Scottish world record underdog Graeme Obree’s plans to take his old one hour record back from long term rival Chris Boardman this month have been ruled out after train problems have left him exhausted.

HIs wife, Anne, has told the Times newspaper that Graeme has been left “knackered and gaunt” after trips from his home in Irvine to training sessions at the Manchester Velodrome have been taking over ten hours each way. “There’s no way he can attempt the record. He is suffering from mental stress and exhaustion and the doctor has ordered him complete rest,” she said yesterday.

His attempt was to have been under the new “no aero” UCI legislations that were in part prompted by his radical bike designs and the “Superman” riding position he used to take the hour record and World 4000m pursuit titles in the mid ’90’s. However a string of problems including double booked track training sessions, preparation of his own record bikes and a huge road training workload to offset the lost track time has resulted in him scratching his attempt planned for the 23rd of December.

No new date has been set for the attempt, but Obree has a major sponsor backing him and is still confident he can break Boardman’s recent 49.441km record, the new mark for the so called ‘retro record’. We will, of course, keep you informed.