Graeme Obree in 1993, via Wolfgang Menn
It's the stuff of legend in the cycling community, and frankly it's a shame that he lacks recognition in the greater world of sport or design: Graeme Obree, a.k.a. the "Flying Scotsman," the outsider who broke the World Hour Record (distance cycled in one hour) on a homemade bicycle in 1994, has set his sights . His infamous "Old Faithful" was inspired by the downhill skiing, where the athlete folded in an aerodynamic albeit awkward-looking tucked position; his equipment consisted of a radical design that reduced the traditional diamond into a single oversized tube, with a one-bladed fork and custom bottom bracket that infamously incorporated parts from a washing machine.
A quick dip in the ol' YouTubes yields several fascinating documentary clips, but before we get into the archive, it's worth checking out the occasion for Obree's recent headlines: earlier this month, Humans Invent posted an interview with Obree, now 46, who currently has his eyes on the human-powered landspeed record.
The short unravels a bit during the second half of the five-minute clip, but this is precisely why Obree is such a compelling individual: he has a one-track mind, as they say, and one gets the sense that his fixation on speed is his literally his raison d'etre. The lengthy interview (produced alongside the video) quickly exposes the depth of his obsession:
...I thought to myself, what was my passion before? What were my strengths? I thought bike design, bike building, and pumping out a lot of energy from my legs. I thought the human powered land speed record is the perfect solution to all those three things. It is actually the complete embodiment of what I am as a human being.
