Sunday September 25: it was still completely dark as we gathered at Kissena Velodrome in Queens. Planes lumbered overhead but otherwise the morning was cool and quiet. Coffee and doughnuts arrived. We swept the track as the sun rose.

Then, shortly after 7AM Ben rolled off the start line. Cheers mixed with the sound of a disc wheel whooshing down the straights at more than twenty seven miles per hour. Sixty minutes later it was official: Ben is the new New York City Hour Record holder with a confirmed distance of 44.54 kilometers, surpassing Ken Harris’ impressive 2008 performance by 370 meters.

We’ll have much more about this special morning at the track in the coming weeks including Ben’s perspective on the feat and a short film by Daghan. As we said, we hope this effort is the starting point for a new round of Hour Records at Kissena. There are lots of blank spaces in the record books just waiting to be tackled!

Until then, follow along the rest of #ProjectFlushing via our Instagram Stories and the gallery below. And please consider making a donation to Kissena Velodrome’s renovations.

Photo Gallery by Matt