He Could Be First to Go Like 60--for an Hour

Some of the world’s best bicyclists--from Eddy Merckx to Miguel Indurain, both five-time Tour de France winners--have held the one-hour cycling record.

The current mark is 56.375 kilometers (about 35 miles) set by British Olympian Chris Boardman in 1996. It’s a lung-busting event, and only world-class cyclists can hope to challenge the record.

But this month a 30-year-old engineer from Aptos, Calif., plans to blow those pros away and average more than 20 mph faster than Boardman did.

Matt Weaver won’t be making the attempt on a traditional bicycle, so any record won’t be recognized by cycling’s international ruling body, the UCI.

Weaver will ride an aerodynamic recumbent bike that he designed and built. He is shooting for the $25,000 Dempsey-MacCready Hour Prize, sponsored by Ed Dempsey’s Santa Ana-based World Record Associates.

The prize will go to the first single-rider, human-powered vehicle to equal or exceed 90 kilometers in an hour (55.924 mph). The current world record recognized by the Human Powered Vehicle Assn. is just under 50 miles.

Weaver will be going after the big check on Dec. 18 or 19 on the two-mile oval at the California Speedway in Fontana.

“It’s very pure and simple,” Weaver said. “It’s one human body and your muscles, and your mind and its ingenuity.

“The thought of sustaining those speeds for an hour under your own power is kind of fascinating.”

Weaver has been enthralled by building vehicles since his Soap Box Derby-racing youth in Aptos, a small town south of Santa Cruz.

As an engineering student at California, he built his first streamlined recumbent bike--the “Cutting Edge”--and won international road-racing championships riding it in 1990 and 1991.

He built his new bike, the “Virtual Edge,” in 1995 but shelved it until this summer when he heard about the $25,000 prize.

It’s a high-tech vehicle with an air-tight cabin. It has no front windshield--Weaver uses video to see where he is going--and weighs 32 pounds. Weaver plans to push it past 70 mph during his record attempt.

TAKE A HIKE

The Orange County chapter of the Sierra Club is leading an easy hike in Chino Hills State Park Sunday morning. It’s a five- to six-mile walk with a 700-foot elevation gain.

Meet at 8:30 a.m. at the Park and Ride lot on the east side of Tustin Avenue just south of Lincoln Avenue in Orange, or at 9 a.m. at Rim Crest in Yorba Linda. Bring water, snack and waffle-soled boots. The hike will be canceled if it rains. Details: (714) 995-8240.