Barbara Morris doesn’t really remember much from her Hour Record attempt.
“I’ve forgotten everything about how it felt during (the ride),” she said. “I remember before, I remember feeling quite nervous about the whole thing. Then you breathe, then you go, then you’re done.”
And when she was done, she was sitting with a new Canadian record distance for her category.
For the uninitiated, the Hour Record is a cycling race where riders attempt to ride as far as they can in an hour. The race is a distillation of cycling into its purest form. The racer rides a fixed-gear track bike around a velodrome continuously for an hour in an attempt to go the furthest distance. But something as simple as riding a bike in a circle for an hour is also one of the cycling world’s biggest challenges. The Hour Record has been pursued since at least 1876, when an American rider named Frank Dodds rode 26.508 km on a penny-farthing. Since then, the top names in cycling have attempted to one up each other, pushing the limits of human endurance, technology and fitness to astounding heights. At the bleeding edge of the sport today, the record stands at 56.792 km and is held by pro racer Filippo Ganna, and the elite pro women’s record is 50.267 km, held by Vittoria Bussi.
But the race isn’t just for the world tour pros. Every year, there is an event called Day of the Hour in Milton, Ont. where athletes can test themselves against the clock. In August, 2024, Comox Valley cyclists Barbara Morris and Derek Steel both took to the track in Milton and made their attempts, and they came away quite successful. Morris now has the Canadian record for Women aged 65-69, riding 38.838 km, and Steel has the world record for men aged 80-84, travelling 39.836 km.
“Giuseppe Marinoni was the first person in Derek’s age group to set the world record,” Morris said. Marinoni, a well-known figure in Canadian cycling, is also the founder of the Marinoni bike brand. Steel said that if he and Marinoni were to have started at the same time, Steel would have lapped Marinoni a few times over.
Riders have to train to maintain a high cadence (pedalling speed) and hold themselves still in an uncomfortable, aerodynamic position for the entirety of the race. They do not get to monitor their pace, except through their coaches yelling split times every lap or so and have to endure a lot of physical pain to pull it off. They also have to train for years to build up their endurance and stamina for the event.
“You’re keeping your body in position and trying to be as aerodynamic as possible,” Morris said. “After 30 minutes on the loudspeaker they would say it was half over, and I was like ‘only half?’ “
“I heard the announcement saying there was 15 minutes to go, and it felt like I’d been there for two hours already, just being in that position,” Steel added.
At this level of competition, the gear plays a large role in the event. Some consider the race to be a test of the limits of equipment as much as it is a test of the human limits. Through testing, van der Vliet determined the optimum cadence for both riders and chose gear ratios to maximize that. He also considered things like chain friction and the number of watts the riders would save if their chains were going around larger gears that would cause fewer articulations.
However, at the end of the day, it was all about the rider. Steel’s bike is more than 15 years old, and Morris’, though newer, is not at the level of a rider like Ganna (Ganna’s kit cost more €75,000, or $109,795.87 Canadian). There is only so much technical innovation that can go into a track bike, which has fixed gears and doesn’t even have brakes.
The journey to even attempting an Hour Record is long. Steel started training two years ago, but had to postpone his attempt due to an injury. Morris joined him a year later. Under the watchful eye of coach John van der Vliet, they did everything from hill repeats to motor pacing (riding behind a motorcycle or scooter to reduce air resistance) to get their speed and endurance up. The pair also travelled to Victoria to train in the outdoor velodrome there.
But to Morris and Steel, riding bikes at a high level is just what they do. Steel, at 81 years old, will be racing cyclocross this weekend in Nanaimo and has already signed up for the 2025 Trek BC Gravel Series for 2025. Morris, in her 60s, will be helping spread her knowledge to upcoming generations of riders and training for a full season of racing in the new year. Both are members of the Comox Valley Cycling club, which is actively seeking new members (and they don’t have to be racers).
“I want younger people to look at me, at 81, and see something they can aspire to,” Steel said. “I’m racing against 55-year-olds next weekend. If we were to cut off the point series right now, I’d be in eighth place over all … that’s why I do it. Don’t give up, age isn’t that important. It’s just a mindset.”
For more information on the Comox Valley Cycle Club, visit comoxvalleycycle.club.
