After 11 years of professional cycling, Tom Zirbel (Rally Cycling) is winding down his career this week at the Larry H. Miller Tour of Utah. Zirbel announced his impending retirement before the season started.
There's still a slight chance Zirbel could line up for his final pro race at the Tour of Alberta next month, but a possible American Hour Record attempt that is still in the planning stages could conflict with that race, meaning this week's race in Utah could be his last.
"We'll see, because we're still trying to get an hour record date, trying to work with the Mexican federation to go down there at Aguas Caliente a little north of Mexico City," Zirbel told Cyclingnews during last weekend's team presentation in Utah. "It's a really fast track, so we're working on that. If that falls through there's a possibility I could do Alberta, but that's kind of goal one."
ADVERTISEMENT
If the hour attempt does indeed come off later this year, Zirbel said, he'll be targeting the American Hour Record of 51.505km set by Norm Alvis in September of 1997. Zirbel acknowledged that Bradley Wiggins' current UCI Hour Record of 54.526 is out of reach.
"I don't think most people understand how fast that is," he said. "That is incredibly fast. But, yeah, it would be good to get some good training in and give it my best effort to see how fast I can go. The American record is 51.5 right now. So if I could achieve that I'd be really psyched."
Zirbel started his final season racing with Rally Cycling in Europe, where he was hampered by illness. He returned to the states for the Redlands Bicycle Classic, but the lingering effects from the European trip left him ill-equipped to do much there.
You can read more at Cyclingnews.com
via Cyclingnews Latest News http://ift.tt/2aNg9aS
No comments:
Post a Comment