The Hour. Ritter had it in 1968. Lost it to Merckx in 1972. He tried to retake the record in 1974, beating his own prior record, but failing to match the massive 49.431 km of Merckx.
Merckx’s record stood firm until Francesco Moser broke it in 1984. The story continues with the efforts of Obree, Boardman, Indurain and Rominger. Today we’ll stick with Ritter’s 1974 attempt.
The Impossible Hour Part 1 of 5
The Impossible Hour Part 2 of 5
The Impossible Hour Part 3 of 5
The Impossible Hour Part 4 of 5
The Impossible Hour Part 5 of 5
December 16th, 2009 at 9:30 am
Forty nine thousand four hundred and thirty one kilometers in one hour?! Holy fuck! Eddie Merckx is GOD!
December 16th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Yeah, that was supposed to be a period & not a comma… Makes a fair bit of difference, doesn’t it?
December 16th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
Really gutpile? You’re just being a asshat huh?
December 16th, 2009 at 6:07 pm
I like how Moser took a bunch of EPO, then went out and rode a faster time when he was 41 than he did back when he was still racing.
Italian cycling innovation, baby…!
Thanks,
Burt
December 16th, 2009 at 7:48 pm
Moser took EPO or doped? How early in the timeline was EPO the drugas du jour?
December 16th, 2009 at 8:46 pm
cooked it up himself, dude’s first career was in protein biochemistry.
December 17th, 2009 at 1:06 am
Thanks for posting this.
December 17th, 2009 at 1:54 am
Incredibly wicked cool TV to watch. Boy, I’m stoked. One thing I just cannot understand, though, is why someone would want to ride right behind a motorcycle?!?!? And, a Benotto bicycle weighing 450g? That must be on the moon, right?
December 17th, 2009 at 7:13 am
5 kilos 450 grams
Listen again 3rd place.
December 17th, 2009 at 10:03 am
still, that’s like <12 lbs. wicked light by any standard
December 17th, 2009 at 12:37 pm
Awesome footage. I sure wish that more guys would give this ago. It seems like Obree’s superman bike threw a monkey wrench into things. It hasn’t really been attempted in quite awhile-has it?