2007 June | UltraRob's Adventures

24 Hour Cycling Record Attempt

June 15th, 2007

Picture from ultracycling.com

Last October Michael Secrest rode 534.75 miles in 24 hours to set a new record. Two weeks earlier Samuel Nagel had ridden 7.64 miles farther but was given 45 minutes of penalties and had 16.95 miles subtracted. Right now Secrest is back at the ADT Event Center Velodrome attempting to break his October record.

John Hughes posted on the new Google ultra cycling list that Secrest had planned on going to track in Moscow.

“A 250 meter track beats the hell out of you. If anyone wants to have a shot a my 24-hour marks, it would be wise to go to a bigger track.” On a 250 M track the rider spends more time in the steeper banking, more G-force on the body and more pressure on the perineum and soles of the feet.

Mike said his next event would be on the 333.33 M track in Moscow – 500 miles!

Due to the logistical problems of getting crew and officials to Moscow Mike decided to race again on the same track. I talked with him a few days ago and he feels ready – he’s spent more time strengthening his neck and shoulder muscles to deal with 24-hours in the aero position.

I also received a press release on the attempt from O2 Sports Media.

BABY BOOMER MICHAEL SECREST AIMS TO PEDAL 550 MILES IN 24 HOURS

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. (June 14, 2007) — At the age of 54 years old, bicycle racer Michael Secrest, of Scottsdale, Ariz. shows no signs of slowing down. In fact, starting at 7.30 a.m. June 15, at the ADT Velodrome in Carson, California, he intends to go more than 15 miles farther than his existing 24-hour world record mark of 534.75 miles, set in October 2006.

“I’m here to inspire others to set goals, don’t give up, and be true to themselves.” Says Secrest, who has established a program called Ride Your Bike to School, and hopes to combat childhood obesity by traveling to schools around the country and inspiring children to be more active. Information about this program is available at www.theguyonthebike.com.

Secrest is arguably the strongest US cyclist never to have ridden in the Tour de France. After an epic battle with America’s first Tour de France rider, Jock Boyer, in the 1985 Race Across America, Jim Ochowicz, head of the 7-Eleven team, did consider Secrest for a place on the Le Tour team, but time constraints prevented it.

Since then, with a prodigious talent for ultra-endurance cycling, Secrest has focused on covering distances in a single day that would make most pro cyclists curl up their toes.

He has now set three 24-hour world records in consecutive decades. In 1985 he rode 516.2 miles. In 1996 he went 532.74 miles, then last year raised it to 534.75 miles. That is an average speed of 22.28 mph!

Experts cannot find another athlete that has achieved the feat of setting bona fide world records in three consecutive decades at the same distance.

Other notable achievements by Secrest include riding 1,216 miles in 24 hours in 1990, on a motor speedway pacing behind a truck. Also, he holds the North American transcontinental record of 2,916 miles in 7 days, 23 hours, 16 minutes. That was on the open road with towns, stop signs and stop light s to slow his effort.

To Frank J. Fedel, an exercise physiologist at East Michigan University and Secrest’s coach, Michael Secrest is a phenomenon. “People look at Michael’s lab test results and say it shouldn’t be possible for him to ride as fast as he does. It seems to me he has a powerful belief system, he’s remarkably tough mentally. He has the ability to ride at a greater percentage of his threshold for an extended period than any other cyclist I have seen. It truly is inspiring to see what he can do, and it is a lesson to the common man that we can do a lot more than we realize we are capable of.”

Who: Michael Secrest
What: Cycling: attempt on the 24-hour indoor unpaced world record
Where: ADT Velodrome, Carson, California
When: Starts 7:30 a.m. PDT, June 15, 2007
Why: To raise awareness for the Ride Your Bike to School program, which is intended to combat childhood obesity. Also, Secrest believes he was under-geared in his October 2006 effort and can go considerably faster

HI RESOLUTION IMAGES AVAILABLE ON REQUEST

Contact: Paul Skilbeck, O2 Sports Media, tel. 415-516-1444 em. pskilbeck@o2sm.com

Tags: cycling, Michael Secrest, ultra cycling
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Race Across America 2006 Day 5 Memories

June 14th, 2007

When I got up from my sleep break in Trinidad in the Race Across America last year, things seemed to be going great for me. The last 2 days I had felt good and especially the day before when I rode from Durango to Trinidad. I had felt great and had a lot of fun most of the day. I had moved up to 4th place in the Enduro category. The mountains were behind me and although I was worried about boredom on the plains, I’m a big power rider so flats are good for me.

I was only 90 miles from my home. My parents and in-laws had brought my girls down to see me. It was good to see them and they hung out with me while I got ready to ride. All too soon it was time to continue on.

When I left Trinidad, there was a really strong wind but it was a tailwind so nothing to complain about. Then it became a cross-wind and then a head-wind and then back to a cross-wind. It then stayed a cross-wind hour after hour. I got used to tumbleweeds blowing across the road. I did get concerned though when I saw a couple bushes fly across. The wind was about 40 mph with much stronger gusts. I heard some gusts hit 100 mph. I think those were late in the afternoon when thunderstorms started moving through. At first there were only a few sprinkles with the thunderstorms but a lot of lightning. It was freaky because we kept seeing plumes of smoke from fires started by the lightning and fire trucks headed out to the fields.

Some racers got blown off their bikes. One abandoned from I think an injured shoulder from being blown off his bike. I didn’t get blown off but a couple times I went from a third of the way into my traffic lane to almost off the wrong side of the road.

During the wind, the IT band in my left leg started hurting. I’ve had problems before and it’s when the SI joint in my hip locks up. Sometimes it will pop and start working right again by crossing my leg over my chest and having someone push down on my leg while I try to push up. We kept trying but couldn’t get it to pop. Shanna Armstrong’s crew came by when my wife had me crunched up on the side of the road. A guy from France on her crew had some physical therapy training or something. We couldn’t quite understand what but he offered to try helping. He worked on me for a few minutes. It helped but didn’t get me to where I needed to be.

I kept trying to make as much progress down the road as possible but had to keep stopping and stretching. 11 o’clock at night my crew was able to get a hold of my doctor. They had me as much out of the wind as possible beside a grain elevator as the wind howled and lightning flashed all around. He’s a D.O. and so he tried to help them with the technique for popping my SI joint. They never were able to get it to pop.

Through this section of Kansas, there were several nasty railroad crossings. They crossed at long angles to the road and had rough wood around them. In the darkness it was tough to choose a good spot to cross. On one of them, I lined up so I could cross at 90 degrees. Just as I got to it I got enough light to see that I was ready to go straight into a big hole where the wood had rotted out. I knew I would endo when my front wheel dropped in. I decided to turn back straight with the road which made a bad angle with the tracks. It was worse since the road was wet. It wasn’t raining right then but had been. My front wheel slid on the first track and I went down. I knew there was a good chance I’d crash so I was ready for it. I was quickly back up and not even scraped up. My crew was very concerned and had made it out of the follow van and to me by the time I got up.

I arrived at the Ulysses, KS time station about 2:30 AM local time for a planned 3 hour sleep break. A quick check didn’t turn up anybody with massage or chiropractic experience but my crew was going to see what they could come up with while I slept. I went to sleep a bit concerned but hoped things would work out when I got back up.

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Tags: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling
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Race Across America Day 5

June 14th, 2007

t is now Day 5 of the 2007 Race Across America. Yesterday saw the leaders finish riding across Colorado and well into Kansas. Robic is still leading and increasing his lead. He should be into Missouri soon after dark tonight. Solo racers are now scattered all the way from western Colorado to eastern Kansas.

Yesterday saw the first DNFs of the race. Hana Ebertova dropped citing exhaustion and Fabio Biasiolo from a medical issue. Walter Blaettler didn’t pass any time stations after yesterday afternoon and today he was listed as a DNF from a vehicle accident. Latest report from the live updates on the Race Across America website says he was taken to a hospital and released so nothing too serious but enough to put him out of the race.

Lauren Fithian and Alessandro Colo passed through Cortez over half an hour after the official time cut off. I think adjusted for the staggered start it was around 10 minutes. With the teams still behind them and not being over the limit by much, I’m not surprised that they appear to have been allowed to continue. Lou Lamoureux came in nearly 11 hours over the limit. According to a post from his crew, he had been exhausted and was out of the race but he got energized and is back in the race. It will be very hard though for these racers to ride fast enough since everybody normally gets slower. Patty Riddle appears to still be riding and going through time stations although the next one is Cortez where she should have been yesterday.

I first became interested in RAAM about 20 years ago when I was 15 or 16. I began dreaming about doing it although for a long time I didn’t think I’d ever actually do it. Once there was a website, I would keep close track of the race as it happened. This year I thought it would be pretty much the same.

After my DNF last year, I didn’t think I’d be able to afford to do it again any time soon. There were other things I was interested in. I mentioned in a post a few months ago there was something else probably even harder than RAAM that I wanted to do. I started writing a post about it but things got crazy at work and that post is still just a draft. I thought I had moved on from RAAM but keeping track of the race the last few days has brought back so many memories. I’m not sure how I’ll pull it off but I now really hope to be back to RAAM sooner than later.

I won’t keep you wondering what else I’m interested in that I think is tougher than RAAM. It’s the Great Divide Race. This year’s race starts tomorrow. Text updates and audio updates will be posted as riders check in when they get places civilized enough to have a phone.

My friend Larry is planning on doing it next year. It would be great to do it at the same time he does. We could train and plan together. There’s a lot that would have to come together for me to be able to do it next year. It would also mean longer before I’d get back to RAAM.

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Tags: cycling, Great Divide Race, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling
Posted in Bike, Road Bike | 2 Comments »

Race Across America Day 4

June 13th, 2007

The 2007 Race Across America is into it’s 4th day. The team racers started yesterday. The solo leaders made it through most of the Colorado mountains yesterday and will be headed across the southeastern plains of Colorado into Kansas today. Most of the racers will be riding the Colorado mountains today including Wolf Creek Pass which is the high point of the race at 10,850. You can get the current standings and the latest race news on the Race Across America website.

Unfortunately it looks like Lou Lamoureux, Hana Ebertova and Patty Riddle will be cut in Cortez. They have to reach it today before 2 PM race time which is always Eastern Daylight Time. Lou crashed out last year between Flagstaff and Tuba City so he has made it a little farther this year.

Last year I got to Durango just after it got light and took a sleep break. I was doing the Enduro division and we were required to stop for a minimum of 2 hours in Durango. After suffering in the desert, I was happy to be in Colorado. I knew exactly where I was and where I was going and it was cooler.

From Durango to the start of Wolf Creek, it’s gently rolling and a good bit of the course is on a quiet back road. I was back and forth with Shanna Armstrong until she stopped to take a nap in Pagosa Springs. It was nice to have someone else in sight since most of the time I rarely saw any other riders.

I had never ridden Wolf Creek Pass before but I think I’ve been over it in a car at least once in each of the last 20 years. Although it is a long climb, it’s never really steep and the grade is very consistent making it easy to get into a groove. I just rode a comfortable pace and took my time and enjoyed being in the mountains where I felt at home. I also thought about the great decent that was waiting for me.

Once off the east side of Wolf Creek Pass, the route crosses the San Luis Valley. This area has some of the flattest and straightest roads in the state. After that it’s up and over La Veta Pass. From the west, La Veta Pass is very gentle and doesn’t climb a huge amount. It was even easier since I had a good tailwind. Next it’s a descent down to the town of La Veta. It was a little past midnight local time when I arrived and I stopped for a 15 minute nap.

From La Veta, the route heads over Cucharas Pass. It’s a hard climb and probably felt harder because I was doing it in the dark. Unlike Wolf Creek Pass, it also doesn’t have a consistent grade. I was very happy to get to the top and get to descend. I was hitting 50 mph in the dark which added to the excitement. Fortunately Tom did a great of driving and keeping me in the headlights. I arrived in Trinidad at 6:30 AM local time and stopped for a much needed sleep break.

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Tags: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling
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Race Across America Day 3

June 12th, 2007

The Race Across America is now into it’s 3rd day. Jure Robic and Wolfgang Fasching have been within a few minutes of each other for most of the time but Robic went through Cortez, CO 69 minutes ahead of Fasching. They are now 771 miles into the race.

Yesterday most of the racers had to deal with the heat of the desert although the leaders had made it to higher altitude before it got hot. Last year I hit the Yarnell grade early in the afternoon when it was really hot. The reward of all the climbing was cooler temperatures especially by the time I got close to Prescott, AZ.

This morning a lot of the riders were near Flagstaff, AZ. Although it can be warm during the day, the temperatures really drop at night. I think when I left there just before dawn after a sleep break last year, it was 39 degrees. It felt really cold after riding most of the day before with temperatures in the upper 90 through the desert. By afternoon it was back in the 90s as I rode through Monument Valley.

The leaders will spend today riding through the mountains of Colorado while most of the other racers will be riding through the high altitude desert of the four corners region. By evening most of them should be headed into Colorado.

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Salomon X Alp Pro GTX Hiking Boots

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Tags: cycling, Jure Robic, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling
Posted in Bike, Road Bike | 2 Comments »

2007 Solo Race Across America has Started

June 10th, 2007

Danny Chew photo with Me at Race Across America Start Last Year

The solo Race Across America racers started this morning for Oceanside. It’s hard to believe it’s been a year since I lined up there. The temperatures shouldn’t have been too bad for the first few house since the route climbs up into the hills. Then it drops down a great decent into the desert. Last year it was like dropping into an oven. Even though it was still in the 90s when I rode by the Salton Sea, there was a cooler breeze blowing off it that made it not seem so bad. Still I was happy when it got dark and the temperatures dropped.

It should be a great race this year with three former winners racing. There is last year’s winner Daniel Wyss from Switzerland, 2 time winner Jure Robic from Slovenia who dropped out last year with pnuemonia and 3 time winner Wolfgang Fasching from Austria. Currently Robic is in the lead with Wyss in 2nd and Fasching in 4th. At this point it’s all about pacing, staying hydrated and fueled for the long days ahead.

This year also has 5 women entered which is the most since 1993. Patty Riddle is attempting to become the oldest women finisher.

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Salomon X Alp Pro GTX Hiking Boots

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Asolo TPS 520 GV Evo Hiking Boots

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Tags: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, ultra cycling
Posted in Bike, Road Bike | 5 Comments »

Tour de Cure

June 9th, 2007

Tom Stormcrowe otherwise known as The Amazing Shrinking Man is doing the Tour de Cure Indianapolis Motor Speedway on July 14. He has lost over 350 pounds! He is very close to his goal of raising a $1,000 for the American Diabetes Association. You can help him reach his goal or even exceed it by donating from his page for the ride.

He has diabetes although it’s currently in remission from diet and exercise. He took up cycling to get his weight down. He crewed for me for Race Across America last year. From the crazy hours and gas station food, his blood sugar got out of whack and he ended up needing to leave my crew while we were in Kansas.

Technorati Tags: cycling | RAAM | Race Across America | Tour de Cure | weight loss

Tags: cycling, RAAM, Race Across America, Tour de Cure, weight loss
Posted in Uncategorized | 1 Comment »

UMCA Elections

June 7th, 2007

Tomorrow is the last day for ballots to be postmarked for the UMCA elections. If you haven’t voted yet, you really should. This could be a very important election.

There are 18 candidates for 6 director positions. There have been ugly discussions on the Topica list since January. To be honest, I don’t know what the truth is. It does seem some rules where broken to buy Race Across America but I’m not a lawyer. That was the start of the controversy and then it spread to some people wanting John Hughes, the UMCA managing director, gone. People on both sides of the issue have been very ugly at times.

Transplant Athlete is one of the candidates. He’s finished the Race Across America on a 2 person team and he attempted it solo last year. He’s giving it another try this year. He has posted about the UMCA a couple times – here and here.

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Tags: Race Across America, ultra cycling, UMCA
Posted in Bike, Road Bike | No Comments »

24 Hours of E-ROCK

June 3rd, 2007

Yesterday after riding to Monument with the kids in the trailer and having lunch with friends, Julie took the kids home in the car. I then rode on up to the Greenland Open Space to check out the 24 Hours of E-ROCK.

It had started 6:30 PM on Friday so they had been racing about 21 hours when I got there. Where I came in from the Santa Fe Trail was on the far end of the course. I rode a lap and took some pictures of the racers and the start finish/area.

I had planned on racing the 24 Hours of E-ROCK solo back when I thought I would be in shape. I actually have a lot of mixed feelings about racing it. It’s about 30 miles from my house which is very nice. It also is a power course which would be good for me. The problem is it isn’t really a mountain bike course. I saw somebody riding a cross bike which is the right bike for the course. I’d at least go full rigid on a mountain bike. It’s also only an 8 mile course which I think is too short even if it had technical sections.

It really didn’t look like anybody was very fast. Of course it was 21 hours into the race but still at that point in the 24 Hours of Moab, I’m getting passed by the Pros like I’m stopped.

The solo class was won this year by Edward Miller, the son of another Pikes Peak Velo member. It was his first 24 hour solo race and he was riding a townie bike. He put in 26 laps. I think that’s impressive! Dave Nice was also racing. I looked for him but didn’t see him. It doesn’t look like he had a very good race as he only got 12 laps in. Final results have been posted.

To give some comparison in competitiveness of this years solo class compared to last year, my friend and co-worker, James won the solo class with 37 laps in 2006. He was self supported most of the time and lost time during the night switching stuff out. James has also done the Leadville 100 in under 8 hours! My long time friend Larry and one of the few riders that will accompany me on some of my long rides, finished 2nd last year with 37 laps. When I’m fit and on the right course, I’m competitive with both James and Larry.

Related Link:

Wildflowers are Blooming

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Tags: Colorado Springs, David Nice, mountain biking
Posted in Bike, Mountain Bike | 2 Comments »

Wildflowers Are Blooming

June 3rd, 2007

Yesterday I took the kids in the bike trailer up to Monument on the Santa Fe Trail. With all the rain we’ve had this spring, there are a lot of wildflowers blooming. I took several pictures of the wildflowers along the Santa Fe Trail.