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Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel
Alex Dowsett fine-tunes his Hour Record set up in the wind tunnel

Alex Dowsett fine-tunes Hour Record set up in wind tunnel

Three-time UK time trial champ goes for record on May 2
by John Stevenson
Tue, Apr 21, 2015 10:09
10

With just two weeks to go before he has a crack at cycling's most prestigious record, British time trial specialist Alex Dowsett has been in the wind tunnel making final tweaks to the bike and equipment he'll use to try and break Rohan Dennis' 52.491km record.

Dowsett has been using Drag2Zero's facility at the Mercedes AMG Petronas HQ in Brackley ahead of his UCI Hour Record attempt in Manchester on May 2.

Yesterday, Monday April 20, saw his last session in the wind tunnel; next Monday he'll travel to Manchester ahead of the attempt, which starts at midday the following Saturday.

Dowsett has been using the wind tunnel to tweak the skinsuit made for him by clothing sponsor Endura, as well as his Canyon bike, Power2Max power meter and Catlike helmet. He will continue to train at home in Essex, with some velodrome sessions still scheduled for him this week, before heading to Manchester next Monday.

Tickets for Dowsett's record attempt are still available. Adult tickets start at £11.

Hour Record
Hour Record 2015
Alex Dowsett
Manchester Velodrome
John Stevenson

John has been writing about bikes and cycling for over 30 years since discovering that people were mug enough to pay him for it rather than expecting him to do an honest day's work.

He was heavily involved in the mountain bike boom of the late 1980s as a racer, team manager and race promoter, and that led to writing for Mountain Biking UK magazine shortly after its inception. He got the gig by phoning up the editor and telling him the magazine was rubbish and he could do better. Rather than telling him to get lost, MBUK editor Tym Manley called John’s bluff and the rest is history.

Since then he has worked on MTB Pro magazine and was editor of Maximum Mountain Bike and Australian Mountain Bike magazines, before switching to the web in 2000 to work for CyclingNews.com. Along with road.cc founder Tony Farrelly, John was on the launch team for BikeRadar.com and subsequently became editor in chief of Future Publishing’s group of cycling magazines and websites, including Cycling Plus, MBUK, What Mountain Bike and Procycling.

John has also written for Cyclist magazine, edited the BikeMagic website and was founding editor of TotalWomensCycling.com before handing over to someone far more representative of the site's main audience.

He joined road.cc in 2013. He lives in Cambridge where the lack of hills is more than made up for by the headwinds.

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10 comments

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RobD | 9 years ago
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I've seen him out training behind a moped a couple of times recently, he's really been going great guns at it.
I hope he breaks it by a good amount, enough to put some worry into Wiggins for his attempt definitely.
If it was at the Lee Valley velodrome I think I'd be able to convince the other half to go to it, not sure she'd agree to travelling up to Manchester quite as easily.
Does anyone know where tv coverage for this will be shown?

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timtak | 9 years ago
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The saddle tip does not appear to be 5cm behind the bottom bracket. Was that included in the UCI rule change?

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stealth replied to timtak | 9 years ago
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It looks like it does to me. Don't be fooled by the seatpost.

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Must be Mad | 9 years ago
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Bike looks surprisingly sane for an hour record bike.

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Simon E | 9 years ago
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Alex is the one of very few riders who are likely to surpass the current record. If he's working with D2Z he's certainly taking his attempt very seriously indeed. 16

I too hope he sets a damn good mark, regardless of what happens in June. £11 is a bargain.

Anybody interested in the recent Hour record attempts might want to find @xavierdisley and @doctor_hutch on twitter. Both have made fascinating contributions to Mark Florence's podcasts, Disley's recent interview in particular:

http://cyclingtimetrialpodcast.libsyn.com/xavier-disley-analysis-of-hour...

https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/cycling-time-trial-podcast/id8292842...

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Cooks | 9 years ago
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Dat bike 8

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bikeandy61 | 9 years ago
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19 I believe there were some tickets for £29 available for Wiggo's attempt. To be honest if they'd been £100 cheapest I wouldn't have been surprised. Gotta cater to the Rapha crowd. (and yes I do own quite a bit of Rapha kit. I know though I'm not the target client type). Really looking forward to the 2nd. Got my ticket.

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tommyjz | 9 years ago
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Good luck Alex

Top bloke, great to see him racing the winter league at Lee Valley Velodrome this year as well. Was inspiring for sure

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Joeinpoole | 9 years ago
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Interesting that tickets for Dowsett's attempt are only £11 compared to £49 to watch Wiggo. Admittedly tickets for Wiggo sold out very quickly, much to my surprise, so I guess they knew their market.

One thing I like about Dowsett is that, when he has the time, he still turns up at Maldon & District CC and rides the 10K TT with them. That must be hugely inspiring and motivational for young riders.

Good luck Alex!

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Beefy replied to Joeinpoole | 9 years ago
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Wiggo has been known to turn up at the Bickerstaff 10 TT near Ormskirk during the summer months. Having said that I have mt ticket for Manchester and I hope Alex breaks the record and keeps it for a long time

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