2016 Mid-Atl Century reports and videos

[ratz]

Yeah, but my husband the Encore rider said "who won?"

End of the day I'm far less "aggressive" to the encore rides than some of our regulars have been playing at, John and his crew have done great things for the sport, Vite racing and now Schlitter Racing is Awesome in what it represents for all of us. If you get everyone to stop goofing around they will all admit that it's so awesome that recumbent riders keep winning and we keep getting more and more younger riders. Floats all boats.

(Sorry needed to be pointed out for those that miss the playfulness of that anti Encore posts)

And with that back to the playful ribbing....

The guy that won? The one that didn't get auto-blocked

 

[LarryOz]

Did the other recumbents do any turn on the front, or just draft behind you?

Most of the other recumbents did take turns. The length of time varied greatly. When we were all working together Jim and I where happy to take 1 or 2 mile pulls, but other usually 1 minute or less. Jim was out front a lot - He is very strong, and man he can sure draft me. You can see he barely pedaling behind me when I'm doing my made 1.6 mile dash to the finish!

Larry, I bet you did that race without mirrors too? What type of arm mirrors do you use?

I used my "velodrome racing" mirror, since there is not really any room on my handlebars. It is just a cheap mirror on an elastic band that you where on you hand. It works pretty well!

The Vendetta looks SO much better Aero AND the handle bar arrangement leave the Bachetta and especially the Schlitter for dead for stiffness!

Hopefully I can talk Jesse (or anybody else with a Bachetta) over to my super secret test facility and we can do some testing and run the CdA numbers head to head. I think the Vendetta is more aero too, but the person's body riding the bike accounts for most of the drag, so it is very individual.

After watching the rear view vid, youtube made other related videos available. Some of them I recognize, others not so much. Is that you in the yellow tights?

Of course - you have to have something to do in the off season - right? haha

 

[LarryOz]

And with that back to the playful ribbing....

The guy that won? The one that didn't get auto-blocked

Yeah - It's amazing that it all came down to a 5 second difference. But that is how many races go. The fastest, strongest, fittest person maybe doesn't win (accept in a TT). The person who makes the right choice at the right time. Luck always seems to weigh in there too. But you still have to be ready to take advantage of the circumstances.

 

[trplay]

I love my Cruzbike team but Jesse was probably the fastest, strongest, fittest person on that day. On a day with a lot of strongest, fittest, riders. My hats off to all of you. I'm curious as to Jesse's efforts during the last couple miles. He may have been cruising with plenty left in the tank since the peloton wasn't even in sight. IMO the race wasn't lost due to a decision on when to sprint. The race was lost when Jesse was able to power out of sight from the challengers.

 

[LarryOz]

He may have been cruising with plenty left in the tank since the peloton wasn't even in sight. IMO the race wasn't lost due to a decision on when to sprint. The race was lost when Jesse was able to power out of sight from the challengers.

Yes - Jessie is a brute, and obviously extremely fit! Jim was trying to get him to try a Vendetta after the race! Haha - he could probably be even faster - who knows?
He did tell me he was cramping up at the end due to the last 10-12 mile effort, so I think he was shot.
It's great when a breakaway stays away - they usually don't
I would love to see his power and HR data though -

 

[ratz]

It's great when a breakaway stays away - they usually don't
I would love to see his power and HR data though -

Yes yes yes we need more people's data, with the little we have now I am changing some thoughts on how structured training applies to recumbent riders, ERG data Versus road data is very interesting.

 

[LMT]

http://www.bentrideronline.com/messageboard/showthread.php?t=129423

Jeese's report over on BROL, seems like Larry and Jim were marked from the off.

 

[LarryOz]

Jeese's report over on BROL, seems like Larry and Jim were marked from the off.

Yes, quite and interesting report. I did not know we had such a target on us.
If we would have known, we could have talked Kevin into joining us.. - maybe next year. (Sebring should be fun too!)

Funny how you remember things. I was hoping the bents would team up against the DF's (and severeal times tried to get everyone to get going) and was frustrated that they would not work together. I guess I know why now - they just did not want to work with Jim and I since we were the ones with the targets on our back! haha

Funny, this is the first race that I did not talk "plan", or "strategy" at with Jim.
Usually I over-analyse everything! haha!

Here is Jesse's Strava data: https://www.strava.com/activities/684064950/analysis/12650/14314
He put out an average of 24watts more than I over the course of the race. He is a lot larger of a guy than me, so probably pretty even effort over the whole race!

 

[trplay]

That was a good report. Jesse rode a smart race. Larry, of course you had a target on your back. That means you are doing something right. Things could be worse. I have a sign on the back of my back. It says "cannon fodder". Talking about targets, geez Louise, wait till Jason shows up at Sebring! I just hope I'm there to watch! Go Team Cruzbike!

 

[ratz]

Yes, quite and interesting report. I did not know we had such a target on us.

Healthy respect isn't targeting, it's situational awareness. It's Racing that *is* targeting

Usually I over-analyse everything! haha!

Indeed.

Now we just need to teach you that pulls are 60-90 seconds; then rotate. Save the 5 minutes pulls for the team time trials....

Jesse did a nice job of capturing the competitive and suspicious mindset that descends on each and every racer as they try to figure out what the other guy is doing. When you put beers on the table afterwards it always leads to the whole he was sitting on versus I wasn't going to work with the strong guy with someone laying in the weeds perspective.....The POV from in the moment in the race perspective is a powerful motivator. Want to have fun poke at someone's certainty that what they did was high strategy while the others were not playing fair. It can be a fun tit-4-tat if you don't let it get out of control.

So here's to ever increasing turn outs at events of riders of all ability levels. I want fast Encore's, I want fast CA 2.0's, I want fast Volae's I want fast Cruzbikes' and ok I'll tolerate a fast Carbent or Metabike Really though, I want to see more opportunities for us to ride at any and every event; frustrating that the minimum distance I have to travel to an event is 5+ hours and there are over 50 events within 30 minutes of me where I'm not welcome.

 

[ratz]

. I have a sign on the back of my back. It says "cannon fodder".

Yes but we get to wave at them each time they lap us; I see strong riders all the time; I wave as they go past.

Jesse rode a smart race.

Probably the most focused that it was a race as well.

 

[super slim]

Yes, quite and interesting report. I did not know we had such a target on us.
If we would have known, we could have talked Kevin into joining us.. - maybe next year. (Sebring should be fun too!)

Funny how you remember things. I was hoping the bents would team up against the DF's (and severeal times tried to get everyone to get going) and was frustrated that they would not work together. I guess I know why now - they just did not want to work with Jim and I since we were the ones with the targets on our back! haha

Funny, this is the first race that I did not talk "plan", or "strategy" at with Jim.
Usually I over-analyse everything! haha!

Here is Jesse's Strava data: https://www.strava.com/activities/684064950/analysis/12650/14314
He put out an average of 24watts more than I over the course of the race. He is a lot larger of a guy than me, so probably pretty even effort over the whole race!

When you are both at 21 degrees, does the size of the rider make a lot of difference?
Did his seat kick up as much as the rider behind Jim on an Encore?
Are the Encore long split handlebars(which is a very creative design), made of CF to improve its stiffness??

At the next race it would be good if the recumbent teams could talk and work together for short pulls at the front, up until 1.6 km from the end, then its every man for himself, but the recumbents should have left the DFs in their dust!

 

[trapdoor2]

Very cool to read Jesse's write up on BROL and compare with the stuff here.

I think having some race-competitiveness between teams is a very positive thing. Frankly, it is a huge leap forward from "DF vs Bent". It shows that there are enough bent entries to actually require team strategies. That is a good thing, IMNSHO.

Well done all around!

 

[RojoRacing]

Report sounds like the typical roadie race strategy (drama) I can't stand. I understand how the game is played by most but that doesn't mean I'll ever enjoy it. I prefer to make typical road race strategy useless through brute force and the Vendetta lets me do that. Out here there is no recumbent presence and the DF riders don't feel threatened or don't want to acknowledge you as part of their ride or race. The vendetta allows me to slowly pull a whole group along for as long as I want until they start popping one by one then I can up my effort further still. I've never been in a race as flat as what you guys just did so I'm sure some of the differences may trip me up a bit. What I can do compared to you guys on the east coast will remain a big question mark until I actually get out there for a race. I'm confident in my abilities and I'm excited to race with you guys next year. Honestly I'm excited about any prospects for a race after being sidelined for so long this year

 

[RojoRacing]

Don't take my general negative opinion toward road race strategy as I didn't appreciate the effort everyone put in. It's still congrats all around from me.

 

[SteveJW]

Y'all continue to amaze me. Congratulations to everyone that competed.

As always, thanks for sharing your videos Larry! I really enjoy the data overlay. It gives me a realistic picture and appreciation of the amount of effort expended on the ride.

-Steve

 

[Jim Parker]

My full blog report on the race is here. -Jim

 

[joy]

"Hopefully I can talk Jesse (or anybody else with a Bachetta) over to my super secret test facility"

Did you mean to say "Team Vite with Encores" ?

 

[Jim Parker]

"Hopefully I can talk Jesse (or anybody else with a Bachetta) over to my super secret test facility"

Did you mean to say "Team Vite with Encores" ?

According to John Schlitter and Rubin Randel's Facebook posts, this was the debut of "Schlitter Racing" and the racers were decribed as "Schlitter Racing members".

 

[LarryOz]

According to John Schlitter and Rubin Randel's Facebook posts, this was the debut of "Schlitter Racing" and the racers were decribed as "Schlitter Racing members".

I see that and stand corrected.
Well, whatever they call themselves - this means war - so get ready for some more great competition.