One of the very best road riders in the country, national vets' champion Greg Swinand is facing an anxious month as he counts down to a planned hour-record attempt in the US - or Mexico on November 16th. (Photo: Sean Rowe)
By Brian Canty
Multiple Irish Masters champion Greg Swinand is facing an uncertain month as he counts down to an hour record he’s hoping to attempt in the US on November 16th.
The Aquablue rider is hoping to perform his effort in the USA Olympic velodrome in Colorado Springs, near Denver.
But because of planned renovation works he may have to go to Mexico instead.
He is hoping to set a new Irish elite hour record and in the process also set a new Irish Masters record.
The elite record is 46.166km and was set in 1999 by Tommy Evans. The Masters record was set by John Madden last year and is 45.799km,
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Swinand is not taking the challenge lightly and has started to replicate the thinner air that he’ll be accustomed to wherever he does his attempt by training in a reduced-oxygen facility in Ireland known as a hypoxic chamber.
"I've started intermittent hypoxic training, and am hoping to do some bike hypoxic training in the next two weeks," he said.
"Someone has offered to lend me their hypoxic generator here in Ireland."
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Swinand with Italy’s omnium Olympic champion Elia Viviani, who also rides on the road for Team Sky, during a recent training trip it Italy with coach Matteo Cigala.
The velodrome in Colorado Springs is where Swinand wants to go as the thinner air at altitude will give him the best chance of succeeding in his attempt.
But with two and a half weeks to go until he's due to depart he still doesn’t know where he’s going – though his flights are booked to the US.
“Right now, there is at least a two-week delay (with the velodrome in Colorado), which means the earliest they'd finish is the 14th of November,” he wrote in a blog today.
“If there is any weather-related delay such as snow or heavy rain, then this would push back further.
“Besides the risk of not being able to do the attempt, there is also the issue that there would be no training access to the velodrome in the week before.”
The two options he has are moving back the hour-record attempt or go to a velodrome in Mexico instead.
“The latter looks more likely as the cost of changing the fares is about the same as flying on to Mexico, and it looks like the velodrome there is available,” added Swinand.
Swinand has had to take out a small personal loan to fund his effort, which involves flights, training on the velodrome, coaching and various other bits and pieces.
Should he decide to do the attempt in the US later than expected it’ll mean more money as it would be during Thanksgiving week and that brings huge logistical uncertainty and likely travel chaos.
Last month, Swinand set a new derny-paced hour record in Dublin.
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