Jesus Christ would you just do it allready!

On our long 2 day drive back from track nationals in Colorado last Summer I started mumbling to my wife about the idea of doing an hour.

Uh, Obree is pretty cool huh?

Hour records or neat huh?

Did you know that the hour for my age group is not that far?

Would be some fun training to do an hour don’t you think?

I wonder what the best tire for an hour would be?

The seed had been planted in my head apparently. By the time we got back home in LA I had it stuck in my brain. Within 2 weeks I was doing basic training with the intent of getting fit enough by the end of October to do a test for 20 minutes and see if I could at least run pace for 20 minutes. I still had not told anyone, as I was pretty sure most of my buddies would just laugh at me. But for my wife it continued.

Wow, check out this cool helmet, that would be good for an hour don’t you think?

You think I could ride 19.7 a lap for an hour?

I should talk to KK about an hour, you think?

Check out this article on hand positions, you think this would be faster than mine?

You think this would be a good chain lube for an hour?

My wife could feel it building. Over a family vacation in lake Tahoe I spent hours and hours reading about chain friction and bearing efficiency, had to make sure I got that worked out you know. On the drive home:

You think 3/32nd would be faster than 1/8 over an hour?

Did you know that a larger chain ring and cog is more efficient than a smaller one? That would be good for an hour huh.

You think my current crank length would be best?

Apparently she had had enough.

“You fucking retard, Jesus Christ already, will you just do the damn hour record and shut the fuck up??????”

It had become an obsession, that was all I could think about. chains, bearings, Crr, CdA, helmets, skinsuits, shoe covers, aero gloves, tires, thread counts, PSI and chain pitch! I was falling asleep and waking up thinking about an hour record, what the hell was wrong with me? Usually I spend the off season thinking about racing and what races I want to hammer in. Now I did not even care about racing, just hour record on the brain, all the time. By now a handful of my close training partners were staring to figure it out, the same mumbling  was starting to slip out during rides and coffee stops. Our training (my buddies usually let me pick the workouts) was seemingly endless 20 and 30 minute repeats, 3 or 4 days a week.

Okay, my wife had a point. But I am to calculating to just “do it” without testing a bit and at least proving to myself that I though I had a chance. How could I realistically train for this if I did not actually believe I could do it? So it was decided that I would accomplish a 20 minute test at race pace, if I succeeded I would commit and make it my new goal and get my wife off my ass. If I could not even hold pace for 20 minutes I would shut up about it.

So I showed up and did the test, was able to do it, just barley though.

Wife: So it’s a go!
Me: Well, I think I need to be able to do 30 minutes before I can really commit.
Wife: idiot! Just do it.
Me: Okay, well I will commit to continue training with the intention of doing it, but I need to do a 30 minute ride at pace before I start telling anyone out side of my family and close buddies.
Wife: Your still stupid, but whatever. I think you should do it.

Sure nice to have a supportive wife, I can’t complain. Of course it is a lot easier to commit someone else to doing an hour record than your self, I am the one that is going to train my ass off and then invite all my friends to come watch me potentially publicly embarrass myself for an hour.