Chris ‘HOPPO’ Hopkinson
Quibell Park Outdoor Track 29th/30th September
At 7pm on the 29th September i pedalled away from the startline at Quibell Park Outdoor Track not knowing that this was going to be one of the toughest 24hrs i had ever spent on a bike. The weather was mild and dry and the wind calm, perfect really.
The first 6hrs went pretty much to plan taking the 100km, 100 mile, 200km and 6hr records although already by this time i was beginning to realise that on a flat track i could not miss even one pedal stroke, there was no respite and no place to hide, especially with all the spectators watching!
The 300km and certainly the 200 mile records were a much tougher target. I realised at about 8hrs that i was quite a bit down on the time needed to break the 200 mile record and worked out i needed sub 50sec laps on the 485m track, for the next 90mins i was on the limit pushing out 47/48sec laps which got me the 300km and 200 mile records. The next one was the 12hr which i had to then slow down a bit for, even so taking it without too many problems.
The next two were the 300mile and 500km which didn’t seem to present a problem and i rolled through them quite well keeping myself occupied with bacon sandwiches and spectators coming to see me and it was lovely having both Jenny and my dad trackside and Connor, my son giving me encouragement over the track tannoy.
At about 19/20hrs i somehow managed to tear my left bicep, don’t know how, no incident or anything, but it meant i could no longer get down on my tri-bars and i had to sit up, slowing me down. Then at 4pm (21hrs) it turned colder and started raining, by 5pm getting heavy.
This combined together along with everything else to make it impossible to reach my 24hr target and after 24hrs i decided to call a halt to the attempt and not carry on for the 500miles as i was shaking uncontrollably by then. I finished at the lap after 7pm 30th September. I was content with this 24hr distance anyway as one of the reasons i wanted to do this record attempt in the first place was to substitute my 24hr distance into the 24hr WUCA Competition.
I really enjoyed the Mexican waves and the chanting by the crowds near the end. Thank you to everybody from Scunthorpe that came and watched and supported and all the Town Council for letting me attempt this.
My bike i used for the whole way without any mechanical problems or punctures was Evo2Max Kronos 9 tt bike with WheelScience 88’s wheels, I used OTE Sports Nutrition and Biemme clothing.
I would like to thank all my sponsors as without them none of this would be possible :- Evo2Max, Vive Le Vélo, GMB Cambridge 2, Neovite Colostrum, Kleentex Mats, K2 BodyArt, WheelScience, TFN, Fibre-Lyte, LGG6, Madform, OTE Sports Nutrition, BOS Tyres, Biemme UK.
