LarryOz
Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Alvin Maxwell and I made the 12 hour drive from NC down to Tampa on Monday, and rode with Kurt Searvogal (and others) the following Tuesday.
I had hoped of getting there before dark on Monday and hook up with Kurt to find out when and where he was starting in the morning as I had hoped to ride his "whole" day with him just for the experience.
But we didn't make it there until 6:30 and Kurt was already done. We had to wait for daylight for Flatwood Park to open. They open at 7 and close at 6.
Anyway it was an incredible "summer-like day on December 29. It actually felt like summer. Hot and humid but not unbearable.
Flatwood Park is an incredible place to ride. Among other trails, they have a relatively flat 7 mile loop with bathroom facilities on either end that are easy to get to.
It is an extremely popular place for cyclist, joggers, walkers, etc. Many, many people were there that day.
Other people also showed up today to specifically ride with Kurt.
A couple "locals: Amanda, Alan, and Rubin, and a guy named Chris would flew down from NY!
Kurt usually starts between 5:30-6am and rides around a local subdivision until the park opens.
The official UMCA HAM'R rules allow drafting, so basically everybody takes turns pulling the group and Kurt stays in the draft most of the time.
Not that he couldn't ride it alone, it would just take him a little longer since he would not go as fast on his own.
While at Flatwoods Park he said he rides his Bachetta recumbent about 75% if the time.
He starts on his upright to ride in the subdivision since it is dark and it gives him better viability. Once the Park opens up and Alicia comes with their van, then he switches to the recumbent.
He does not use a power meter, but from what I understand he monitors his HR very closely and it looks like he tries to keep it just under 100 most of the time.Amazing!
He stops about every 30-40 miles for a bathroom, food, or equipment break. It looks like he has total stops of about 80-90 minutes in a 12 hour day.
I have not looked at a lot of his other rides, but this seems to work really well here at Flatwood Park, especially when he has lots of help so he can draft most of the time.
I suspect when he was on the open road and did not have a lot of help, he probably had to ride a longer time to get the same amount of miles logged.
As an example of his stats:
His first 20 miles on his upright (and in relative darkness), he averaged 17mph with HR average at 94.
Next 30 miles on his bent and drafting on the Flatwoods loop he averaged 22.1 mph and a HR average of 93.
His lat 28 miles or so, I think riding mostly with Alicia he averaged 18.5mph and a HR average of 89.
For the day of 212 miles, he averaged 20.1 mph with an average HR of 93.
Amazing that he has done this "every day" for almostan entire year! No wonder his HR is so low. No wonder we call him TARZAN!
It is really too bad he did not have power numbers - at that would "really" be interesting to see and compare.
As a comparision, here are some of my data from the ride:
First 15 miles, mostly pulling and staying out of the draft - average 21.3mph - HR=120 and average power 115
60 mile set in the middle - at front 50%, 30% at side chatting, maybe 20% in draft = 22.1 mph - HR = 126 - average power = 121
Last 29 miles - pulling all the time (no dratfng at all) - 22.0 mph - HR = 144, - average power - 128
For the day: 180 miles at 20.9 - HR = 137 - average power = 116
Things about my ride:
I took my narrow "hamster" handlebar off and put on a set of bullhorns primarily because Alvin wanted to ride the Vendetta and it is practically impossible to learn to ride it with that 10" flat bar. He did very well, by the way! (Better than I did on his TT! haha)
I was riding Conti-4000SII with latex tubes, and my 3-spoke Carbon wheels also. Giro Attach helmet with shield. Carried 3- 20 ounce water bottles. Fanny pack on my chest.
My total fueling and water input was probably a little low: 1x (2-scoop) bottle Infinit, 1x (2-scoop) bottle of Perpetuem, 2x 20 oz bottles choc milk, one banana. and 2 bottles of water, but I never felt like I bonked.
My front latex tube "blew-out" on me at mile 180! I went down hard on my right side at 22mph and have some decent road rash on my thigh and forearm again to recover from. I was poised to get in 200, but lost that last hour of daylight. Oh well.
My total data is skewed a little as I also rode Alvin Maxwell's TT bike for about 22 miles or so. It was so painful for me (mostly my neck - as I could not bend my neck far enough forward to see the trail) that I could not wait to get off of it! Even though my wattage was "very" low on the bike, my HR was through the roof. My HR average for that hour+ was about 163. So, it is very interesting to see how pain can affect your HR.
I have also not been riding "any" real distance since I did 264 miles at Calvin's Challenge in early May, Mostly training for my Century attempt in Oct. My longest day since my 264 miles at Calvins have been about 4 hours.
In the last 10 weeks since my Century record attempt on Oct 11, I have only been doing 100 minute training rides 3x a week, comprised of 35 minutes Tempo, and 15x30 (now 35) seconds of Power Intervals with 2 1/2 minutes rest in between (TSS ~140), and 60 minutes of very easy recovery every other day, with one day totally off. That is only 480 minutes a week total (8 hours) of riding each week - more than 1/2 of that pure recovery.
For those that care, my CTL is around 70, (42 day rolling average). It was 82 before Calvin's, and 107 before Sebring.
I was using this ride also as a "kind" of an experiment for my endurance level after not riding "any" real distance (or time) for the last 8 months
I was very please that I could "hold" 22 mph most of the day. I was really hoping for a 12 hour test, but not getting started early enough and crashing at 180 miles kind of put a damper on that goal.
For my base target speed of 22mph: my heart rate did go from an average of about 126 during the middle part of the ride to about 144 during the end. And this is to "hold" the same "power" output of about 125-130 watts.
I think this can be attributed to a combination of heat and fatigue.
All in all it was a great day! Got to meet and ride with Kurt (what a great guy!), and be a small part of his "historic" attempt (soon to be record) at breaking the standing record of mileage in one year on a bike!
Kurt's ride for the day
https://www.strava.com/activities/459036651/analysis/8244/9507
My ride for the day:
https://www.strava.com/activities/459724802/analysis/27730/30405
Take care everyone - Ride smart - stay safe. Happy New Year!
I had hoped of getting there before dark on Monday and hook up with Kurt to find out when and where he was starting in the morning as I had hoped to ride his "whole" day with him just for the experience.
But we didn't make it there until 6:30 and Kurt was already done. We had to wait for daylight for Flatwood Park to open. They open at 7 and close at 6.
Anyway it was an incredible "summer-like day on December 29. It actually felt like summer. Hot and humid but not unbearable.
Flatwood Park is an incredible place to ride. Among other trails, they have a relatively flat 7 mile loop with bathroom facilities on either end that are easy to get to.
It is an extremely popular place for cyclist, joggers, walkers, etc. Many, many people were there that day.
Other people also showed up today to specifically ride with Kurt.
A couple "locals: Amanda, Alan, and Rubin, and a guy named Chris would flew down from NY!
Kurt usually starts between 5:30-6am and rides around a local subdivision until the park opens.
The official UMCA HAM'R rules allow drafting, so basically everybody takes turns pulling the group and Kurt stays in the draft most of the time.
Not that he couldn't ride it alone, it would just take him a little longer since he would not go as fast on his own.
While at Flatwoods Park he said he rides his Bachetta recumbent about 75% if the time.
He starts on his upright to ride in the subdivision since it is dark and it gives him better viability. Once the Park opens up and Alicia comes with their van, then he switches to the recumbent.
He does not use a power meter, but from what I understand he monitors his HR very closely and it looks like he tries to keep it just under 100 most of the time.Amazing!
He stops about every 30-40 miles for a bathroom, food, or equipment break. It looks like he has total stops of about 80-90 minutes in a 12 hour day.
I have not looked at a lot of his other rides, but this seems to work really well here at Flatwood Park, especially when he has lots of help so he can draft most of the time.
I suspect when he was on the open road and did not have a lot of help, he probably had to ride a longer time to get the same amount of miles logged.
As an example of his stats:
His first 20 miles on his upright (and in relative darkness), he averaged 17mph with HR average at 94.
Next 30 miles on his bent and drafting on the Flatwoods loop he averaged 22.1 mph and a HR average of 93.
His lat 28 miles or so, I think riding mostly with Alicia he averaged 18.5mph and a HR average of 89.
For the day of 212 miles, he averaged 20.1 mph with an average HR of 93.
Amazing that he has done this "every day" for almostan entire year! No wonder his HR is so low. No wonder we call him TARZAN!
It is really too bad he did not have power numbers - at that would "really" be interesting to see and compare.
As a comparision, here are some of my data from the ride:
First 15 miles, mostly pulling and staying out of the draft - average 21.3mph - HR=120 and average power 115
60 mile set in the middle - at front 50%, 30% at side chatting, maybe 20% in draft = 22.1 mph - HR = 126 - average power = 121
Last 29 miles - pulling all the time (no dratfng at all) - 22.0 mph - HR = 144, - average power - 128
For the day: 180 miles at 20.9 - HR = 137 - average power = 116
Things about my ride:
I took my narrow "hamster" handlebar off and put on a set of bullhorns primarily because Alvin wanted to ride the Vendetta and it is practically impossible to learn to ride it with that 10" flat bar. He did very well, by the way! (Better than I did on his TT! haha)
I was riding Conti-4000SII with latex tubes, and my 3-spoke Carbon wheels also. Giro Attach helmet with shield. Carried 3- 20 ounce water bottles. Fanny pack on my chest.
My total fueling and water input was probably a little low: 1x (2-scoop) bottle Infinit, 1x (2-scoop) bottle of Perpetuem, 2x 20 oz bottles choc milk, one banana. and 2 bottles of water, but I never felt like I bonked.
My front latex tube "blew-out" on me at mile 180! I went down hard on my right side at 22mph and have some decent road rash on my thigh and forearm again to recover from. I was poised to get in 200, but lost that last hour of daylight. Oh well.
My total data is skewed a little as I also rode Alvin Maxwell's TT bike for about 22 miles or so. It was so painful for me (mostly my neck - as I could not bend my neck far enough forward to see the trail) that I could not wait to get off of it! Even though my wattage was "very" low on the bike, my HR was through the roof. My HR average for that hour+ was about 163. So, it is very interesting to see how pain can affect your HR.
I have also not been riding "any" real distance since I did 264 miles at Calvin's Challenge in early May, Mostly training for my Century attempt in Oct. My longest day since my 264 miles at Calvins have been about 4 hours.
In the last 10 weeks since my Century record attempt on Oct 11, I have only been doing 100 minute training rides 3x a week, comprised of 35 minutes Tempo, and 15x30 (now 35) seconds of Power Intervals with 2 1/2 minutes rest in between (TSS ~140), and 60 minutes of very easy recovery every other day, with one day totally off. That is only 480 minutes a week total (8 hours) of riding each week - more than 1/2 of that pure recovery.
For those that care, my CTL is around 70, (42 day rolling average). It was 82 before Calvin's, and 107 before Sebring.
I was using this ride also as a "kind" of an experiment for my endurance level after not riding "any" real distance (or time) for the last 8 months
I was very please that I could "hold" 22 mph most of the day. I was really hoping for a 12 hour test, but not getting started early enough and crashing at 180 miles kind of put a damper on that goal.
For my base target speed of 22mph: my heart rate did go from an average of about 126 during the middle part of the ride to about 144 during the end. And this is to "hold" the same "power" output of about 125-130 watts.
I think this can be attributed to a combination of heat and fatigue.
All in all it was a great day! Got to meet and ride with Kurt (what a great guy!), and be a small part of his "historic" attempt (soon to be record) at breaking the standing record of mileage in one year on a bike!
Kurt's ride for the day
https://www.strava.com/activities/459036651/analysis/8244/9507
My ride for the day:
https://www.strava.com/activities/459724802/analysis/27730/30405
Take care everyone - Ride smart - stay safe. Happy New Year!
