Speed with Guy Martin - new series

[skinny]

thought the prog was interesting but was not really about speed, more distance. then again same for the flying cycle.

can't help thinking that despite poorer aero, a recumbent conventional tandem would have been much easier in terms of heat management and visibility. i'm an engineer so like good design, but the first solution to things getting hot in a perspex bubble is not to send your occupants into extreme heat training!

really looking forward to the next one, think that will be epic

[The Don of Croy]

JonRB said:

...I don't want to take anything away from what they achieved, but they didn't really break the same record. The record that stood was for a traditional tandem bicycle and, from what I understood (and I may have misunderstood) was across America on public roads (and, presumably, elevation changes)..

...and I'm mightily impressed the Brit father and son duo got within 5 miles of the US record holders, too.

Still a good hour of telly, when all is said and done.

All it needs is a panel of expert judges and a public 'phone vote and they've got it made.

[Mr E]

No question it was a hugely impressive effort by all concerned; not something I could even think about doing

Mr_B said:

with thinking the original record was amazingly impressive.

I'm sure both Guy and Jason would both agree that anyone who manages 500 miles on a "normal" tandem in 24 hours are double hard bds.

[MC Bodge]

The "record" is of little consequence to me. The process was interesting.
I'd have liked to have seen more of the vehicle design and R&D work.

Guy Martin is a modern cross between John Noakes, Peter Duncan and Fred Dibnah.

[JonRB]

MC Bodge said:

Guy Martin is a modern cross between John Noakes, Peter Duncan and Fred Dibnah.

[longshot]

MC Bodge said:

The "record" is of little consequence to me. The process was interesting.
I'd have liked to have seen more of the vehicle design and R&D work.

Guy Martin is a modern cross between John Noakes, Peter Duncan and Fred Dibnah.

fk off. I once bumped into Peter Duncan in a pub. He was wearing green sandals!

Ranulph Feinnes surely.

[MC Bodge]

longshot said:

fk off. I once bumped into Peter Duncan in a pub. He was wearing green sandals!

Ranulph Feinnes surely.

Steady on, Mr Fiennes is in a whole different level of hardness. Not quite as comical, though.

I saw Peter Duncan's one man show at Edinburgh, he's a very talented chap.

[longshot]

MC Bodge said:

longshot said:

fk off. I once bumped into Peter Duncan in a pub. He was wearing green sandals!

Ranulph Feinnes surely.

Steady on, Mr Fiennes is in a whole different level of hardness. Not quite as comical, though.

I saw Peter Duncan's one man show at Edinburgh, he's a very talented chap.

Was he wearing green sandals?
Norman Wisdom then. He threw himself down a lot of stairs.

[anonymous-user]

Enjoyed the programme as usual.

The thing that impressed me the most were the nutters who used to endurance race for 6 days on a penny farthing!

[Megaflow]

Cracking program. I couldn't give a toss about the technicalities of them breaking an old record, setting a new record or whatever. What I do know is that it took a super human physical effort to achieve and was well worth the TV time.

As an aside, Guy's house:
1) Technic race truck, super car, combine and tractor, plus Lego camper, all on the lounge window sill
2) Turret mill in the room off the kitchen
3) A crankshaft, and what appeared to be a turbo charger, on the worktop in the kitchen

Well played sir!



Do you reckon he lives by himself?

Edited by Megaflow on Tuesday 28th October 08:22

[DoubleSix]

MC Bodge said:

longshot said:

fk off. I once bumped into Peter Duncan in a pub. He was wearing green sandals!

Ranulph Feinnes surely.

Steady on, Mr Fiennes is in a whole different level of hardness. Not quite as comical, though.

I saw Peter Duncan's one man show at Edinburgh, he's a very talented chap.

Quite. A bit like comparing dear old Tony Heart with Picasso.

FWIW Next week looks more like it!!

[RicksAlfas]

MC Bodge said:

Guy Martin is a modern cross between John Noakes, Peter Duncan and Fred Dibnah.

And Wolverine.

[longshot]

DoubleSix said:

MC Bodge said:

longshot said:

fk off. I once bumped into Peter Duncan in a pub. He was wearing green sandals!

Ranulph Feinnes surely.

Steady on, Mr Fiennes is in a whole different level of hardness. Not quite as comical, though.

I saw Peter Duncan's one man show at Edinburgh, he's a very talented chap.

Quite. A bit like comparing dear old Tony Heart with Picasso.

FWIW Next week looks more like it!!

Maybe I should have added 2 winks.

I'm looking forward to the Pikes Peak episode too.
Like the TT, it must take several years to truly know the course so he may not do as well as we would hope.

It will no doubt be another chunk of great TV regardless.

[P-Jay]

scubadude said:

longshot said:

I wonder how much of that is brought about by the cycling governing bodies?

The UCI are directly responsible since they restricted bike design in the 30's to stop recumbents winning everything :-) Manufacturers aren't going to waste money designing things that they can't use in competition or look like the stuff the pros use.

I had a recumbent, they are brilliant but unless you spend alot of money they are heavy and suffer because of that on big climbs (not great for me since I live in Dorset) even so I would love to try a Velomobile (enclosed monocoque like Guys trike) for long distance rides they look ideal.

Absolutely, Road racing bikes are very strictly regulated by the UCI, they lean heavily on 'tradition' so really they don't change that much, there's even a minimum weight requirement so whilst everything is carbon, there's no real drive to make them lighter.

Mountain Bikes on the other hand are given almost completely free reign by the UCI (the UCI doesn't really care about Mountain Bikes or Mountain Biking at a professional level in the slightest) and the rate of development is rapid to say the least!

[birky]

http://40psi.wordpress.com/ Jason Miles blog entry about the prog

[jasonbmiles]

Due to Speed being primarily a science programme, I think it's important to present as many interesting science-y things as possible. The differences in wind efficiency and what can therefore be achieved with a faired recumbent as a opposed to an upright bike. What happens to the human body when it gets hot. What happens when two competitive blokes have a virtual reality race. What the human body needs as fuel to keep going, etc etc etc.


It wasn't really a programme to mainly showcase how great we are as athletes nor was it intended as a study into how breaking records is easier with a big budget.

Anyway, we both really enjoyed filming it and I reckon the programme turned out brilliantly. I think the wider recumbent community are quite pleased with the exposure it's given to the sport as well.

cheers.

[anonymous-user]

jasonbmiles said:

Due to Speed being primarily a science programme, I think it's important to present as many interesting science-y things as possible. The differences in wind efficiency and what can therefore be achieved with a faired recumbent as a opposed to an upright bike. What happens to the human body when it gets hot. What happens when two competitive blokes have a virtual reality race. What the human body needs as fuel to keep going, etc etc etc.


It wasn't really a programme to mainly showcase how great we are as athletes nor was it intended as a study into how breaking records is easier with a big budget.

Anyway, we both really enjoyed filming it and I reckon the programme turned out brilliantly. I think the wider recumbent community are quite pleased with the exposure it's given to the sport as well.

cheers.

Great effort from you both and nice to see from your blog that Guy is the character in real life that many of us assume him to be.

Most of us on here don't really care about the finer details of the record etc more that it was some fascinating TV (amongst a sea of dross) and 2 slightly crazy blokes taking on an immense challenge.

[pidsy]

Morningside said:

benny 61 said:

Great first episode, Guy Martin is such a charismatic chap.

Agreed. I love his programmes. Enthusiastic and very watchable.

if you get a chance, read his book. he's a legend.

[DoubleSix]

I think the reason it works so well is what Jason says in his blog. It's all done in single takes with no effort to contrive the Lincolnshire lad into being a caricature of himself.

Someone tell TopGear....

[MC Bodge]

jasonbmiles said:

Due to Speed being primarily a science programme, I think it's important to present as many interesting science-y things as possible. The differences in wind efficiency and what can therefore be achieved with a faired recumbent as a opposed to an upright bike. What happens to the human body when it gets hot. What happens when two competitive blokes have a virtual reality race. What the human body needs as fuel to keep going, etc etc etc.


It wasn't really a programme to mainly showcase how great we are as athletes nor was it intended as a study into how breaking records is easier with a big budget.

Anyway, we both really enjoyed filming it and I reckon the programme turned out brilliantly. I think the wider recumbent community are quite pleased with the exposure it's given to the sport as well.

cheers.

I think it did what it set out to do. Everybody came across well too, without any apparent daft "false jeopardy".

Well done.