Race Report Ingolf at 12-hour Mid-West Time Trial in Ohio (Part 2/4) And…
Race Report Ingolf at 12-hour Mid-West Time Trial in Ohio (Part 2/4) And … here we go … first time racing in a Velomobile as HPV (Human powered Vehicle) and first time 4 month after surgery on left leg and hip. I was scared and excited at the same time. Scared because it was the first time since surgery and zero race experience on an HPV. We took off and I tried to control myself to not try overdoing it. I knew that after start there would come a sharp left curve followed by a stop sign with right turn. I was hesitant passing the other racers first because of the right turn on stop sign. Why? For those not been in an HPV … its much heavier than regular race bikes and the long nose require you to move forward enough to see any potential traffic. Taking off again requires much more power to get back to speed. That’s the disadvantage besides any elevation rise. I waited a moment and … decided to start passing the other racers except one … he was too fast and I was afraid having him directly behind when it came to the right turn on that stop sign since I did not want to block him. After the right turn I kept the first racer in view for a while. Cool thing I had drinking bottles placed in proper reach. Also, in a few cases (my apologies) I did try using horn in gentle greeting way a few times. After that right turn it was a longer stretch with minor elevation gain … nothing for regular bikes but a bit harder for the Velo. When next right turn came up it was easy watching traffic from behind so I could move towards left side of my lane, turn signal on and get into the turn with proper speed. Kept focus on maintaining speed and prepared for next sharp right turn. Cool thing … distance between major turns was about 2 miles. Except the 3rd right turn was followed by a sharp left. Crazy was on that right turn the road was a bit rough with minor road damage on inside the right turn. Had to slow down a bit and it was followed by a left turn so no issue with that. A few miles to prepare for next right turn. Focus was on staying clean on the road and not hitting too much dirt plus accelerate on any descents and use that for the following rise. Kept an eye on speed and was pleased to see that I was able to keep it at a good level. However crazy thing that scared me a bit was when coming by the one house with white fences where two dogs start running next to me. Why scared? I used helmet and no race-hood, so dogs heads are and my face level. When they start running, I instantly used the horn. Prepared to do that on every lap to keep them clear from my HPV and it worked ok … they most likely know cars and my horn is as noisy as some car horns as well. It did its job.
