Battle of the Brands - Bike Sebring 2020
- Thread starter Maria Parker
- Start date
DARYLHANGER945
Member
I think we will be heading south from orlando around 10 so should be in the sebring area around noon. Bikes are already packed up in the car, just need to shower and get the rest of the stuff packed up around them and on top of the car. See yall soon.
DARYLHANGER945
Member
Alright Hangers have arrived at seven's parking lot. Found and chatted with Mr. Schlitter. Any Cruzbikers around?
My fuzzy memory is
Schlitter had approximately 900 miles
Bacchetta had about 1100 miles
Cruzbike had over 2200 miles
it helps to have more riders!
I finished the century but couldn’t do any more miles. It was my first century and I was happy to finish. I took almost 9 hours on the clock but had a moving time of just less than 7.5 hours.
I am satisfied and would like to do it again. I don’t know when I will get to do it again. I will definitely put it on my calendar after I retire.
If I want to do more centuries, I will need to train better and maybe get a bike that it is easier to go fast on. I will probably have to get closer spaced gearing than my 11-46 1x11. There were times in the wind where I was between gears and my knees are a little sore today.
Schlitter had approximately 900 miles
Bacchetta had about 1100 miles
Cruzbike had over 2200 miles
it helps to have more riders!
I finished the century but couldn’t do any more miles. It was my first century and I was happy to finish. I took almost 9 hours on the clock but had a moving time of just less than 7.5 hours.
I am satisfied and would like to do it again. I don’t know when I will get to do it again. I will definitely put it on my calendar after I retire.
If I want to do more centuries, I will need to train better and maybe get a bike that it is easier to go fast on. I will probably have to get closer spaced gearing than my 11-46 1x11. There were times in the wind where I was between gears and my knees are a little sore today.
I met a lot of famous people in the recumbent world and everyone was very nice.
I did the 11 mile loop and the 3 mile loop on Friday morning with Jim Wesp ( @woodguy ). My bike seemed good but I was a little worried about my shifter cable so I bought a spare at the LBS (Legacy bike shop).
I rode the first 20 or 25 miles with Lucia Parker. Then I needed a stop and she kept going. When we passed the location where the first rest stop was supposed to be (and wasn’t until about a half hour later) I wasn’t happy because I wanted to refill my water bottles.
Then I hooked up with Andy from New Jersey who was going the 24 hour RAAM. We had a very relaxing 10 or 15 miles until I needed a short break at about 42 miles. Andy and I were pretty satisfied that we were about 38 miles when the two wheeled leaders passed us on their way back.
My shifter was balky from pretty early in the ride, and got increasingly bad as the ride went on. The last 10 miles to the turnaround was a bit of a struggle against the wind and with less than all my gears available and my water bottles empty. I got to the turnaround between 10 and 10:30.
I drank 3 or 4 bottles of water at the turnaround rest stop and downed several bananas and PBJ sandwiches. I felt much better.
Shortly after I got to the rest stop, Andrea Hanger arrived and needed some emotional support and some time to recover from a scary incident with a pickup pulling a trailer that squeezed her off the road. I offered to ride with her so she wouldn’t be alone if she wanted to keep riding. While we both rested. I fixed my shifter cable. It had frayed inside the shifter and I had to disassemble the shifter to get the cable out so I could replace it.
I rode the next 30 miles with Andrea. She was on her new S40. The vehicle traffic was courteous on that section, but the wind had shifted toward the southeast so we got to fight more wind than we had hoped. Andrea’s feet were bothering here, so she stopped at the 79 mile rest stop. Along the way we had a very nice visit, stopped to adjust derailleurs a couple of times, and complained about the ever present wind. We also noticed the hills. I don’t know if it is accurate, but my Garmin told me that there was about 1500 ft of climbing over the hundred miles.
It was about 2:05 when I left that rest stop and I wanted to finish by 3:30, so I had to push myself a bit. Especially since the first 10 miles were into the wind. That ended at mile 90. I stopped at the corner for a little rest and drank one water bottle. It was a good thing that I rested because I had to do about a quarter mile 20 mph sprint to outrun 3 dogs about half a mile after my rest stop. Then it was a 10 mile push to the timing mat. I crossed at 3:22. I was spent but very satisfied that I could hold that level of effort for the last 20 miles.
I did the 11 mile loop and the 3 mile loop on Friday morning with Jim Wesp ( @woodguy ). My bike seemed good but I was a little worried about my shifter cable so I bought a spare at the LBS (Legacy bike shop).
I rode the first 20 or 25 miles with Lucia Parker. Then I needed a stop and she kept going. When we passed the location where the first rest stop was supposed to be (and wasn’t until about a half hour later) I wasn’t happy because I wanted to refill my water bottles.
Then I hooked up with Andy from New Jersey who was going the 24 hour RAAM. We had a very relaxing 10 or 15 miles until I needed a short break at about 42 miles. Andy and I were pretty satisfied that we were about 38 miles when the two wheeled leaders passed us on their way back.
My shifter was balky from pretty early in the ride, and got increasingly bad as the ride went on. The last 10 miles to the turnaround was a bit of a struggle against the wind and with less than all my gears available and my water bottles empty. I got to the turnaround between 10 and 10:30.
I drank 3 or 4 bottles of water at the turnaround rest stop and downed several bananas and PBJ sandwiches. I felt much better.
Shortly after I got to the rest stop, Andrea Hanger arrived and needed some emotional support and some time to recover from a scary incident with a pickup pulling a trailer that squeezed her off the road. I offered to ride with her so she wouldn’t be alone if she wanted to keep riding. While we both rested. I fixed my shifter cable. It had frayed inside the shifter and I had to disassemble the shifter to get the cable out so I could replace it.
I rode the next 30 miles with Andrea. She was on her new S40. The vehicle traffic was courteous on that section, but the wind had shifted toward the southeast so we got to fight more wind than we had hoped. Andrea’s feet were bothering here, so she stopped at the 79 mile rest stop. Along the way we had a very nice visit, stopped to adjust derailleurs a couple of times, and complained about the ever present wind. We also noticed the hills. I don’t know if it is accurate, but my Garmin told me that there was about 1500 ft of climbing over the hundred miles.
It was about 2:05 when I left that rest stop and I wanted to finish by 3:30, so I had to push myself a bit. Especially since the first 10 miles were into the wind. That ended at mile 90. I stopped at the corner for a little rest and drank one water bottle. It was a good thing that I rested because I had to do about a quarter mile 20 mph sprint to outrun 3 dogs about half a mile after my rest stop. Then it was a 10 mile push to the timing mat. I crossed at 3:22. I was spent but very satisfied that I could hold that level of effort for the last 20 miles.
Andrew Wilson
Guru
Hey Larry, why did you switch all your components from the Magic to your Vendetta during the ride? Killer effort.
LarryOz
Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
Thanks! - The short version for now:
I started off on "Magic", but something was wrong. I could not go much faster than 20-22 mph no matter how hard I seemed to try. With my effort level I should have been with the lead group. It was also very very windy and with my seat at 10 degrees and my stubby handlebars that setup was very hard to control. They had forecast 5mph winds, but it was more like 20mph instead. At about 45 miles I stopped where Gayle was waiting to hand off to me. I decided to change bikes. I had a Vendetta frame as a backup in the van. But I had to take all the components off the "Magic" bike and transfer them to my Yellow V20. I was down for at least 15 (maybe 20 min). Once I switched the riding was much easier and faster, even with my full drop handlebars and my hands and arm out in the wind.
I probably went too hard (180watts or so) to try for the next 2 hrs and catch everyone. But before the 100 miles was over I caught and past most everyone who passed me when I was stopped. I did the first 100 in about 4:40 even with the slow bike ride and the long stop!
Then I continued to ride the V20 the rest of the way. At about 8 hours I was started seeing double, so I stopped for about 10-15 mins, ate something and massaged my legs some. I got back on the bike but felt pretty crummy and did not feel like I had much energy to continue. I just kept going but felt like I wanted to quit. The wind was relentless and still blowing hard. I thought I might have to just ride easy like that until the end. But with about 3 hours left I started feeling better and all of a sudden it was not difficult to push 140 or 150 watts again, so I started going faster and harder. I sped up with each lap and by the end I was probably pushing 180-watts again for the final 10 miles or so. Unfortunately my Garmin quit on me at 11 hrs 17 mins, so I don't have the actual power and HR data for this last section. I did start Strava on my phone after the Garmin died, which was a challenge since I was still riding, but only have speed and distance. I even took the KOM on the small loop which was at the very end.
Yes my arms hurt like crazy from not using them at all since all I rode was indoor for last 2 months. Not ideal - but best I was able to do with the available time I had.
I think my normalized power was close to 160 watts for the 12 hours which is probably my best 12 hour effort ever! On average I had 10% more power than first 12 hours from last year, but I covered about 10 more miles last time because I road my red V20 with the stubby bars so I was more aero.
Here is the Strava file - of the first 11:17 before my Garmin died: https://www.strava.com/activities/3083948679
Hopefully I can do a full write-up in the next couple of days after I am recovered.
Andrew Wilson
Guru
Man Larry!!! Thanks for taking the time to answer. You’re a Beast !!
benphyr
Guru-me-not
@LarryOz
Now you have me curious.
What all did you have to transfer over when you say "take all the components off the "Magic" bike and transfer them to my Yellow V20" Was that bags, bottles, garmin? Or did you have to swap wheels? pedals? crank!? brakes? Sounds pretty crazy.
There are an awful lot of people who would have thrown in the towel at that point. Good on you for keeping on keeping on. And then feeling sick but continuing gently but continuing long enough (hours) to get through it and get better! Wow. My helmet is off to you.
Now you have me curious.
What all did you have to transfer over when you say "take all the components off the "Magic" bike and transfer them to my Yellow V20" Was that bags, bottles, garmin? Or did you have to swap wheels? pedals? crank!? brakes? Sounds pretty crazy.
There are an awful lot of people who would have thrown in the towel at that point. Good on you for keeping on keeping on. And then feeling sick but continuing gently but continuing long enough (hours) to get through it and get better! Wow. My helmet is off to you.
woodguy
Well-Known Member
I ended up in the same club as Brad, finishing the century but not doing more. When we did the 11 mile loop on Friday, we both expected to do some of those during the event also. At the beginning, I ended up a little ahead of Brad & Lucia, and was also looking for the 1st SAG stop to refill water. I thought I just missed it, but after talking with Brad I agree that they just weren’t set up yet. Kind of a surprise because we weren’t anywhere near the front. The fast racers just skip those stops anyway, but us slow guys count on them. Fortunately I had enough water to last til about 40 miles, but by the time I got to the turn around at 50, I needed a rest and nutrition.
My trip back was even more exciting! When climbing one of the few hills at mile 70, I down shifted, heard a series of crunches, and my pedals locked up. Upon inspection I noticed that the derailleur hanger had broken in half, the skewer was bent & the derailleur itself was twisted up. While considering my next move, a van stopped with two Bike Sebring staff wanting to help. They said they had a bunch of tools & what happened? I told them the hangar had broken. They said that was not something they had, but I told them I had a spare in my bag. They never heard of someone carrying an extra derailleur hanger, but I had it from doing my coast to coast ride last year.
We commenced to try to put the bike back together, but I had doubts the whole time we would succeed. Turns out that the new hangar wouldn’t seat properly because the old one had stripped out the chain stay. Using a combination of zip ties & rubber bands we managed to get some chain tension, but I was restricted to just using one gear. I chose one that caused me to spin out at about 14 mph. And that is how I rode the last 30 miles.
This wasn’t how I had pictured the event going when preparing, but I’m still happy to have participated. My overall time was about 8 1/2 hours, but I had almost 2 hours of down time & rest. I encourage everyone to give it a try.
I also talked up the Michigan Cruzbike retreat in August. We’ll see if anyone new signs up.
My trip back was even more exciting! When climbing one of the few hills at mile 70, I down shifted, heard a series of crunches, and my pedals locked up. Upon inspection I noticed that the derailleur hanger had broken in half, the skewer was bent & the derailleur itself was twisted up. While considering my next move, a van stopped with two Bike Sebring staff wanting to help. They said they had a bunch of tools & what happened? I told them the hangar had broken. They said that was not something they had, but I told them I had a spare in my bag. They never heard of someone carrying an extra derailleur hanger, but I had it from doing my coast to coast ride last year.
We commenced to try to put the bike back together, but I had doubts the whole time we would succeed. Turns out that the new hangar wouldn’t seat properly because the old one had stripped out the chain stay. Using a combination of zip ties & rubber bands we managed to get some chain tension, but I was restricted to just using one gear. I chose one that caused me to spin out at about 14 mph. And that is how I rode the last 30 miles.
This wasn’t how I had pictured the event going when preparing, but I’m still happy to have participated. My overall time was about 8 1/2 hours, but I had almost 2 hours of down time & rest. I encourage everyone to give it a try.
I also talked up the Michigan Cruzbike retreat in August. We’ll see if anyone new signs up.
super slim
Zen MBB Master
That's Great news!!
Cruzbike, had more miles than the other two put together!!!!
bladderhead
Zen MBB Master
I second that. Seeing double!!Andrew Wilson said:
And benphyr is not the only one who is intrigued. All the bits swapped over in 20 minutes? Gears, cranks, brakes? I bet the cables are not fed through the frame, anyway.
Lots of people would have chucked in the towel at that point. I never even picked the towel up in the first place.
paco1961
Zen MBB Master
That’s a bummer. Sorry to hear about the derailleur probs. I also always carry a spare. Hope to never have to use it!
paco1961
Zen MBB Master
My day was relatively smooth with the standout problem being the wind. Goal was 20mph average for the century. Ended up 19.1. The first 50 to the turn around rode w a group that was averaging just under 20 but figured with the predicted N wind I could make that up on the return. Lost my group at the turn around after a nature break so solo’d into the SE wind all the way home.
Rode part of the first half w a guy from TX on a Bacchetta. Interesting to watch him have to motor ahead of the group as we approached each hill, only to drop way back on the “climb.” ( did those count as hills?) He commented several times how much easier it is to climb on a CB. Also rode w John Schlitter for about 10 miles right before the turn around. Lots of nice things to say about CB and the Parkers.
Only odd bit - was the first time I’ve ever experienced any flack about being on a bent. The group I ended up riding with for much of the first half (mostly local guys) wanted nothing to do w a bent in the pace line. Every time someone drifted back after a pull they made an obvious aggressive move in front of me to get back in the line. After A bit of that, my TX friend on the B and I decided to let them pull us the next 25 miles to the turn around.
Fortunate to have no mech issues, just the relentless wind- especially on the next to last leg that seemed to go on forever. Time wasn’t what I wanted but considering the conditions, I’m very happy with the result.
So here’s the last question . . . How much more competetive would I be on a V20 rather than my S40? Ended up 3rd in my category (surprisingly.) second was, I think, about 40 minutes ahead of me. Jim, Maria, Larry and Darryl all left me in the dust over the first 11 miles on the track. Is it the bike . . . Or is it the faulty motor? Be kind with your answers!
Impressive performance by so many CBers. Nice to see so many familiar faces in the string of award photos. Congrats to all.
Rode part of the first half w a guy from TX on a Bacchetta. Interesting to watch him have to motor ahead of the group as we approached each hill, only to drop way back on the “climb.” ( did those count as hills?) He commented several times how much easier it is to climb on a CB. Also rode w John Schlitter for about 10 miles right before the turn around. Lots of nice things to say about CB and the Parkers.
Only odd bit - was the first time I’ve ever experienced any flack about being on a bent. The group I ended up riding with for much of the first half (mostly local guys) wanted nothing to do w a bent in the pace line. Every time someone drifted back after a pull they made an obvious aggressive move in front of me to get back in the line. After A bit of that, my TX friend on the B and I decided to let them pull us the next 25 miles to the turn around.
Fortunate to have no mech issues, just the relentless wind- especially on the next to last leg that seemed to go on forever. Time wasn’t what I wanted but considering the conditions, I’m very happy with the result.
So here’s the last question . . . How much more competetive would I be on a V20 rather than my S40? Ended up 3rd in my category (surprisingly.) second was, I think, about 40 minutes ahead of me. Jim, Maria, Larry and Darryl all left me in the dust over the first 11 miles on the track. Is it the bike . . . Or is it the faulty motor? Be kind with your answers!
Impressive performance by so many CBers. Nice to see so many familiar faces in the string of award photos. Congrats to all.
