Oct 28, 2024
So, with first surprise gone I knew I was in third place. Heidi confirmed it after lap 2 and told me the first and second racers are at a stop as well. So, I went on the track before them. Kept the pace around 20 mph. The first one closed to me almost around mile 20-25 at that lap. I let him pass again and just kept my pace steady. The second one was far behind, so I was worried but did not see him again. And the game now started between two of us. I always passed him at the start/finish line due to efficient short stops and he passed me normally about 3-5 miles before end of a lap. That game went on a while. I think if I remember right for about 18 hours we kept changing positions close to the start/finish line and I took over after a short stop again. At lap 9 I was a bit frustrated and pushed in a harder lap to see if I can build a gap. It looked like that worked. OK later I learned he had to pull out of the race and after first 24 hours I was riding a bit lonely my laps. The first 18 hours fight was a cool extra motivation for me. However, sticking to the initial plan would have put me at average similar speed and be a bit more power saving compared to those extra pushing in such a race. Will adjust that in the future.
I remember around lap 10 Heidi telling me the other racer maybe asleep or at least still is at his car. Meant I lapped him one full lap and decided to keep adding another lap or two between us. That worked well for me. However, we did get a bit confused since GPS tracker missed counting the laps right. It did record the laps, but the count didn’t update correctly. So, I could not trust how much lead I had at that time. Overall, the first night was a bit chilly with some area’s temperature below 40. I did ok with a thermo-jersey plus regular long sleeve jersey and thermal long pants on top of my regular bib pants. And first night I was not feeling too tired, so I was able to manage it well. Critical situations were deer crossings. Some extremely close … possibly about 5-6 ft in front of me. Besides that, lights and batteries for the bike worked flawless and got changed on schedule. Had at least two stops where I took a bit longer (possibly overall one hour time lost because of it) But that was more my personal decision and things I wanted to get done and fixed.
Funny as it was … into second night … at daytime no Halloween decorations setup at the houses, but sure starting with the dark the people had the decorations setup for Saturday evening. At least I knew this year the flying ghosts are not real ☺ Nevertheless I remember my lap 20 was very tough. Lack of sleep was getting to me, and I did start a bit hallucinating, seeing things on the road that were not there. Once I stopped after lap 20, I knew I had 709 miles completed, and luckily Heidi checked the competition and manually counted the laps from the GPS tracker (due to GPS tracker count wrong). We saw that I had well over 100 miles lead to the next racer behind me and I decided … I am done since I have a new track record, and I have enough lead that neither the record nor the win could be taken away from me. So, I stopped riding after 44 hours and 44 minutes in the race and finally went to sleep. Yes, I could have kept going but did not feel safe to do so.
Oct 28, 2024
Race event is Psycho48 .. So as some know I always go for the hardest option in such racing event. Yes, there are also 12- and 24-hour options available but its named Psycho48 so ... 48 hours it was again this year.
I did this race in 2023 already and still remember how tough the 48 hours are. Last year I stopped after 670 miles. I had unfinished business since I wanted to get over 700 miles. I know with lots of great cyclists this year would turn out harder. Competition was much stronger to me than 2023 and many had amazing distance goals. That’s cool to have since its pushing us all.
ace preparation was harder than expected due to the tropical storm getting through and causing me some serious challenges. But I worked around it and relocated for work and training to Bayboro NC area.
Had some cool chats with other racers before the race and interesting to see how everyone planned to approach the race. Personally, I admit that my time in the bicycle racing world and specifically ultra distance racing has been way too short. I started cycling in 2020 and do ultra distance racing since 2023, with the exception of the Sebring 24-hour race in 2022. After that race I had a major accident … hit and run while I was in the bike lane, and it took me about 8 months to mostly recover, though I’ll never fully recover. I kept going after my big goals despite that accident. My big goal was RAAM Solo, and I got that completed this year. Anything else is kind of a bonus to me.
At this year’s Psycho 48 I tried to take off in front since it’s a non-drafting race for me and was hoping with 19-20 mph for the first couple of laps to have a fast enough but not overly exhausting pace. One lap is a bit over 35 miles, and I was honestly shocked to see the first racer passing me after mile 4-5. He must have been going about 22-23 mph. On top of that, the second one passed me around mile 13-14 and going over 21 mph. Admittedly I was confused and head start spinning if my race strategy was wrong. So I did not want to play a game with them and get pulled into passing them I decided to speed up a bit between 20-21 mph. That way I calculated that they could not get too far away even they will be in the lead for a while. But a race is 48 hours and not just one or two. Also, schedule was one quick stop (1-3 minutes) every lap to swap bottle and get new container with perpetuem solid tablets. Besides perpetuem and heed I used several Hammer Nutrition products such as anti-fatigue and a few other options to avoid lack of electrolytes and minerals or carbs. In addition, I did eat solid food such as jelly sandwiches, noodle soup, oatmeal, rice … My crew chief, Heidi, with the help of her little granddaughter, did an outstanding job of keeping me on top of my nutrition; and I normally kept the stops very short with only a few exceptions. Coffee and a few energy drinks and Coca Cola was also added on request and ready for me to use.
Oct 28, 2024
Race event is Psycho48 .. So as some know I always go for the hardest option in such racing event. Yes, there are also 12- and 24-hour options available but its named Psycho48 so ... 48 hours it was again this year.
I did this race in 2023 already and still remember how tough the 48 hours are. Last year I stopped after 670 miles. I had unfinished business since I wanted to get over 700 miles. I know with lots of great cyclists this year would turn out harder. Competition was much stronger to me than 2023 and many had amazing distance goals. That’s cool to have since its pushing us all.
Sep 02, 2024
Had a great end of August and start into September. Saturday I used to get a decent 10 hour ride in to work on longer distance endurance. Was a cool time with some sprint sections in between the ride to see if I still have some power towards end of the ride. Since Maryland Gran Fondo is coming up quick I decided to move my training to Clermont FL for some climbing practice. Wanted to do another 10 hours but had to finish early due to weather changes. Got hit by some light rain in middle of the training while at end of the training day I was surprised by some extreme heavy rain. Normally on downhill I easy ride 40-45 mph but had to keep hands on braks and stay at max mid 20th mph. The roads had been under water and visibility was down to 5-6 ft. Climbing was as tough as downhill since I had to navigate through the obstacles . Water and debris covered the road on backside of Sugarloaf Mt Road badly. So I called it off after I got the 100 miles covered.
Aug 19, 2024
Some cool memories from the 12 hour race in Washington NC. I am very happy with the outcome of the race. It was the first ultra distance race since finishing RAAM (Race Across America) in June. The result and some speed/power data show that I am getting back to normal.
