If you want the Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) Hour Record, you’re up against stiff competition — so you’d better optimize everything you can.
Editor’s note: This article was originally published on Bikerumor.
The Hour Record commands respect for multiple reasons, but the most elemental might be its simplicity. Start stationary in a velodrome; crank for an hour; if you go farther than anyone else ever has, you own the record.
Dan Bigham captured the UCI-sanctioned benchmark on Aug. 19, covering 55.548 km — blowing the existing record out of the water in the process.
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The British rider beat the old mark by almost half a kilometer, possibly thanks in part to a super-lubricated £6,000 ($6,794) Muc-Off NTOC chain.
Muc-Off didn’t bother to itemize the huge bill, but most of it’s probably tied up in R&D. You’d need 100 bottles of the brand’s most expensive lube (at retail price) to rack up $6,000 in expenses. And the process that it used to lube the chain is, believe it or not, highly scientific.
Bigham often works with Muc-Off as an engineer for Ineos Grenadiers, so when his teammate Filippo Ganna decided to challenge his Hour Record mark, you could probably predict what would come next.
Correct: Muc-Off announced on Sept. 16 that it would “optimize” Ganna’s chain, too.
$6K Chain: How and Why
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Teamwork Makes the Dream Work
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