Can we beat Jeffrey Hoogland's kilo world record?
Conor Dunne and James 'Hank' Lowsley Williams attempt to ride a kilometre on their road bikes in less than 55.433 seconds
George Poole
Junior Writer
Dutch track superstar Jeffrey Hoogland is the fastest man to have ever ridden a kilometre on his bike from a standing start, holding the world record of 55.433 seconds. This means that, yes, he did indeed average a whopping 65.45km/h (40.67mph), from a standstill!
Never ones to back down from a challenge, GCN's own Conor Dunne and James 'Hank' Lowsley-Williams have decided to band together and use whatever means necessary in order to try and conquer Hoogland's feat.
The previous record had stood for ten years but at the start of November, Hoogland ventured to altitude in Aguascalientes, Mexico and broke track sprinting's oldest benchmark. At the end of his galactic ride, Hoogland was said to have immediately vomited and required the use of supplementary oxygen.
No pressure, Conor and Hank...
Read more: Sprinters record huge power numbers at UCI Track Champions League
Well, we didn't say 'by any means necessary' for no reason. Of course, Conor and Hank were never going to stand a chance without taking one or two shortcuts along the way. To try and best Hoogland's times, Hank has devised a cunning plan to ride the kilometre downhill.
Midford Hill on the outskirts of Bath is the chosen location, standing at a little over 1.3km in length and averaging a handy gradient of 5.6%. This should allow the pair to quickly accumulate high speeds without losing total control of their bikes.
They will be up against it, no doubt, with Hoogland's power in his record-breaker topping out at a whopping 2,700 watts. Whilst the Dutchman had altitude and enormous muscles on his side, however, Hoogland did not have the smooth, free-flowing Midford Hill descent to help him along.
Watch: Jeffrey Hoogland produces possibly the most powerful cycling performance of all-time
The UK may be suffering from one of its wettest periods on record at the moment, but this has not dampened Hank's mood in the slightest. Our resident adventurer is up for the challenge, so too is former Vuelta a España and Giro d'Italia finisher Conor, but can the pair manage to overcome Hoogland's outstanding time?
Check out our latest video above to see how they got on!
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