Cycling / train: Next Saturday the time has come. Extreme cyclist Christoph Strasser tackles the 13-hour track world record at 00:24 p.m. in the Tissot-Velodrome Suisse in Grenchen. The previous record from 2010 is 903,76 km - set by the Slovenian Marko Baloh.
Christoph Strasser is undoubtedly one of the toughest bones in the cycling world. The 34-year-old Austrian recently won the ultracycling race Race Across America for the fourth time and has also held the 2015-hour world record on the road since 24. Now he wants to attack this record on the track as well. In Grenchen he will start at 13 p.m. next Saturday to break the previous record of 00 km from 903,76. Last Friday, the dress rehearsal in Vienna lasted over six hours, which made Strasser confident: “It went very, very well. I managed 24 kilometers over a quarter of the 251 hours at 252 watts, which corresponded to an average speed of 42 km/h. And the train in Grenchen is supposedly one km/h faster than the one in Vienna. That makes me very confident that ideally I can keep going at 40 km/h and thus cover more than 960 kilometers. Is the mystical 1.000 kilometer mark possible? That's what I dream of, but I remain humble. Any millimeter that I could surpass the current record would be a success."
Numerous cyclists, from road, track and mountain bikes, recently commented on the new mammoth project and even extremely hard-wearing cyclists like Tony Martin take their proverbial hats off to the intended task.
[testimonial name=“Tony Martin“ title=“4-time time trial world champion“ font_size=“15″ background=“#“ color=“#“ border=“#“ img_border=“#“ name_color=“#“ title_color=“#“]It's definitely a cool project. Although I couldn't imagine riding in circles on the track for 24 hours myself. Respect if Christoph achieves his goal! I wish him all the best![/testimonial] [testimonial name=“Christoph Sauser“ title=“Multiple MTB World Cup winner“ font_size=“15″ background=“#“ color=“#“ border=“#“ img_border=“#“ name_color=“#“ title_color=“#“]Christoph has an incredibly unpleasant world record attempt planned. Just thinking about it makes my butt hurt! Add to that these high wattages over 24 hours and two left turns every lap. If Christoph can do that, it'll be a superhuman record![/testimonial] [testimonial name=“Stefan Denifl“ title=“Stage Winner Vuelta 2017″ font_size=“15″ background=“#“ color=“#“ border=“#“ img_border=“#“ name_color=“#“ title_color=“#“]What a record attempt! I certainly believe Christoph is capable of this feat. But from my own experience, I know that a very high level of concentration is required, especially on the track – more so than on the road. Over the enormous number of laps (almost 4.000) and the duration of an entire day, this will probably be the deciding factor. If anyone can do it, it's Christoph! I'll be following along with interest, of course.[/testimonial] [testimonial name=“Bernhard Eisel“ title=“UCI Athlete Spokesperson“ font_size=“15″ background=“#“ color=“#“ border=“#“ img_border=“#“ name_color=“#“ title_color=“#“]The Styrians are tough guys! Among the professional cyclists and ultra-riders, where Styrians account for the majority of Race Across America winners, I'm sure Christoph can do it. He has the strength and stamina for even longer distances. But it can't be good for your back when you're doing almost 4.000 laps in a circle! I used to ride a lot on ovals, and I even competed in the points race at the World Championships with the juniors. But in all those years, I certainly haven't managed 1.000 kilometers on the track.[/testimonial] [testimonial name=“Matthias Brändle" title="former hourly world record holder" font_size="15″ background="#" color="#" border="#" img_border="#" name_color="#" title_color="#"]Well, I don't want to ride on the track for 24 hours. I see the planned average of 38 to 40 km/h as quite realistic, but on the track, everything is a bit more complicated. You don't have a support car where you can get bars or drinks. I see the biggest challenge in being able to stay in the saddle for that long. On the track, there are stronger centrifugal forces, and they put more strain on your rear end than when riding straight ahead. I also see the many intermediate sprints Christoph has to do between corners and straights as a challenge. With so many laps, that's going to be quite a lot of sprints to maintain the wattage.[/testimonial]Anyone who would like to follow the record attempt live can do so on Saturday from 13:00 p.m. via the official live stream from Grenchen. You will find the corresponding link in good time on Velomotion.