News: The Pedal Club Lunch October

The Club’s guest speaker for October was the time triallist and cycling writer Michael Hutchinson – news written by Chris Lovibond

News: The Pedal Club Lunch October
written/photo by Chris Lovibond

The Club’s guest speaker for October was the distinguished time triallist and cycling writer Michael Hutchinson. His subject was the 24 hour event he rode this year, his first attempt at the distance.

Our guest told us that it was something he had always wanted to do, and this is probably true of most time triallists although many, perhaps wisely, put it off until it’s too late for them. Most of Michael’s friends thought he had finally gone mad, but this is clearly not the case.

He found the actual riding surprisingly easy, the required power output being less than for ‘normal’ racing; the most difficult part was eating and doing this while maintaining an aero position. The recommended amount was 80 grams of carbohydrate every hour, and although it’s not immediately obvious what this equates to in energy gels or cheese sandwiches, it does sound like a recipe for an upset stomach.

A further problem is gaining the necessary experience. There is now only one of these events in Britain each year; even a 12 hour time trial or similar length training ride only takes you to the point where a 24 starts to get difficult.

On the day (and the night) it rained for the first fourteen hours, which brought into focus another requirement for the all day rider: the ability to believe, contrary to the evidence, that things will get better. In Michael’s case this was helped by Julia Shaw handing him up a bidon of tea….at just the right moment. Even so there were difficult times – reluctance to get back on his bike after a scheduled six minute early morning stop still remains as a vivid memory.

It was clear that after the finish (well, certainly by October) that, contrary to his friends’ opinions, it had been worth the effort. His distance was 486 miles which would have been enough to win as recently as 2004 and on this occasion gave him fourth place – not bad for a first attempt!

In closing, Michael made this observation: over the past decade the interest in competitive cycling has gone ‘long’. The beginning of this movement goes back to the Race Across America, (first edition 1982), but more recently there have been European events on a similar theme, probably the Transcontinental Race (first ed. 2013) being the most prominent, but there are others like the Austrian ‘Glockerman’ (1997) and The Race Across the Alps. A feature of the early days of bike racing in the late nineteenth century was ultra long events (Paris Brest Paris, Bordeaux Paris and the very long early Tour de France stages). Perhaps we are witnessing a 130 year cycle.

The lunch was held at the Civil Service Club in Whitehall and was attended by 52 members and guests, on this occasion including a first visit by Bob Downs.

Chris Lovibond, October ‘23.