One hour Guinness distance record attempt

Last Sunday, Zach Warren made an attempt at breaking the Guinness
one-hour distance record on a unicycle. The attempt failed, due to a
mechanical problem:

33 minutes into the ride, 3 minutes ahead of world record pace
(averaging between 16-17 mph), he took a spill from atop the wheel and
a bolt connecting the hub to the fork snapped off. Took 5 minutes to
temporarily fix the problem, putting him two minutes behind world
record pace. The wheel, still loose, flip-flopped back and forth in
the fork -- a loose wheel doth a nervous rider make! Zach pedalled
like a banchee but couldn't catch up.

Zach feels, however, that the world record is within reach for the next
trial - he's not yet done with this.

On the pictures you see Zach revving up on the long stretch, and (in
the second post) at the turning point. The unicycle is a 45" custom
machine, built by Sem Abrahams.


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Klaas Bil
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I like seeing attempts at the current 1 hour record. It is certainly
within reach and needs to be bettered to advance the sport. The
current crop of geared unicycles like the Schlumpf and 'Pete Perron's
Purple Phaze' (http://www.livewireunicycles.com/Outta%20Phaze.htm) make
the record well within reach of the better riders.

I hope he has better luck on the next attempt and is able to beat the
record.


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john_childs

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Was it Pete Perron's record from last year that he was trying to beat,
or was that one not official?

It sucks that he failed because of a broken uni, not because he wasn't
fast enough. That doesn't look like a particularly stong unicycle, but
I suppose it wouldn't be it it was built for speed alone.

Hopefully it won't be too long before he can organise another attempt
at the record!


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domesticated ape

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No longer a question of if Zach will break the record, it's a question
of by-how-much. I'd say it will be around the 27-28km mark.


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GizmoDuck

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The SINZ Unitour- coming soon......
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What a beautiful machine.

I worked hard at my own hour record on a Coker a couple of years back.
Pedalling absolutely flat out for an hour on a uni is hard work
requiring commitment and concentration. To fall at maximum speed in
those conditions is worse than most other UPDs, because you have no
margin for error, and BANG! it just happens.

My record (Coker, 150 mm cranks, 1 hour) was 20.83 km.


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Mikefule

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domesticated ape wrote:
Was it Pete Perron's record from last year that he was trying to beat,
or was that one not official?



Yes, that's the one. Pete Perron broke the Guinness World Record for
distance in One Hour on a unicycle on February 26, 2005, using his
geared 36" (I think it was called either 'purple phaze' or 'outta
phaze' by that time). The distance was 14.278 miles.


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Klaas Bil
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what is involved in getting such a thing set up to be official? i know a
rider who could possibly give the hour and 100 mile records a go. how
would we go about making his efforts official?


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markf

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Absolutely everthing you need to know is on the guiness web site-
in particular how to make a record attempt (more details are
at)http://tinyurl.com/r4ps8


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one wheely
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one wheely wrote:
Absolutely everthing you need to know is on the guiness web site-
in particular how to make a record attempt (more details are
at)http://tinyurl.com/r4ps8


Except what standards Guinness wants for the record attempt.

General standards would be similar to the UCI one hour time trial
methods for bicycles. A short closed course in a loop. Carefully
measured. You ride for an hour. When the hour ends you complete the
lap you were on. The distance on the last lap is then calculated by
extrapolation assuming a constant speed for that lap. Add up all the
laps. Add on the calculated distance for the last lap and you have
your result. An experienced track (UCI) official to officiate would be
a bonus.


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john_childs

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I thought Pete Perron's record was broken.http://tinyurl.com/jkfw6


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Denali
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