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news
Tommy Godwin, Year record holder (source Tommygodwin.com)Steve Abraham sets out to break Tommy Godwin's Year record tomorrow - go cheer him on
In the early hours of tomorrow morning, when many of us will still be up seeing in the New Year, Steve Abraham will set out on his first ride of 2015, which he hopes will end with him taking Tommy Godwin’s ‘unbreakable’ Year record – and he’s calling on people to come and cheer him on his way.
There will be a slightly later official start at 10am on the old Stoke Road north of Stoke Hammond if you'd like to go and show your support - there's a map here.
Abraham, from Milton Keynes, is aiming to exceed the 75,065 miles that Godwin rode in 1939 – an average of 205 miles every single day of the year, with the winter months seeing him undertake shorter rides, while the longer evenings in the summer will enable him to put in some serious mileage.
He will already have begun eating into Godwin’s mileage by 10am, when he takes to the start of the New Year’s Day 10 time trial organised by his club, North Bucks RC on the old Stoke Road north of Stoke Hammond, and it’s hoped he’ll get a rousing send-off there.
His record attempt will be validated by the Ultra Marathon Cycling Association, which also runs the annual Race Across America, while Chris ‘Hoppo’ Hopkinson, will act as his official crew chief.
A number of people have already volunteered to help Abraham in his endeavour, which the rider, one of the leading lights of the Audax UK scene, has billed as a One Year Time Trial. More are still needed, and you can sign up here.
He’s also taking a year off work to undertake the exploit, and while it will be part-financed through his savings and he has the backing of sponsors, donations to help him meet living expenses are appreciated and can be made here.
Sponsors include Raleigh – which supplied the bikes, 75 years ago, for Godwin’s record ride – Carradice, Schwalbe, Chapeau, Brooks, Garmin and Milltag.
http://oneyeartimetrial.org.uk/sponsors
Ahead of 2015 starting, Abraham will appear in an interview on Channel 4 News this evening at 7.30pm when he will speak about his attempt on Godwin’s record.
We’re sure all road.cc users will join us in wishing him the very best of luck in the 12 months ahead.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
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20 comments
The Trackleaders site is a great way to see his daily miles and routes as he goes. There's a 'Track Steve's Progress' link to it on his site.
Strava seems to be set to just plain 'Follow' now. He's got over a thousand already!!
Chapeau!!!!!!
Sponsors are getting sod all exposure so far. I know he's on a steel Raleigh, that's about it. This could be gold for sponsors, just think how much us average cyclists can learn from his kit choice.
An amazing challenge. I'm sure it would put me off cycling for life though.
222 miles done on his first day
http://judithswallow.wordpress.com/2015/01/01/a-mileating-start-to-2015/
He has a GPS tracker, found this on bikebiz, no idea why it isn't (apparently) linked to from his oneyeartimetrial site!
http://trackleaders.com/oneyeartimetrial15i.php?name=Steve_Abraham
I can't get the Strava follow link to work, just takes me to the landing page. Can't even find his athlete ID of 1419435
1st day teething problems I suppose.
This is the link direct to his profile: http://www.strava.com/athletes/1419435
But for some stupid reason you have to request to follow. If I was a sponsor I would be putting pressure on him and his team to revise what they're doing in terms of a media strategy, its currently a bit poor to be honest. Maybe they need someone with skills in that area to volunteer.
Steve's daily mileages will be posted on twitter @yearrecord.
He will also be posting his rides on Strava as part of the validation process, so you can follow him there.
Finally, you can like his facebook page.
Hope that helps!
Thanks. I dont do twitter. strava or facebook, i don't suppose there is a website is there?
Its in the article. 6th paragraph.
Thanks for the (blunt) pointer, having read the article it didn't jump out at me as a link to a website.
They could do with turning off the 'approve follow requests' functionality on his strava account, otherwise I have a feeling they're going to be there all day approving them
He isn't a very twitter minded bloke. Having spent nearly a week with him in Ireland this year. He'll get the job done with minimal fuss.
The same cannot be said about his "crew chief", but thats another story.
I wish him all the best, hopefully catch up to him somewhere along the road next year with a block of cheese for him. If you ever head out to see him, DO bring him a block of mature cheddar, he loves the stuff and will eat it from the block
He has a Twitter account, but it's eerily silent, considering he's hours away from the big day. I've seen local riders' Twitter accounts publishing more PR for a 50 mile local ride in the hills than this!
https://twitter.com/steve_abraham74
Anyway, he doesn't strike me as particularly a Twitter kind of guy for some reason, that's fine. But it would be nice if he had someone to push out updates on his behalf.
Best of luck Steve!
Good luck Steve, just contemplating doing this record makes my Boxing Day 10 mile time trial look very puny, and I found that hard.
Is there anywhere we can watch his daily progress?
On Greaves and the record in general, do see The Wikipedia entry. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walter_Greaves_(cyclist)
First of all, good luck to you Mr Abraham - Bonne Route!
Don't forget you are following in the wheel marks of the great Walter Greaves, who briefly held the record before Tommy Godwin.
Greaves rode without a proper support team, had to take some time off in hospital after crashing on tram lines, and had a diet of mainly bread, milk and tomatoes (he was a dedicated vegetarian), as well as having a typically heavy 1930s bike. He also only had one arm.
Cripes. What a thing. Good luck sir. Don't forget to turn your Garmin on at the start- that'd be a bit of a bugger.