LarryOz
Cruzeum Curator & Sigma Wrangler
I make the 2+ hour drive to Charlotte Motor Speedway last night to ride in their 1o mile TT. They have been doing these for 20 years or so from what I understand. There are about 6 per year. Last night's was the 5th of the season. This was my first one ever. I also met "Gary123" and we road around together after the TT.
It was a hot and muggy day. Bad for your body , but good for speed if you can handle the heat.
I took my Frankenstein Cruzbike (I call him Frank now for short), and also the Arrowhead. I have been prepping Frank for Saturday's UMCA Century Championship. I just got done putting him back together from all the coast down testing (since I was swapping out parts like crazy). Unfortunately Frank was not ready to ride. I could not get the boom to stop slipping when I really laid into the power. So I had to ride the Arrowhead. Per my coast down testing they are pretty equal. I think Frank is even faster now as I closed in all the underside area nicely. Yes, more coast down testing needed! haha It never really ends.... all the testing.
Next, I tried to get out on the speedway track to do a practice lap to get a lay of the land, and they would not even let me complete a full lap. They were starting early tonight due to kids TT's and team TT's later. That was a little bit of a bummer since it would have been nice to see what it was like.
My start time was still about an hour away, so I rode around in the infield to keep warmed up. about 20 minutes before my start time I went back to the car, put my arm covers on, went to the bathroom one last time and topped off my hydration. Then I went to the start line. There were 2 lines of people there. They give you a start time, but it is a "suggestion" I found out. The guy in front of me had been there lots of times. I made the mention that I did not know if it was worth it to have driven 5 hours for a 20 minute ride. He scoffed at me and said - good luck with that: no one has broke 20 minutes all year - even the tandem team. Oh well. Recumbent record was 21:35, so I did not even need to break 20 minutes.
When it got to my turn. I went up the start line, someone held me, I clipped in. then 5,4,3,2,1 - go! I was off. It was fast and furious! A little windy, but not too bad. Here are my split times from my Garmin:
My Garmin was a little "long" since I started and stopped it a little before and after the official start and stop. Officially they had me at 18:52. Here are the results. Beat the next closes guy by 69 seconds. He was younger at 33, so that is a handicap I here.
Here is the last known recumbent record: (which is from a "long time" ago) - so who knows if accurate, but smashed it.
Here is the most exciting part. The overall track record:
Can't believe I missed it by only 1.51 seconds. I guess I'm gonna have to tune "Frank" up and and go again next month!
yes - I did video the whole thing (yeah - and who knows: it could have cost me 1.52 seconds!) I'm uploading it now to Youtube. I will give the link when done.
It was a hot and muggy day. Bad for your body , but good for speed if you can handle the heat.
I took my Frankenstein Cruzbike (I call him Frank now for short), and also the Arrowhead. I have been prepping Frank for Saturday's UMCA Century Championship. I just got done putting him back together from all the coast down testing (since I was swapping out parts like crazy). Unfortunately Frank was not ready to ride. I could not get the boom to stop slipping when I really laid into the power. So I had to ride the Arrowhead. Per my coast down testing they are pretty equal. I think Frank is even faster now as I closed in all the underside area nicely. Yes, more coast down testing needed! haha It never really ends.... all the testing.
Next, I tried to get out on the speedway track to do a practice lap to get a lay of the land, and they would not even let me complete a full lap. They were starting early tonight due to kids TT's and team TT's later. That was a little bit of a bummer since it would have been nice to see what it was like.
My start time was still about an hour away, so I rode around in the infield to keep warmed up. about 20 minutes before my start time I went back to the car, put my arm covers on, went to the bathroom one last time and topped off my hydration. Then I went to the start line. There were 2 lines of people there. They give you a start time, but it is a "suggestion" I found out. The guy in front of me had been there lots of times. I made the mention that I did not know if it was worth it to have driven 5 hours for a 20 minute ride. He scoffed at me and said - good luck with that: no one has broke 20 minutes all year - even the tandem team. Oh well. Recumbent record was 21:35, so I did not even need to break 20 minutes.
When it got to my turn. I went up the start line, someone held me, I clipped in. then 5,4,3,2,1 - go! I was off. It was fast and furious! A little windy, but not too bad. Here are my split times from my Garmin:
My Garmin was a little "long" since I started and stopped it a little before and after the official start and stop. Officially they had me at 18:52. Here are the results. Beat the next closes guy by 69 seconds. He was younger at 33, so that is a handicap I here.
Here is the last known recumbent record: (which is from a "long time" ago) - so who knows if accurate, but smashed it.
Here is the most exciting part. The overall track record:
Can't believe I missed it by only 1.51 seconds. I guess I'm gonna have to tune "Frank" up and and go again next month!
yes - I did video the whole thing (yeah - and who knows: it could have cost me 1.52 seconds!) I'm uploading it now to Youtube. I will give the link when done.
