24-hour world record attempt on the track on Saturday: "If anyone can do it, it's Christoph!"

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.

This is definitely a cool project. Although I couldn't imagine driving in circles on the train for 24 hours. Respect when Christoph implements his goal! I wish him all the best for that!

This is an incredibly uncomfortable world record attempt that Christoph has in mind. Just thinking about it makes my butt hurt! In addition, with these high wattage figures over 24 hours and two left turns every lap. If Christoph can do that, it's a superhuman record!

What a record attempt! I have complete confidence in Christoph's performance. However, I know from my own experience that a high level of concentration is required on the track – more than on the road. With this enormous number of laps of almost 4.000 laps and the duration of a whole day, this will probably be the decisive criterion. If anyone can do it, then Christoph! I will of course follow with interest.

The Styrians are hard bones! Among the professional cyclists and ultra cyclists, where the Styrians have the most Race Across America winners. I'm sure Christoph can do it. He has the strength and stamina to cover even longer distances. But it can't be good for your back if you drive almost 4.000 laps in circles! I used to do a lot of oval racing, and I even took part in the points race at the World Championships for juniors. But in all those many years, I certainly haven't managed 1.000 kilometers on the track

So I don't want to drive 24 hours on the train. I see the planned speed of 38 to 40 km/h as quite realistic, but everything is a bit more complicated on the track. You don't have a supervisor car where you can get bars or drinks. I see the greatest challenge in being able to sit in the saddle for so long. Stronger centrifugal forces act on the track and they put more strain on the rear than when driving straight ahead. I also see a challenge in the many intermediate sprints between curves and straights that Christoph has to put in. With so many laps, that's quite a lot of sprints to keep up the wattage.

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.

cycling: 24-hour world record attempt on the track on Saturday: "If anyone can do it, it's Christoph!"

About Michael Faiss