The Hour

On a Sunny Friday morning in late August, after years of planning, I finally rode my Hour on my Flying Scot track bike on the track at Bellahouston.

”What is The Hour?” I hear you ask. It’s an event of mythical proportions in cycling lore. Some of the all time greats in the sport have either held the hour record or at least attempted it.

In the last decade there’s been a renewed interest in the event after a significant set of rule changes from the UCI.

I was not shooting for a world, national or age group world record. I was wanting to test myself to see what my personal hour looked like. A true test of me against the clock.

I decided on a set of rules I would follow, partly to make it repeatable for myself and partly to hope to inspire someone else to give it a go in a way that vaguely comparable - and affordable. I’ll go into the technical details of my self imposed rules another time.

Why would I want to put myself through an hour of turning left on a bike with 1 fixed gear on a track that isn’t a true velodrome with nobody watching and no intention to post anything on ‘the socials’ about it? Because I could. Because I knew if I didn’t it would always be in the back of my mind: what could I have done if I’d given it a shot.

After years of putting it off because I “wasn’t ready” or because I’d “missed the weather” I realised that the only way that I could fail was by not trying. The distance I got to was irrelevant as long as I didn’t get off the bike.

Weirdly, as soon as I was finished I felt empty - I’d expected a huge wave of emotions to come crashing over me in the final segment and into the finish but more than anything I was relieved. Relived to have finally completed it, relieved to not have to push on the pedals any more. I won’t lie though — getting off the bike felt more sore than staying on it my hamstring were so battered!

In the end I missed my modelled distance of ~36km and ended up on 34.23km which on the bare numbers could be taken as a failure but something real - compared to a plan or research or a model - was a resounding success.

Trying to do an hour on your own is no easy feat! I had no lap counter, no one to call out splits and no countdown clock. My best attempt on the morning of the attempt was to setup 4 separate timers on my watch: 15, 30, 45 and 60 minutes! In the end it mostly worked but I missed the haptic tap of the 15 minute timer and didn’t find out until the next timer at 30 minutes that I was half way though - I thought that the 15 minutes was lasting an age and that there was no chance I’d finish with the way that I was feeling!

I will make another attempt sometime - now I’ve got my line in the sand which I can aim at. I now know I don’t need to be scared of making an attempt and that with Bellahouston a 15 minute drive away there’s not much in the way of logistics holing me back either!

Bike: Flying Scot Path/Track 202N (1967) Rims: Mavic Open Pro UST Hubs: Shimano 7710 Tyres: Vittoria Pro Corsa 25c BB: Shimano 7710 Crank: Shimano 7710 Chainring: 55t Shimano 7710 Sprocket: 16t EAI superstar (should have been a 17t - oops!) Seatpost: Shimano 7400 Saddle: ISM PN 3.1 Stem: GB Spearpoint 105mm Bars: Lauterwasser (1940s?)