The former world hour record holder holds a special place in the heart for many bikers around the world who witnessed his rise from local Scottish hero to World Champion. Obree arrived on the top step of the cycling world in 1993 when he shattered Francesco Moser’s nine year old hour record by riding 51.596 Kilometers during a second attempt less than 24 hours after his first. We hooked up with the legendary cyclist for a short interview.

BP: Graeme, Do you think your grass roots respect stems from the fact that you seemed to achieve most in your career without massive support?

I empathise with the grass roots because I came from there and also I never fitted into the professional field, fundamentally since most of them considered me a rank amateur and that I did not take my profession seriously by way of not taking performance enhancing substances. There was a mutual loss of respect from the first day.

BP: When you won gold at the world championships in the 4,000-meter individual pursuit in 1993 in the crouch position, I take it there was no wind tunnel testing, have you a talent to visualise aerodynamics?

The development of aerodynamics for me was a case of finding what was better than what I had before. When you ride a fixed wheel then you detect small differences and you just keep tweaking and tweaking. Reduction of frontal area is a good move as a general rule.

BP: After your crouch position was banned, you returned with an equally revolutionary ‘superman’ position. Did you feel the authorities were out to get you when it too was banned?
I think the superman position was more aesthetically beautiful than the crouch and was much easier to adopt. When it got banned it had been adopted by loads of riders and had been used to win a lot of Olympic medals. Chris Boardman also used it to regain the Hour Record. When it was banned I think it was partly personal and partly a distraction from what was happening in the drug scandal side. Probably the longest lasting innovation was the outboard bearings mounted onto the cranks, which seems to be the norm for most high-end bikes these days.

BP: Your revealing book (the flying Scotsman) was open and honest, when watching the movie about you, did you recognise the man up on the screen as you?
I was on set for most of the filming and the scenes where you see the track coming at you from a riders eye was filmed by me on a regular track bike with a huge reel to reel 250 grand camera mounted on the handle bars. No pressure like! I don’t think any of the actors could have been better cast and Johnny did do a great job. No slouch on the bike either!

BP: You were sacked by your team before the 1995 Tour De France for not consenting to using drugs. Do you think the drug culture robbed you of a professional career?
I absolutely was robbed of my career after the French affair. Even being world champion after that there were no offers. It only took me ten years to realise I had been fired! It was a huge resentment that did not help my well-being either. I did not know how badly I felt about it until the finish of the 2006 Tour when I had to walk away. My friends said I was over-reacting but we all know how it panned out the next day.

BP: What are your memories when you see Moser using your ‘your’ position?
Moser using my position was a great accolade but the sponge support and the very forward saddle probably helped the position being banned in the end. They did me a favour though since at the time I did not realise I had sunk into a comfort zone and the ban forced me to re-develop.

BP: Do think the sport has really changed?
I can’t comment on how the sport is since I am too distant from it.

BP: One of the most impressive results of your career was your 50-mile road record of 1 hour 39 minutes. I remember feeling fantastic having just broke two hours for 50miles and being gobsmacked when I saw your time. What stands out as the best result for you?
I think that 50 in 93 seemed to be unbelievable in terms of winning margin but if you look at the margin from domestic riders and world level then there can be 4 or 5 minutes of difference to the winning time. Also I had developed my training and preparation for that distance in terms of fluid and glycogen. I knew how to train without food and just water and had trained my glycogen system. A lot of riders nowadays are always eating and using energy drinks so there own glycogen and energy systems are not being stressed and therefore improved. That morning I had a couple of slices of toast and over a litre of water just on the line. The best result for my own satisfaction was in 1997 when I used a standard tri position and did mid 18 on a flat out and back course for 10 miles and won the British tt champs the next day with same set up because that was the only time that it could be considered that it was purely an athletic performance

BP: I noticed a commenorative watch launched this month in your honour! Had you any input in the design?
The Hour watch was designed by me and Mr. Jones in about equal measure. I certainly installed the words. (Click to view)

BP: We saw your time trial bike from last year and you are still innovating, What’s next?
I don’t do much innovating on bikes since it is a dead end route now. I have a book of ideas which some day I might apply for patent but to be honest in today’s climate it is a quick way to lose money. I just do it for fun. I can’t stand to see bad design.

BP: Why didn’t you dope?

I didn’t dope since it is cheating. End of!

Keep up to date with Graeme at graemeobree.co.uk

ADDITIONAL QUESTIONS:

What do you think of riders focusing on their ‘numbers’ so much?
I do think that numbers have there place but only if the kit is accurate enough (0.1%) so that improvement can be done in real time. Watching numbers all the time does not allow riders to tune into the best computer in the world – the human brain.

What advice would you offer to a young aspiring rider?
My advice to young cyclists is to enjoy what they do more than anything else. Do loads of different types of events to find out what your strongest events are before going down one specific route, don’t let over keen parents to pressure you and don’t neglect your homework!