Chris Hoy, Scotland's leading track cyclist, will today attempt to break the world record for the kilometre. The 31-year-old Edinburgh man has his eye on the current best of 58.875 seconds held by his French rival Arnaud Tournant and set in 2001 at La Paz in Bolivia, the same venue that Hoy has selected for his bid.
Explaining why he had chosen the 333-metre concrete surface at the Alto Irpavi Velodrome, which at 3477 metres above sea level is the highest in the world, Hoy said: "The track itself isn't anything spectacular. It is purely the location and the fact that it is so high and the air is so thin. For a sprint event, it is by far the fastest track in the world which is clear from the fact that the world record is almost two seconds quicker than the sea-level equivalent."
Hoy already holds the sea-level best of 60.711sec, which he set when winning the gold medal at the Athens Olympics three years ago. The kilometre event was subsequently dropped from the schedule for Beijing next year, so today's ride will be his last over the distance.
"I am going to retire from the kilometre after the world record attempt, whether it is successful or not," he said.
Since taking two gold medals and a silver at the world championships in Mallorca over Easter, he has focused on the record attempt and has sought to replicate the hostile conditions he anticipates today by riding in a chamber with limited oxygen supplies. He is happy with the way he handled those sessions and also his track work in Florida, but admits he is venturing into the unknown.
"The reduced air resistance will allow you to get to a higher speed first of all and the momentum you have means you won't slow down as much towards the end. On the last lap I will have spent pretty much most of my fuel and I will just be hanging on. It will be a fairly grim experience I would expect."
He has spent the last 10 days in Fort Lauderdale, which is in the same time zone as La Paz, and has a track that is identical to the one he will use today. His final preparations have gone well and Hoy is confident he is ready to mount a credible bid.
His back-up squad, which includes his parents David and Carol, travelled to Bolivia earlier this week to make final arrangements. If he achieves his main goal, Hoy will also attack the 500 metres flying start and 200 metres flying start records. His efforts are attracting significant local attention, as David Hoy explained. "We are told it will be a full house with about 3000 spectators in place", he said. "The track is looking superb. We were expecting a pretty rough ride but they have been working on the track for two weeks."
Hoy junior knows that, should his bid fail, it will not be due to lack of effort by him or his support team.
He said: "If I don't break it, it's because it's a fantastic record, not because I haven't prepared properly or had the best opportunity. Regardless of what happens, I'm happy that I am going to go into it in the best condition of my life and hopefully I'll do the best performance of my life."
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