Graeme Obree

There are very few people in the world that I would call a genius. There are also very few people that I would call a legend. That means that there cannot be many people who I would refer to as a legendary genius!

However, last Wednesday night, I had the very great pleasure of meeting someone who I would refer to as just that – Graeme Obree. This is a man who is without doubt, both in the world of cycling and in the wider world, unique. For those that do not know his story, Graeme Obree is a champion endurance athlete and also a top-class bicycle designer. His story has recently been immortalised in the book and movie “The Flying Scotsman”. I will do my best to try and distill this story into a few lines.

Graeme Obree grew up in Ayrshire, Scotland. He took to cycling at an early age, mainly as a form of escapism. He did not have a happy childhood (he was bullied at school due to his father being the local policeman). He quickly became a local cycling champion, showing a talent for time-trialling. He designed a unique bicycle, which enabled him to achieve improved aerodynamics. On this bike (which he christened “Old Faithful”) he broke the world Hour Record (one of the most coveted and hard earned world records in cycling. So simple, yet so difficult. It requires the rider to ride around a track for an hour and travel as far as they can) and the World Championship.

This revolutionary riding style was widely copied but eventually banned (it would appear just because the governing body at the time didn’t like its aesthetics!) Graeme also lost his world record to Chris Boardman. Not to be deterred, Graeme designed a new bike, and a new riding position (christened the “Superman Position”). On this bike, he rode to a second World Title and a new Hour Record.

Throughout all of these achievements, Graeme battled with severe depression. In particular, this affected him at the time of his brother’s death. He twice attempted suicide. Fortunately, he has managed to overcome and manage this condition with the same strength he showed as a cycling champion.

The evening I attended was at the Tramway theatre. It was a lecture to promote the Riverside Museum Project. This is a new museum, which will be on the North side of the Clyde and will replace the current Transport Museum. They are organising events to cover all areas of transport and I was fortunate enough to get a ticket for the cycling event.

http://www.glasgowmuseums.com/venue/showProject.cfm?venueid=7&itemid=33

I decided to ride along to the Tramway Theatre. It is quite close to my house and it was a nice night. In homage to the great man, I rode my favourite fixed-wheel bike (to be honest, I had a notion for getting Graeme to autograph it but in the end I chickened out!). I arrived to find the hall mostly full, with about fifty or so expectant cycling anoraks…

Mr Obree was introduced following a short presentation on the riverside project. He looked a little nervous and a bit unaccustomed to talking in front of so many people. He went to some length to stress that he wanted his talk to be informal and that he encouraged everyone to ask questions as he went along. He was not to be disappointed…

The first section of the talk covered Graeme’s initial years in cycling and how he came to design his bike “Old Faithful”. He talked of looking at a bicycle “as if for the first time” or “through the eyes of a child”. By doing this he realised that there were certain things that were hindering him when he tried to ride fast. The three most striking changes he made were these:

• He positioned his handlebars so that he could hold his arms under his chest, rather than stretched out in front of him. This was initially done by turning his conventional handlebars, later using specifically made bars. It allowed a significant reduction in aerodynamic drag, thus making him faster.
• Secondly, he realised that the top tube of a standard bike was kind of in the way! He reasoned that this was hindering him during his pedal stroke. He designed his new bike with a single sloping tube to rectify this.
• Lastly, and linked to the second change, he drastically narrowed the width of the bikes bottom bracket. This (along with the sloping tube formation) allowed him to pedal with his legs much closer together. NB this is the part of the process that used parts from a washing machine.

Listening to Graeme talk about these changes, it was immediately apparent to me that he is a truly gifted man. He has an ability to look at the sport of cycling in his own unique way and work out the best way of achieving his goals. Interestingly, I asked him whether he thought that he would have been as successful had he not used the various new positions and instead used regular equipment. He answered that he didn’t know? (We never will) Maybe, but he did say that he had ridden very fast times on standard bikes.

Graeme used his unique set up in his first Hour record ride. Details can be seen at this excellent website:

http://www.wolfgang-menn.de/hourrec.htm

Interestingly (as depicted in the film version of “The Flying Scotsman” he had two attempts at the record, on consecutive days! He initially failed in his attempt, whilst using a Mike Burrows built bike. He then returned the next day to break the record (to perform such a feat without adequate recovery time is unheard of, in any sport) on his own bike.

After talking about the breaking of the Hour record for the first time, Graeme discussed the banning of the riding position and the developments that lead to his second revolutionary bike. He talked about the processes that lead to the development of the “Superman Position”. It is totally awesome to think that the man who created such a unique riding style as Obree did with “Old Faithful” then went off and did it again! This position was again heavily replicated and was responsible for the furthest ever hour record, set by Chris Boardman in 1996.

http://www.wolfgang-menn.de/hourrec.htm

Fortunately or unfortunately, depending on your viewpoint (personally, I am a bit torn on the subject) the Superman position was banned too. As far as the Hour record is concerned, the goalposts were well and truly shifted. Now, all records must be set on a “standard” bike, with no modifications. This has lead to the creation of “The Athlete’s Hour” or “The UCI Hour”. The details of this can be seen here:

http://www.wolfgang-menn.de/hourrec.htm

This leads me on to probably the most interesting part of the evening. All through his talk, Graeme gave the distinct impression that he was still very much a racing cyclist. He looked very lean and fit. He talked about recent races he had ridden in. When asked whether he would use the new Glasgow track (once it is built for the Commonwealth games in 2014) he was quite forthright in saying that he would like to break a World Record there! Now you can’t say fairer than that.

He then brought out his “baby” as he called it. A monster of a bike, that Obree built himself, purely to fit within the current UCI guidelines for the Hour record. I cannot believe for a minute that he would go to all of that trouble and not then use the bike…

I was lucky enough to get a picture with the bike, including it’s massive front chainring (I think he said he was running something like 67 x 13, makes my 39 x 14 look a bit poxy!) I only hope I get to see him ride it one day. Maybe on that Glasgow velodrome…

Lastly, Graeme was kind enough to sign a World Champions cap for me. I will be auctioning this at some point in aid of the GTF. Please watch this space for details.

Commeth the Hour…

Col.