http://u100.ca/live (same thing, smaller window)

At 11am it should (fingers crossed) automatically appear on the home page with a link the live page and the spreadsheet: http://u100.ca

Also, there should be updates coming in on my twitter account and possible facebook page.
https://twitter.com/#!/unicyclephil
http://www.facebook.com/unicyclephil

The support and enthusiasm from everyone here has been amazing! I hope this excitement can translate to more people taking unicycling more seriously. Or less seriously, but doing more of it.

[ally1776]

Good Luck, as I hope you have a great day!

[MJS]

Good luck, Phil! I will be sending positive thought your way!

[GizmoDuck]

All the best Phil! Smash that record!

[GizmoDuck]

Started great- speeds dropping off though....c'mon Phil- rev it up a little!

Wish someone at the track was able to post live commentary on here.

[scott ttocs]

What are the rules for this type of world record attempt? Do you have to go around a track?

Phil was riding around a 900 M track. Unlike riding in a straight line, you need to accelerate on every turn. Riding on a small track will take a lot more effort than riding on a long course at the same pace. I believe the old world record track was set up differently, with an out-and-back circuit on a road, but I cannot find the post that described it.

If I were going to set up a track to attempt the 100 mile record (which will never happen--I am too slow), I would find a nice flat stretch of road and set up two pylons, perhaps five miles apart. The rider would then ride back and forth around the pylons. Almost all the riding would be on a straight path, and only the turns at the each end would slow down the rider. The distance would need to be verified, and officials would need to be there to count and time each lap. Would this type of track be allowed for an official 100 mile world record attempt?

Scott

[magnustudios]

Sorry about the lack of updates -- nobody at the track felt like using a computer much in the -10c windchill. They were awesome enough to keep that spreadsheet up (I was counting on it for info).

I'll do a write-up of the ride this evening or tomorrow. Bottom line I wasn't in shape for it, but to be honest the main point of the event was to promote sustainable food. The record attempt is a real goal of mine, but if I were really serious I wouldn't have tried in early March. There were extenuating circumstances that would have made it really unlikely that I could have broken it even if I were in proper shape, but I don't think I was there anyway. There were a lot of times in the past couple months where I had to make decisions between training and working on the event, and I worked on the event. There was a team helping me out with this, but a relatively small portion of the tasks were effectively delegated, which was a real failure of leadership on my part. The record part wasn't just a publicity grab though, I wouldn't have planned this if I didn't think I might have been able to pull it together and have a real shot at it. I'm sorry, however, if anyone felt mislead by my claims and faux-confidence given that I did know I had pretty slim chances. It's a tough line to walk, especially when a cause you believe in is riding on it.

It was a big learning experience on many levels.

Ok. Resisting the urge to spend an afternoon reliving yesterday through the computer, because I do have a lot of work to catch up on. Answers to a couple questions though:

My track was 837m. That's from someone who measured it with one of those wheel things three times and took an average. I don't have an official surveyor's report at this moment. Turns are tough, but I'll save a track description for the write-up.

I think it would be hard to find five miles of straight flat road that would meet the guideline criteria. Ken, is the final draft public yet? The rider must be visible at all times to the witnesses, and I think five miles would be pushing it on that front. Being able to just push out 5 miles at a time on a straight flat stretch would be really really nice though.

[Rubix]

I applaud you for trying such a daunting feat. Even though you failed at the attempt, you succeeded in so many ways. The record is there, it will be there, eventually to be broken. But to have the experience, that isn't something that can be broken. Think of all those you've inspired to try something that seems out of reach. For example, riding a unicycle in the first place. Many people think its impossible, but by you attempting this record, has inspired one person to try to ride, then not all is lost. Train harder and you will get it, you have my support.

[rob.northcott]

Well done Phil. Bummer it was so cold in the end, but it's good that you went for it anyway rather than just giving up. Are you going to have another go when it's warmer (or at least less cold!)?

Rob

[magnustudios]

Thanks for the kind words Rubix.

Rob, we'll see how it goes. I've been getting this question a lot since Saturday and every time I feel a little more like saying "yes". Haha. This summer is looking pretty busy so no eta on that.

[redwelly]

Gutted that it didn't work out for you Phil. I would be happy to put it down to sub-zero temperatures... that's never going to be easy! I was watching a feature about the new Olympic velodrome and how warm they heat it to reduce air resistance; so I guess cool is harder, and super-cold is very hard!

I really hope you can schedule a re-run later in the year. In better conditions you should have a good shot at it.

Anyway, welcome to the small, brave, defiant group of failed attemptees of the current 100 mile record (as far as I know this is: Ken Looi, Zach Warren, me and now you)! (Has anyone else made a formally measured attempt that I missed? I'm sure there must have been some between 1987 and 2005?)

Sam

[vookash]

I'm amazed by the attempt itself anyway. And in that temperature it is even more amazing.
Good luck on future attemtps

[GizmoDuck]

yeah, I'm gutted for you too. It was always going to be tough in such conditions....I hope you organise another attempt when the weather warms up.

As Sam said- it's been attempted by a few of us already, it just goes to show how tough it is. All the more satisfying if your next attempt is successful though.