Sir Bradley Wiggins says UCI Hour Record in training 'wasn't that bad'
But Olympic champion expects end of real attempt to be 'horrific'
Friday 5 June 2015 16:33, UK
Sir Bradley Wiggins has revealed he has already ridden an hour in training ahead of his record attempt on Sunday and admitted he “didn’t find it that bad”.
The world and Olympic time-trial champion will aim to break fellow Briton Alex Dowsett’s record of 52.937km at London’s Lee Valley VeloPark, exclusively live on Sky Sports.
Most riders who attempt the record do not complete a full hour as part of their preparations due to the demanding and draining nature of the challenge, but Wiggins wanted to sample its difficulties in order to aid his planning.
He told Sky Sports: “To be honest, I didn’t find it that bad. I did one the other week. It wasn’t horrific, as some people have described it as. It wasn’t any harder than I expected it to be, but it certainly wasn’t easy either.
“When you are in really good form, it never hurts as much. There is only one way to find out how much it hurts or what you are capable of. It gives you a lot of answers.
“Alex Dowsett is the prime example. He was more worried about how much it was going to hurt in the first half an hour, and actually, when he got into it, it wasn’t that bad, and then he picked his pace up."
Despite finding his training ride straightforward, Wiggins anticipates his official UCI Hour Record attempt will be far more painful.
He will aim to complete at least 221 laps of the 250m track - equating to a distance of 55.250km, more than 2km further than the existing record - and plans to break the challenge up into smaller blocks in order to cope mentally.
He added: “I started by working in 12-minute chunks, because six 10s sounds a lot and four 15s sounds a hell of a lot, but five 12s is good. It’s all mental.
“The first 12 minutes is pretty much free. The last 12 minutes is horrific. The last 12 minutes will be the worst thing you ever do. You will probably never have kids again at the end of it.
“Breaking the hour down into those 12-minute blocks is how I get through the whole thing. I don’t look at it as one hour.
“It’s remaining positive, thinking in small chunks, small little finish lines. That way, I have found, it passes a hell of a lot quicker, and a lot easier as well. The first thing to go is not necessarily the physical, but your mind, in an hour record.”
The hour record is widely regarded as one of cycling’s toughest challenges, but Wiggins is taking comfort from his experiences in a demanding career on the road.
He said: “In some ways it is never going to be as hard as 2009 going toe to toe with Lance Armstrong up Mont Ventoux to try and secure fourth place in the Tour [de France] after six hours’ racing, so in some ways, when you start to think in those terms, it’s one hour, it’s going to be a lot easier.”
Our programme will run from 6pm-8pm on Sunday, with the record attempt itself taking place from 6.30pm-7.30pm.
