ALEX Dowsett makes his attempt on the gruelling Hour Challenge this weekend.

At 1pm this Saturday afternoon at Manchester’s National Cycling Centre, Dowsett, from Cock Clarks, will set off on a journey of just 60 minutes but at the end of which he hopes to have set a new world record distance for cycling’s iconic blue riband event, the Hour Record.

Dowsett, the 2014 Commonwealth Games time trial gold medallist, hoped to make an attempt on the Hour in February but a training accident in January saw him break his collarbone and that period off the bike was enough to disrupt his plans and a postponement was necessary.

The Movistar rider said: “I was back on the bike and out on the road after surgery in about eight days but the insurers said I had to give myself more time.

“So that took me back off the bike which put me back enough that we had to postpone my attempt.”

Speaking about the accident that led to his injury, Dowsett added: “It was a mechanical problem that caused my fall.

“I was practicing ‘standings starts’, my chain came off and I fell.

“I thought I was going to catch it but, basically, then just wobbled over and that was my collarbone gone.

“But I knew by the end of January that I still wanted to go ahead, it seemed a waste not to do so after so much effort in training for the aborted February attempt.

“And my team have been fantastic; they’ve fully supported me throughout”.

Interest in the Hour was reignited early last year when the sport’s governing body, the UCI, updated the technical regulations for the event and since then there have been six attempts at the Hour with a new record distance of 52.491kms having been set in February by Australia’s Rohan Dennis.

Training for the Hour has proved to be both technically and physically demanding. Dowsett said: “I know one thing’s for sure, to break the Hour I’m going to have to go through enormous pain barriers.

“The G forces involved in riding lap after lap after lap, hugging the black line at the bottom of the track’ – from which a rider’s distance over the Hour is measured – will be enormous. But that’s why I’ve trained for hour after hour.

“Technically it’s been really interesting to me.

“We recently spent a day in the Mercedes F1 team’s wind tunnel finessing my bike position because aerodynamics makes a huge difference in the Hour.

“Movistar’s clothing providers, Endura, have been developing even better clothing for me and our bike suppliers, Canyon, have converted their Speedmax time trial frame for use on the track.”

Dowsett has also been receiving support from Steve Collins of Chelmsford’s Althlon Sport. Collins has been a regular feature as Dowsett covered lap after lap of the London 2012 Velodrome at Lea Valley in training.

Dowsett said: “Steve has been an absolute gem. He’s been with me at the velodrome for session after session as I’ve lapped the track and he’s kept count and timed each lap I’ve covered.

“And as we’ve had to train on the track before their regular booked sessions, we’ve had to be at Lea Valley and ready to train by 8am for each session.”

Dowsett, who has haemophilia, is also hoping to crack to Hour to inspire other people with the condition which affects blood’s ability to clot.

He hopes to encourage people with the inherited condition to lead active lifestyles.