I signed up for the Sebring 24 hour race this year as a way to stay motivated over the winter. Last year, with my primary cycling goal not scheduled until the end of the summer, I felt like I was a bit stagnant over the winter.

This winter I’ve been in a good rhythm with my workouts. Many and regular hours on the Computrainer and twice a week doing functional strength training. Throw in a few indoor time trials to avoid boredom and a trip to Vegas to get some outdoor miles and I went into the race feeling great. I was optimistic, but cautious as I had only 3 rides 100 miles or longer this year, 1 indoors and 2 outdoors.

The usual rush to get everything ready the night before went well and for once I was asleep early before the race.

The first day loop went well. I tried to rein in my usual habit of going out too hard. The only difficulty was that my pace was nearly identical to the lead pack of drafting racers. It seemed i was always trying to get myself out of drafting positions, either trying to jump ahead, move to the side or fall behind. This was wasted energy. A support vehicle nearly hit me as I  followed an out of date road marking, sometimes colors are a challenge. This misstep dropped me far enough behind the pack that i was able to than ride my own pace.

I finished the first 100 miles in 4:30 approximately.  A good start. The afternoon loops began, it warmed up and a bit of wind arrived to make it a little more interesting. I always bonk a bit during the mid-loop at Sebring. This year was no different. All I could do is keep the pedals moving and drink as much as possible. Eventually, my energy returned and by the time I moved on to the race track for the night loops i was plugging along at good pace.

I like the night loops. Only 3.7 miles long, the race track is not an oval, but a winding Le Mans style track. It has enough variation to keep you alert and enough rough patches to wake you up. The night loops went well. I did encounter one more bonk, which required me to stop and shovel in some real food. A turkey wrap, pretzels, and a coke never tasted so good as they did at 1 am in Sebring.

As the night loops progressed I was hoping to pull out 460 miles, but my pace slowed toward the end. 449.1 miles, a good ride for this early in the year. Im looking forward to the upcoming races this year.

Power and Ride Stats on Training Peaks

Ultracycling Summary

Sebring Results

Sebring Split Times

32 degrees and some wind. 4 hours, 65 miles. Nice to be outside.

Along the way I encountered:

1. An ice flow covering the bike path along the lakefront that made me look like a 5 year old on his first set of skates.
2. A guy on a mountain bike wearing a motorcycle helmet with a spinning light on the top, made me think of Fahrenheit 451.
3. Another in a ski jacket on ten speed who nearly crashed while trying to wave.
4. Quite a few runners, a much saner activity this time of year.
5. 5 cars that pulled out of parking spaces directly in front of me without looking.
6. Very few other cyclists.

I did an indoor time trial this past weekend. I ignored my plan for a long outdoor ride and drove up to do a 30 minute computrainer race. 30 long minutes.  It always seems like a fun idea when I register.

A few years ago I did my first indoor time trial. I had completed some pretty hard races the summer before and was feeling pretty confident. It was 10K long. The shortest race I’d ever done to that point.  I placed nearly last. Next to me, a relatively obese older fellow pedaled along happily as i suffered miserably.

This one went a bit better. Though in my typical way I went out too hard, before realizing Im not Lance. Still, it was a decent showing. I’m sure it will be fun next week.

Ultracycling: Metamora (2008)

A short recap on the ultracycling.com site about one of the races I did this year.  I never seem to do well in western Illinois/eastern Iowa. This one went well other than a collision. I felt great all day. Average speed was 22.22 for 210 miles. Even with a crash that required a wheel change.

Shortly after the start  of the race Larry bumped my rear wheel going into a turn and somehow flipped his bike in the air. It became lodged sideways across the seat stays of my (new)bike. Luckily I didn’t crash, and managed to roll to a stop while carrying his bike. Wish i had a picture of it. It took us a few minutes to figure out how to disentangle the 2 frames, however my rear wheel did not come out of it injury free. I nursed it through the rest of the 50 mile lap. Larry and John Schlitter were nice enough to wait for me while i did a wheel change and than helped me back to the lead pack.

Unrelated to endurance cycling. Well maybe not completely in that his major novel is over 1000 pages, an endurance effort for sure.

I opened up my browser this morning to see:

An Appraisal - Writer Mapped the Mythic and the Mundane

I immediately clicked through excited that perhaps David Foster Wallace had released a new book. I was sad to find that it was an obituary.

I often cite Infinite Jest as a favorite novel. I don’t often recommend it to friends, because it is huge and at times frustratingly complex and dense. For me though it is a book that makes me laugh out loud. It includes an incredibly vivid description of what it is like to walk out to the court with an opponent when competing in a junior tennis tournament. I may have never noted this experience without re-experiencing it through his writing.

If you aren’t up for 1000+ pages. check out:

Girl With Curious Hair

or there are numerous articles he penned for magazines out there on the web.

Rolling Stone Article about John McCain
The Weasel, Twelve Monkeys And The Shrub : Rolling Stone

Atlantic Monthly article about Radio Host John Ziegler
Host

Gourmet magazine article about the Main Lobster Festival
lobsterarticle.pdf (application/pdf Object)

The rider summary I sent to the UMCA for certification of the record.

Record attempt: 1000K Outdoor Unpaced Track Record
Name of rider(s): Bryce Walsh
Start date and exact start time to the nearest minute: 8/23/08 10:10:00.00am CST
Exact start location: Ed Rudolf Velodrome, Northbrook IL
What were conditions like? Hot and Humid, threatening rain.
Why did you want to do a record? I think of the 24 hour track record as the ultracycling equivalent of what the hour record is for traditional racers. Also, through the process of preparing for this record I would learn a great deal about training, myself, and racing that could than be applied to future races. It was be fun to organize an event near my home and do something unusual that would give me some staying memories.
What equipment did you use?  Lake Shoes, Rudy Project Syton Helmet, Cervelo P3C, Zipp Wheels, Powertap
What did you eat & drink? Infinit Nutrition, From 10 hours in I made the mistake of trying some solid food only to encounter stomach problems from that point on.
What was the best part? Riding at night with Mikes mixes playing over the speakers and friends from Turin Bike Shop clanging cowbells and yelling encouragement on each lap. Later as kids in the neighborhood took up the cowbells to make some noise and cheer me on.
What was the hardest part? Continuing on after the 24 hour mark. Hours 24-30 were mentally very difficult. The first 10 hours also were difficult as I was having some aches and pains that were hard to overcome.
Did anything particularly unusual happen? Some physical pains that were unexpected. I had expected the record attempt to be difficult mentally. I was surprised how physically wearing it became to hold an aero position. The most unusual thing was the way in which my mind coped with the monotony. I would often find myself thinking back on the previous evening or even hour and thinking it was a completely different race and location.
Exact finish location described so that someone else could find the same spot: Northbrook Velodrome Finish Line
Exact finish time: 8/24/08 7:01:03.99 pm

It appears Marko Baloh set a new record for 24 hours on a track this past weekend at 553 miles. I was attempting to follow his progress on his blog with the help of  a Slovenian to English translation website

Marko Baloh - Marko ima nov svetovni rekord!

Awesome result.  Congratulations Marko.

Updated article with pictures and video.

Cyclist spent weekend chasing world record

Watch the video interview of Chuck

A nice article in the Northbrook Star about this past weekend.

Cyclist spends weekend chasing world record here