Ashton Lambie, American gravel racer, track rider, mustache enthusiast, and individual Pursuit specialist, has broken the world record for individual Pursuit.

With a finish time of 3:59.930, running 4 km in under 4 minutes, he made history as the first athlete ever to break the 4-minute barrier. Lambie's motivation for the challenge was to parallel cycling with the feat of Roger Bannister, who first ran a mile in 4 minutes in 1954.

To accomplish such a feat, Lambie took advantage of technological advances in equipment wherever possible.

As highlighted by the recent Tokyo Olympics, equipment optimization is an important area for track riders and their sponsors. Whether it is the radical Lotus x Hope HB.T bike, the 450-pound-per-barrel small-pitch chains used by Team GB, or the much cheaper "shin tape" fiasco that has haunted the Danish team throughout the Games, as riders, teams, and brands seek unprecedented speed, The field is clearly full of innovation.

Lambie, who broke the record, was riding an Argon 18 Electron Pro Pursuit frameset. This frame is the same one used by Denmark, Canada, and Australia at recent competitions, where Denmark and Australia won silver and bronze medals, respectively. The bike will be unveiled in early 2020 and is said to cost $18,000 (about £13,000) for the frame, fork, and zip wheels.

The bike will be paired with components from Wattshop, a sponsor of his Huub Wattbike trade team, and Wattshop supplies not only the integrated cockpit but also an aero chainset with a massive 64-tooth chainring. The chainset in question is Wattshop's Kratas, a custom-built aero product that starts at £1,595 (about $2,200). no chainrings below 58 teeth are available. the BCD is 144mm, the Q-factor is a very narrow 132mm, and the crank length is between 160mm and 175mm It also has an adjustable insert.

Despite the enormity of the 64T chainring, it is paired with a 15T sprocket. This corresponds to a 47T chainring and 11T sprocket combination, which is very close to 52 x 12. It is speculated that the reason for this is that the larger sprocket (15T in this case) reduces friction because the chain does not have to spin the smaller sprocket and the links do not have to bend as tightly.

Lambie's attempt was streamed live by Zippspeed. He chose Zipp Super-9 Track Carbon Tubular Discs, equipped with track-compatible fixed gear axles and wrapped in Vittoria's track-specific tubular tires Pista Oro Graphene 2.0. The tire's recommended inflation pressure is 130-217 psi, more than twice that of a road bike tire.

The Argon 18 suffered an unforeseen breakage of Alexander Porter's handlebar during the Olympics. Lambie also used an aftermarket cockpit rather than the factory option offered by Argon 18, which in this case, like the chainset, was made by Watt Shop. He used the "Anemoi Olympic Edition Pentaxia Cockpit," available for £8,500 ($11,500).

It features two-finger hooked grips to maximize height under the UCI's 10 cm regulation and is designed to take full advantage of the UCI's dimensional limitations, claiming to save 36w at 64 km/h as a result.

Despite the short event, Lambie chose the ISM PN1. 1The saddle is designed with more padding for comfort. The pedals are Keo Blade Carbon Ceramic and the chain is KMC X101 Gold Track.

As for clothing, Lambie is also provided by a trade team sponsor. The canvas for his patriotically designed helmet is POC Tempor.

His skinsuit is a custom-made option from British brand Vorteq, whose suits are specifically designed to be optimal at the chosen speed, so that for Lambie, the fastest It may have been an option, but it would not necessarily be the fastest for him riding longer, slower events.

His overshoes, also custom-made by Vorteq, are similar to those seen on Alex Doucet's feet in recent months. Together, the two garments are valued at 3,250 pounds (about $4,500).

A great deal of money has been poured into Lambie's setup, and a rough calculation puts it at over 25,000 pounds (about $35,000).