Of course, many of them were simply making conversation. There needn't be anything next and for a while there wasn't going to be. Nevertheless, as a result of the Chopper versus Ventoux, thanks to the extraordinary generosity of all those who donated, around £5,000 was raised to beat blood cancer. It's very difficult to not want to try to equal or even exceed that amount but I am very aware that it is almost impossible to move without tripping over a charity bike ride these days. Thus, if there was to be a next thing deserving sponsorship, I had decided that it must be at least equally daft, arduous and nerve wracking as Chopper versus Ventoux. After considering several options involving more mountains, I had almost resigned myself to there being nothing that would fit the bill on the grounds that it seemed to be more of the same. In the past few days, however, inspired by Jens Voigt setting a new category of hour record this month and Bradley Wiggins' resolution to break it next year, an idea has formed. I have been thinking about attempting "The Hour" on my Mark 2 Raleigh Chopper: the same bike I rode right up Mont Ventoux.
I have asked several people the question: "On a scale of one to ten, ten being men in white coats breaking the door down, how barmy would it be to attempt “The Hour” on a Raleigh Chopper?" All the answers have been that it's around a ten and that I should do it, most certainly. Some are shocked that I don't already hold the record for the furthest distance ridden on a Raleigh Chopper round and round a velodrome for an hour. Well, I don't, not least because nobody does, so someone must. It's only right, after all.
As per the Mont Ventoux climb, The Chopper vs The Hour would involve an unmodified Mark 2 Raleigh Chopper, denim shorts, trainers and a lot of 70s rock music. Again, I’d do it to raise money for a charitable cause and, ideally, on the same day as Bradley Wiggins’ attempt to break Jens Voigt’s current hour record, i.e. in June 2015, the precise date to be announced.
Clearly I wouldn't be trying to break any record that already exists. Very wonderful though the Raleigh Chopper is, there's a reason why Jens Voigt didn't use one to set his new hour record. Though it makes up for its aerodynamic shortcomings and massive weight with knockout 1970s style, the Chopper is perhaps not the best bike for cycling up mountains nor for setting records on the track. Aside from this very obvious fact, I'll be 49 years' old and a busy father of two with a full time job. Yes, I'm a hobby cyclist with no track cycling experience but I'm not going to let that stop me from mashing the Raleigh Chopper's pedals until I just absolutely can't.
The Ventoux ride was over two hours of such hard work it took me a couple of months to recover properly. "The Hour" must be easier than that, mustn't it? I mean I don't think the friction burns on my back side started bleeding until the second hour on Mont Ventoux and it was only in the second hour that I couldn't see properly, lost my mind and became a thing whose only remaining purpose was to push that pedal now and then the other one and then that one again and then the other one again, etc. repeat until nothing left and the darkness comes.
"The Hour" can't be as hard as that, can it? Can it?
I suppose I'd better find out.
