With less than a month on the track bike, Sprouse finished third in the 3000M Individual Pursuit at Masters National Track Championships in Colorado Springs, posting a respectable time of 3:39.

After Nationals, Sprouse returned to the Mellowdrome and won Carolina States, and set a new track record in the 4000M Individual Pursuit, and it wasn’t long after that when Begemann brought up the idea of the Hour Record.

“Jason had also won the State Time Trial Championships on the road (40km), so I felt good about his chances at the Hour.” said Begemann. “To my surprise, Jason had been thinking the same thing, and together we formulated a plan to give it a go this summer.”

But it would be a long summer leading up to the attempt, with things not going as smoothly as one would hope.

“There were many things to work out, and as a coach, taking someone to The Hour Record, isn’t something you do every day. It’s a steep learning curve, and if you screw up, you fail. There is no Silver or Bronze medal to fall back on for consolation. You either get the record, or you go home empty.” said Begemann. And there was a lot to work out, just starting with the bike.

The UCI is the only entity to recognize a World Title of any sort in the discipline of cycling, so it was to their website that Begemann went to start coordinating what kind of bike they were going to use.

“Stemming from the whole hoopla that transpired around Obree, Boardman etc, the rules around the hour, and a bike that the UCI would consider legal are pretty clear these days.” said Begemann. “When people talk about the Hour these days, they’re pretty much talking about the Athletes Hour. The “Merckx style” Hour verses the “Rominger or Performance style” Hour. And this is largely due to the fact that the UCI recognizes the Athletes Hour over the Performance Hour. So it was natural that we would have a bike built to comply with these standards.”

So while Jason settled into a routine of long intervals, both on the track bike, and on the road bike using a power meter, Begemann started to have a special bike made for the event by renowned track frame builder Dave Tiemeyer. It had to conform to all the UCI rules, and they settled on Tiemeyer’s “Satellite” track frame and even went so far as to get a round tube fork manufactured by Independent Fabrications. Wheels were traditionally spoked Cane Creek’s, and the bars were standard Deda Pista Track bars.

After a couple of trips to Dick Lane Velodrome in Atlanta, to familiarize Jason with the tighter curves and the banking, the duo set off for Colorado Springs to attempt the record.

“John Cotton (The 7 Eleven Track Director) had reserved an early morning attempt for us before the wind built up, and the guys at USAC had helped set up all the officials.” said Begemann. Everything seemed good.

“The attempt started well, and after 5kms we were right on target. At 10 kms, we were 4 seconds down, and I wasn’t too worried. But at 15km things got worse, and at 20km’s Jason was almost 30 seconds down. We could hear him breathing in turn four before we could see him. He was struggling.”

But they stuck to the plan and Sprouse rode out the hour to miss the record by 1.5kms. It was disappointing, and if there was any consolation to be had, it was that he had set a national record. Disappointed and spent, Sprouse returned to Asheville later that same day, feeling that he had given it his best shot, but come up empty. Begemann had other business in Colorado and stayed a few extra days after the attempt, and that’s when the bomb was dropped.

“I was talking with the feds and thanking them for all their help” said Begemann, “when one of them said…”You know…you guys only missed it by 1.5kms. Had he been fully aero, you would’ve got it.”

At first I wasn’t phased by the comment, and I replied with,”Yeah, but it’s the Athlete’s Hour Record Age 35 – 39…that was the bike we had to use.”

Much to Begemann’s surprise, there wasn’t/isn’t any distinction between the “Athlete’s Hour” and the “Performance Hour” when it comes to Masters Categories. And it seemed as if they had short changed themselves.

“I felt like we had been kicked in the trousers.” Said Begemann, “and I felt that’s exactly what Jason was going to do to me once I told him the news!”

Nowhere on either the UCI’s website, or the USA Cycling’s website, was there any mention of the fact that there is no distinction between the two for Masters Categories. Sprouse had come so close yet had been so far. It was daylight robbery, to be told after the fact that he could’ve been aero, when the bike had been checked over by the officials (Twice), and no one had said anything.

“After a couple of minutes of feeling robbed, I knew the only way to approach it was that if we had come this close in the “Merckx” position, then once Jason was fully Aero, the record was his.” said Begemann. He just had to convince Sprouse.

“Initially Jason was pretty frustrated to put it politely.” said Begemann. “He listened pretty intensely, and told me that we should talk later, and the phone went quite. I felt bad, but Jason has a strong character, and he is very much a proactive individual. He called me back later that night, and was pumped.”

With good form despite the breathing problems he had experienced in Colorado, Sprouse wanted to make the most of all the hard training, and bang out another attempt as soon as possible. Preferably at sea level, and this time of course…fully aero!

Lehigh Valley Velodrome was the selected venue, and Begemann began coordinating the second attempt with Erin Hartwell and Marty Nothstein.

“Those guys were incredible.” said Begemann. “To squeeze us in at such short notice was huge, and Ray Ignosh was particularly helpful in helping schedule the event on the back of one of their race nights. I can’t say enough about that venue, or their staff. They were awesome.”

So the night arrived and despite the relative humidity, there was not a breath of wind, and the temperature was around 76 degrees. The stage was set and aboard his Tiemeyer “Signature” pursuit bike, adorned with Zipp wheels and FSA bars, Sprouse set off into the warm summer air on a ride that would change his life forever.

After a purposely slow start, he was 7 second down after 5kms. But at 10kms he was 7 seconds ahead. At 15kms he was 18 seconds ahead, and at 20kms he was 39 seconds ahead. The small group of riders who had remained behind after their local Tuesday Night racing were banging on boards and shouting words of encouragement as Sprouse gained momentum towards the close of the hour. When the hour expired and the gun was fired, Sprouse had added 803 meters to the old record, to set a new World Masters Hour record (age 35 – 39) of 45.641 kilometers.

Drenched in sweat, Sprouse had to be helped off his bike by wife Sesalie and coach Begemann, while officials tabulated the exact distance of the new record.

“The remarkable thing about this ride”, said Ray Ignosh (events coordinator for Lehigh Valley Velodrome), “was the consistency with which Sprouse rode the hour. Of 137 odd laps, he rode 125 of them within 1 second of each other!”

“I’m exhausted “said Sprouse after getting his breath back, “and this time I’m satisfied. This time I knew we got it right! When I came by and saw that Kurt had written OBREE on the chalk board, I knew we had got it!”

“It’s great for him”, said Begemann. “It’s great for our Track program in Asheville, and it’s good for T-Town, who hasn’t seen a World Record set here in 6 years. It’s all good, and maybe this might spark a little more interest into what has to be one of the hardest events in the sport of cycling.”

So from a small Track program in the mountains of North Carolina comes a new World Masters Hour record holder by the name of Jason Sprouse. A 500 meter oval with only 8 degrees of banking, but that’s not holding any of them back. Not least Jason Sprouse.

Kurt Begemann would like to extend his deepest thanks to all the officials and velodrome staff at both venues, who made this happen. To Shawn Farrell at USA Cycling and not least to Colby Pierce for his encouragement and knowledge about targeting “The Hour”.